Kristoff Krane (Christopher Keller) is a local Twin Cities musician. He plays a unique style of hip-hop/folk fusion, making him one of the most unique musicians I’ve ever heard. A style he partially attributes to his close friend Eyedea (Michael Larson), who had recommended he start playing guitar so that in the future he could never be accused of selling out if he began to fuse styles or pick up new instruments.
He is not only a great solo artist, but also has been part of groups like Face Candy (Kristoff Krane, Eyedea, JT Bates, and Casey O’Brien), Abzorbr (Kristoff Krane, Casey O’Brien, and Graham O’Brien), and Saturday Morning Soundtrack (Ecid, Kristoff Krane, Impulse, and Capaciti). All of these different groups have contributed to his ability to write music, use his voice as an instrument, create a sound, write in the moment, and listen to the instrumentation of the group, said Krane.
Kristoff Krane preformed live for the first time in 2005. In 2007 Krane preformed solo for the first time at the Dinky Towner, after about 3½ years of playing music and performing.
If you ever see Krane live you will realize within moments his ability to connect with the audience, through his eye contact and his involvement in the crowd. I found out about Kristoff Krane at another artists CD release concert and personally Krane stole the show, with the way he was able to connect with the crowd. Immediately after the end of his set I went over to him and purchased his two most recent CD’s (Hunting For a Father and Picking Flowers Next To Road Kill). I went home that night and just sat down and listened through them for a few hours, memorizing at least half of the songs on those albums.
Krane is also the author of the book The Other, a 200 page book of poems, stories, parables, lyrics, and scripts. He wrote this book after realizing when people asked him questions about issues in there lives many of them he had gown through or written about, so he put together the book as a way to get those pieces out to more people in hopes they may help.
(I was at this show)
When I asked Krane what message he would like to articulate to his audience, he said it would be that everyone goes through a process of discovery and how they interact in the world. Also that it is important for him to express the pain he went through as an adolescent, so that others can know they are not alone and that they also can express themselves to cope with the conflicts in their lives.
Krane compared writing to having a puzzle without knowing what the pieces make, and having to put them together to create a masterpiece.
(Kristoff Krane-Acknowledge)
New Face Candy record is expected to be released late this May with RhymeSayers Records.
(video source: youtube.com)
(photo source: culturebully.com)
