The Kiss That Took A Trip “Thirty In Twenty: The Collection”
Independent
Release: 1 April 2026
Madrid-based artist the kiss that Took A Trip takes listeners on an eclectic adventure
through Alternative, Pop Rock, Electronica, Ambient PostRock and Chamber Pop sounds
on his expansive new 30-song double album “Thirty in Twenty: The Collection”. Formed in
Madrid in 2006, The Kiss That Took A Trip is the brainchild of M.D. Trello, who stands as
the sole member and admitted factotum. Sonically, Trello’s uniquely powerful signature
sound will appeal to fans of everyone from The Church, Cibo Matto, Blonde Redhead,
Mansun, Depeche Mode, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gary Numan and Angelo
Badalamenti among a plethora of bold and eclectic artists. This is fearless DIY music at it’s
most untethered and fearless in it’s experimentation.
Chris Bound of Horror Vacui Review writes “In an era obsessed with instant hooks and tidy
playlists, The Kiss That Took A Trip remains a glorious anomaly.”
Thirty In Twenty: The Collection is a double album compilation of the best work by The Kiss
That Took A Trip in its first 20 years of existence (the anniversary will take place April 1st
2026), and its purpose, although mainly celebratory, is also to illustrate how the music by
The Kiss That Took A Trip has mutated during all these years, going from instrumental and
highly experimental ambient post-rock to more streamlined versions of electronica-tingled
alternative pop/rock, with vocals back to back.
The compilation includes three brand new tracks (We are what we protect, Forevermore
and Mimosa), two complete reworkings of old songs (Three girls and Vanilla killer), two
remixed tunes (Amplification of the senses and Stock footage), and the 23 remaining tracks
have been remastered, including Goodbye horses, The Kiss’ quirky cover of the song by Q
Lazzarus that audiences seem to enjoy especially.
We are what we protect was released as an advance track early in the year to celebrate the
20th anniversary.
Forevermore video and standalone track will be launched on March 18th as the proper first
single of the album.
The Kiss That Took A Trip, to this day, is still standing for its well known rulebook: Creative
Commons free-of-charge digital music, complete independence and control, rejection of any
musical scenes, mainly computer-based music production, no live act, not taking things too
seriously, and very basic and tiny promotion. Although an enthusiast of the application of
technology to music, the advent of AI has forced The Kiss That Took A Trip to spell out that
stance.
The full collection is available on CD and digital at Bandcamp.
Stream “We Are What We Protect” and “I’ll Hurt You If You Stay” on Spotify.
Watch the lyric video for “We Are What We Protect”.
More Info:
Artist Name: The Kiss That Took A Trip
Location: Madrid (Spain)
Release Title: Thirty In Twenty: The Collection
Release Date: April 1st 2026 (for double CD) / April 7th 2026 (for digital release and
streaming platforms)
Label: (Independent)
Musician Names/Instruments: M. D. Trello – Programming & vocals
Producer Name(s): (Self-produced)
Similar/RIYL: The Church, Cibo Matto, Blonde Redhead, Mansun, Depeche Mode, Mogwai,
U2, Mazzy Star, Orgy, The National, Gary Numan, HiM, Manic Street Preachers, King
Crimson, New Order, Dredg, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Angelo Badalamenti
Genre(s): Alternative pop/rock, electronica, ambient post-rock, chamber pop
Tracklist: (I) 1. Skull and crossbones / 2. Sound and immaculate / 3. Mimosa / 4.
Forevermore / 5. Tastes like copper / 6. Blue is the flame / 7. Goodbye horses / 8.
Champions of delay / 9. Amplification of the senses [30 in 20 remix] / 10. Crapola / 11. 3
year flu / 12. Copernicus / 13. The truth about Lucifer / 14. We are what we protect / 15.
Three girls [30 in 20 re-recording] / 16. Happy birthday party monster /// (II) 1. Ambient punk
/ 2. Bad heavens / 3. Fangs / 4. Heartbreak leave / 5. Delirious romance / 6. Vanilla killer [30
in 20 re-recording] / 7. The dailies / 8. Irma Vep / 9. Everything is disappointing / 10.
