Hi Nutty,
I started trying to make curries with the KD book as well. I think if you're new to the process (as I was), it's a great place to learn about how BIR-style food is made. However, having used a few of the recipes in the book before finding this forum, I can say that so far I've found information here that's not even alluded to in the book about how to make better curries such as better ways for pre-cooking meat and preparing the final curry.
I'm sure you'll get a lot out of this forum if you're willing to dig a little and experiment a lot. Most everyone here also seems pretty friendly and eager to help achieve the collective goal of making the perfect BIR curry at home.
As far as bases go, I've had good luck with the KD base from the book, but the cooking process as-is can sure stink up the house. I'd follow some of the suggestions here about not boiling the garlic with the onions unless you have a way to close off your kitchen and it has lots of windows!

I've only tried one base from here (the one that extrahotchillie mentioned), and I've been having good luck with it so far (once I followed the directions for making the curry properly). It isn't much more effort than the KD base, and it's sure a more pleasant house guest while it's cooking!

Good luck and welcome to the forum.
Cheers,
ast