music and in life experience. The men behind KNTRLR have evolved, but their backgrounds may belie some of the pensive lyrical storytelling of their best songs.

Charles grew up near Los Angeles and experienced modest success as a child actor, appearing - on a unicycle - in a show with Ryan Seacrest and several made-for-TV movies before growing disenchanted with acting and turning to music. He learned the drums, and quickly found himself opening for 80’s new wave one-hit wonders Missing Persons and holding psychedelic green-room philosophy salons with Rick James. After a stint as a high school substitute teacher, Charles moved to New York in 2006.

Michael had a strict Christian upbringing in Oklahoma and was being groomed for a seminary education until a sudden change of heart compelled him to abandon his teachings, forsaking the road to righteousness for another road much less certain. He’s lived all over America: San Diego, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Tulsa, San Jose, Knoxville, Boston, and Atlanta, while working odd jobs as a dishwasher, bartender, landscaper, gypsy cab driver, and a short-order cook in a diner. He left for New York City in 2006, but not before learning mariachi songs from his Guadalajareño co-workers as he harvested grapes in vineyard in California. In 2010, Charles and Michael met by chance in the ovens of the Russian Bath House in the East Village, and they soon formed KNTRLR.

As KNTRLR evolved into a five-piece live act over the years, their music became further charged by the confrontation of mortality. From love and death to loss and family, the sum of the band’s life experiences has created a darker collection of songs. “XXX” is the first single from their new record, and the strong confidence in the sound they’ve built is obvious; the life experience has served KNTRLR’s music well.

If The Walkmen joined with Death Grips and toured brothels, we have something like the sound of KNTRLR’s debut LP The Great Filter.

RIYL\Sounds like:  James Blake, Grimes, Panda Bear, Future Islands, Giorgio Moroder, Twin Shadow, Tears for Fears, Jai Paul, The Field, Fuck Buttons