From Melbourne to Berlin: ‘Driving Through A Tunnel That Is Filling From Both Ends’ by KXB & Thrush
We are thrilled to premiere ‘Driving Through A Tunnel That Is Filling From Both Ends,’ the much-anticipated collaboration between Australian duo KXB and Berlin-based vocalist and filmmaker Thrush.
This stunning follow-up to their 2023 debut ‘Areas of Uncertainty’ showcases a rich tapestry of sounds that cross borders, blending elements of indie, techno, trip-hop, and kosmische music.
Over the past two years, KXB (Sam and Wes) have worked alongside Thrush, who is also a member of the band Concentration, creating an album that captures their shared love for underground cassette culture and 90s jungle mixtapes. Inspired by the likes of Xpressway, LTJ Bukem, DJ Hype, and Randall, the duo and Thrush bring to life a collection of tracks, dubs, and versions that evoke an unparalleled sense of musical exploration.
The collaboration features 13 tracks where Thrush’s evocative lyrics explore vast, chasmic spaces that tie together the energies of both Germany and Australia. Her voice weaves through mesmerizing trip-hop beats, indie electronica, and pulsating techno vibes, while the experimental sounds of KXB anchor each track. The result is a journey into the unknown—a musical exploration of variety of territories.
Track-by-Track:
‘Deal Structure’
“We’ve been making music together since 2019. Sam was producing and DJing with Ara Koufax and Wes was drumming for Black Cab. We met each other working in the same office and bonded over our shared love of Spacemen 3. ‘Deal Structure’ is one of the first songs we ever worked on as KXB. Any chance to go J. Spaceman on the tremolo must be taken.
‘For My Sins’
“A reminder of how lucky we are to work with our mate Greg Steele (aka Tackle) as an artist and engineer. A true master of wrangling and elevating total chaos. Also, thanks should really go to the podcast “Football Cliches” for the title. Cheers Adam, Charl and Dave.”
‘Disnaeland’
“A tribute to “The Gift” made with love and thanks to Chris “Mr News” O’Rourke (and ‘Irv).
‘Still Or Already’
“We’re incredibly fortunate to get to collaborate with Thrush. She’s a brilliant artist, filmmaker and performer. Most of the vocals on this release are her improvisations recorded in Melbourne a couple of years back – pieced together in the time since. Also, did anyone hear the final minute or so of Pavement’s Hit the Plane Down for the first time and not want to be in a band with your friends, mucking around in a studio until the end of time?”
‘FIFO’
One of our favourite songs to play live as a trio. Thrush translates the cut-up vocals of the studio version to this crazy breathwork performance for live. It’s super fun to sit behind the machines / drums and watch her do her thing.
‘I Feed You (Version)’
Wes: “I was at a My Own Jupiter party in Barcelona a couple of years ago watching Convextion (aka E.R.P.) live. It was sweltering hot and I was losing my mind to one of the greatest electro sets I’d ever seen. I got home from the club at 8 in the morning, sick from the experience, and immediately texted Sam saying “that demo you have for ‘I Feed You,’ we need to spin that into an E.R.P. kinda track!”. We released that electro version as the main single (alongside the music video Thrush shot herself while touring with her band Concentration). We just heard that Philipp Otterbach dropped it at Saule in Berghain, insane. Meanwhile, this mix on the tape/album is a dubbed-out-Wooden Shjips-style thing.”
Sam: “Speaking of Wooden Shjips, I’ve not experienced many moments of pure, ecstatic hypnosis quite like I did seeing them play for the first time back in 2010 during ATP’s ‘In Between Days’ in the UK, years before Wes and I met. The show was in this tiny hall at Butlin’s Minehead and (in my memory at least) there were only about 50 people packed into the room.
It was nice when, nearly 15 years later, we realised we’d actually both been at the same show, probably furiously head-nodding in unison a few metres apart. So every time one of us had suggested we try “going a bit Wooden Shjips with this one”, we’d each unknowingly been thinking back to the very same hall and the very same injection of magic.”
‘Young Skins Pt. I & Pt. II’
“Nothing beats working together in one room, but this pair are nice reminders of how exciting it is when Thrush sends through a new set of vocal recordings from Germany. It always feels like Christmas morning to us here in Melbourne. Sometimes Thrush will record over a basic instrumental demo for timing, but that guide track will almost always be chucked in the bin so we can start fresh and have fun building and rebuilding different versions around the vocals from a totally blank canvas. These are two alt versions of a track that’ll eventually be released as Huntress Mary, which now has enough different iterations to fill an album on its own.”
‘Soft Knock (Live at Pizzeria Venezia)’
“You won’t find a better mushroom calzone in the Schengen Area.”
Remote Discipline (RF On The Tools Acid Mix)
“Richard Fearless is a great friend and hero of ours. He put some really cool touches on the first KXB record (including turning in a wild dub remix of one of the tracks). While we were putting the new record together for R.i.O., we found these crazy stems he did for a different track on that first release – ‘Remote Discipline’ – in his Metal Box studio in London. He has an unbelievable ear and it was a thrill to re-build this track using all the magic Fearless sounds.”
‘Mag’
“We’ve been huge fans of the crew who run the R.i.O. label for many years – Benedikt, Nadia and Markus are incredible music makers, DJs and lovely people. At first we weren’t sure how they’d feel about the idea of releasing what was then just kicking about as “KXB + Thrush Tape” – but when we sent the demos to Bene, he responded straight away, writing simply; “ALLKILLERNOFILLERATTITUDE”. It’s a dream to have this stuff release on one of the great labels around today.”
‘Tony’
“There’s two quite different versions of the album – the digital version which is the individual tracks presented as a more traditional “album”, and then the version pressed to cassette tape which is mixed continuously. The idea for the tape mix came from bootleg jungle mixtapes released and sold in the 90s. Anyone who recognises the sample for Tony would’ve also seen the second best music documentary of all time.”
‘The Art Of Relaxed Conversation’
“RIP Manuel Gotching.”
KXB Instagram
Thrush Instagram
R.i.O Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