Comedian mum / 11. Love + algebra / 12. Flower of gas and smoke / 13. Faulty logic can
cost lives / 14. Stock footage [30 in 20 remix]
Press Quotes
“What makes ‘Horror Vacui’ so compelling is its refusal to explain itself. Trello leans into
instinct, where melodies appear like apparitions, disappear without warning, and then
reemerge transformed. It’s a piece that trusts us to surrender control, and to follow the
labyrinth wherever it leads. In an era obsessed with instant hooks and tidy playlists, The
Kiss That Took A Trip remains a glorious anomaly.” (Chris Bound, Horror vacui review,
2025)
“Albums such as this might just prove to be the giant’s shoulders that others stand on to see
further…” (David Franklin, Victims of the avantgarde review, 2024)
“Hailing from Spain, The Kiss That Took A Trip has been making some of the most beautiful,
esoteric music in the decade plus of its existence.” (Rob Perez, Garlands review, 2020)
“Punk Cathedral is random and at times contradictory in its sonic elements, but it is
oh-so-good. It goes beyond experimental and enters the realm of tentative new wave
progressive post-rock.” (Randy Radic, Punk Cathedral review, 2017)
“I like to discover projects like this because it reminds me that, even with the appearance in
the last 10/15 years of so many domestic groups that have been sold to us, literally,
blatantly as “indie”, whether they were post-punk, pop or electronic or anything, we can still
find curious proposals in a genre plundered and full of cheap copies from Interpol or
Editors.” (Arkaitz R.B., Electroforest (by night) review, 2015)
Websites:
Official Website: www.thekissthattookatrip.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekissthattookatrip
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_kiss_that_took_a_trip/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/artist/1iXVMSHfp4aLZDhF8VjSZn
Bandcamp: https://thekissthattookatrip.bandcamp.com/music
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheKissThatTookATrip/featured
Artist Biography:
Formed in Madrid in 2006, The Kiss That Took A Trip is the brainchild of M.D. Trello, who
stands as the sole member and admitted factotum. A long-in-the-works musical project that
finally saw the light of day when Trello, after an extended period of hesitation, decided to
embrace public exposition inspired by the DIY ethos of diverse musical figures such as
Steve Albini, Trent Reznor and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. A late in the game “band”,
the founder of The Kiss quotes his admired Brian Eno to state he’s not a musician at all and
therefore he will never tour. The Kiss That Took A Trip builds its music, for the most part,
using computers and synthetic sounds, but refusing vehemently to be categorized as
electronic music. In fact, the music can be tagged as a mix of styles such as alternative
rock, post-rock, ambient, experimental, new age and orchestral pop, most of them imbued
with a progressive feel and sometimes fully instrumental. The songs resort to melody,
atmosphere and a pinch of drone and dissonance instead of technical proficiency or
radio-friendly formats.
Since its inception, The Kiss began putting out homemade stuff regularly. However, it was
with its debut album How The Mighty Have Fallen (2012) that The Kiss found an unique
voice. Fully self-produced, the album bases its sound on epic ambient/jazzy suites and
unravels with no sense of urgency but employing signature changes, breakdowns, drone
sections, distortion and hummed vocals reminiscent of Bark Psychosis. This debut album
has a bitter existentialist vibe.
After a two year long gap, The Kiss That Took A Trip returned with Electroforest (2014) and
its little brother Electroforest (By Night) (2015), loosening a lot of tension on the listener and
making an album that recaptured much of the essential sense of melody found in early
works, while still keeping the epic scope and adventurous nature of the previous album,
coming out of the other side of the tunnel with a “best of both worlds” effort, but with its own
internal logic. The record is built in a subtle triptych structure and features the boldest use of
vocals found on a work by The Kiss, even to the point of putting them in the forefront or
having them from beginning to end, like in standard pop songs. In the album, as in previous
releases, The Kiss leaves a breadcrumb trail of sounds that may lead the listener to The
Kiss’ biggest musical early influences: Talk Talk, Friends Of Dean Martinez, Penguin Cafe
Orchestra, Mogwai, Mike Oldfield, His Name Is Alive, Can, Rush, Barry Adamson or Angelo
Badalamenti, only that distortion is turned up a notch or two, placing The Kiss That Took A
Trip in a not very crowded musical niche in which progressive music and mainstream
appeal meet but don’t clash.
After reaching its tenth year of existence, The Kiss That Took A Trip put out Happiness In
The Presence Of Sadness, a 40-minute digital recording designed mostly to temporarily
abandon experimentation (except for the closing track) and celebrate the event in a more
radio-friendly way.
2017 saw the release of The Kiss’ third album Punk Cathedral, an album where spontaneity
appears and premeditation is nowhere to be found. The record is nothing more than a
collection of 14 songs that mix electronic balladry, acoustic tunes, post-rock, distortion,
experimentation, and even brief flirtations with dance music. This different approach works
in favour of traditional structures that get all the limelight this time around (Dry swallowed
pill, Crapola, Glorious racket, Braggadocio, Queen of the night shift). However, audiences
can get their fix of instrumental hymns from the first single (Faulty logic can cost lives) and
the opening track (Ambient punk). The Kiss That Took A Trip spent most of 2019 promoting
its new EP Garlands, a sweet and eclectic release that signaled a newfound maturity, and
it’s probably the least obscure work The Kiss has ever done.
But then the pandemic struck and put the project on a hiatus that would extend until 2023,
due to lots of personal turmoil and technical difficulties. Work on the next proper album was
also interrupted and put on hold until further notice.
In May 2023, though, The Kiss That Took A Trip resurfaced with a new release: Hold Music,
a straight-to-the-point digital EP that finds its ground in melody and (yes, this time it’s an
accurate word) electronics. Four vital tracks that get the job of waking up from hibernation
done. As of late, The Kiss has regained momentum and released Victims of the avantgarde,
the fourth album, an enormous step up in many ways, and also the EP Horror Vacui, an
exercise in experimentation, ambiences, pop and guitar feedback.
2026 will be a witness to the 20th anniversary of The Kiss That Took A Trip, so a series of
releases are underway. The anniversary year began with We are what we protect, a
nostalgic and Elton John-esque piano ballad about the passing of time, and it follows with
the central release of the year: Thirty In Twenty: The Collection, a massive compilation of
The Kiss That Took A Trip’s best work, featuring a few brand new tracks and surprises,
although this release won’t be the last of 2026.
Regarding ideology, The Kiss That Took A Trip operates on a “pay only if you wish” policy
and stands for free music and Creative Commons licensing.
The one-man-band has no other aim but to build a consistent and lasting music catalog that
can speak to people fed up with quick consumption music and looking for high replay value
and a more immersive and personal experience.