Kites is the name used by several different acts, including an experimental noise and psych-folk project by Providence artist Christopher Forgues, a producer project linked to artbyFORM, and other bands from Australia, South Africa, Russia and Texas.

Christopher Forgues project

The best-documented Kites project is the experimental noise and psych-folk work of Christopher Forgues, an artist from Providence who is also known for his graphic novel serial Powr Mastrs. He is later associated with Mark Lord, Dynasty, Daily Life and Brown Recluse Alpha. The project operates as a largely self-made recording practice and the album Peace Trials is recorded by Forgues on a 4-track at home in Providence. The release is described as using homemade, modified or commercial equipment, without keyboards, computers, samplers or digital synthesizers.

Peace Trials, released in 2005, is described as the third release on Load, following Royal Paint With the Metallic Gardener From the United Sates Helped Into an Open Field By Women and Children and a split with Prurient. The album receives critical praise for combining noisy, disorienting pieces with simpler sung songs. Tracks mentioned from the record include “Flag Torn Apart”, “True”, “Exploded Face”, “Downward/Creepy Crawl”, “Something About America” and “Baby Fawn With Broken Legs”. Its lyrics and track titles suggest a political focus, especially on war, violence, state power and their effect on youth.

The same project is also described as operating with short song forms and a mix of structure and abstraction, with one set of tracks leaning toward more unsettled noise experiments and another toward plain melodic pieces.

Producer project

Another Kites is a self-releasing producer associated with artbyFORM.

Other acts using the name

Other acts called Kites include a screamo and spoken-word band from Australia, a South African singer-songwriter and producer project by Jean-Philip Grobler, an indie-rock and shoegaze group from Barnaul in Russia that releases EPs including Four Songs for Different Feelings on the net label Free as a Bird, and an indie band from Texas.