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Kayo Dot
Brooklyn-based Kayo Dot seamlessly melds elements of progressive, atmospheric, and black metal with abstract electro-acoustic and modern chamber composition, as well as gothic rock. They are all but unclassifiable except as an “experimental rock band.” They’re led by the only remaining original member: vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Toby Driver. Since their debut release on John Zorn’s Tzadik label with 2003’s Choirs of the Eye (recorded as an 11-piece metal orchestra), Kayo Dot has undergone many evolutions in its musical approach. As early as their sophomore release, 2006’s more subdued Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue, they’d been reduced to a septet. Kayo Dot’s 2013 crowd-funded, double-length set Hubardo, recorded by Randall Dunn, signaled a return to the metal roots of Driver’s previous band, Maudlin of the Well, and included its vocalist and lyricist Jason Byron, as well as violinist Mia Matsumiya. With the 2016 release of Plastic House on Base of Sky on the Flenser label, electronic music had become central to Driver’s compositional method. The project returned to its doom metal roots with Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike (2021), while 2025’s Every Rock, Every Half-Truth Under Reason reunited the original lineup and introduced “liminal metal,” a spectral, microtonal style that resists algorithmic predictability.