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K7

Cover of Age Of The Ego by Crazy P.

Crazy P

Age Of The Ego

K7

"Age Of The Ego" is the immaculately-crafted eighth album by dance-music-national-treasures Crazy P. Fans of Fleetwood Mac, Peter Gabriel, Grace Jones, Arthur Russell, Jam Hammer, Prince and Bobby O will find much to like, but this is clearly modern music, where heavy clubs beats are layered-up with perfectly-placed arrangement, ace playing and stratospheric soundscapes. Musically, Crazy P’s breadth of studio and writing experience shines brighter than ever, and "Age Of The Ego" has their unmistakeable stamp of quality, but is now augmented with a broader palate, and - like many - a feeling of upset with the state of the world.

'I don't usually write my lyrics in advance, as I feel they’re expressed better in tandem with the music, which seems to help tap into my subconscious. What came out on several tracks was Brexit, the state of UK politics and the way I feel about divisive, abhorrent manipulation by certain media outlets. Thematically parts of album were also influenced by the rise of social media, the struggling education system and how it’s failing our young, and the impact all of this has on us. It’s been hard to not be emotionally influenced by the situation we find ourselves in; not just in this country, but worldwide. I feel very angry and frustrated, but sometimes have to laugh at myself, because I struggle to articulate my feelings in normal conversation. I suppose lyrically it is political, a reflection of the times, but with a twist of humour and always a lot of love,' explains Danielle.

Ok but what do we think? Obviously, it's quite bitter sweet hearing Dani express herself this way; as their music has always sought to uplift and elevate through the optimistic and energetic vibe of disco's past glories. Don't worry though, the music still shines, and the grooves are here to make you wobbly, dance and jump; but look beyond that and there's some inspired lyrical genius contained within. And for that we have to applaud Danielle - it'd be very easy to ignore the current world situation and bury your head in a sand of instagram posts and self-indulgent tweetings. Instead Danielle, and the rest of the band of course, have taken the moral stand and addressed the issue. When musicians have the platform and influence that they do, Dani almost makes it seem criminal that on the whole the music community doesn't do more to change things. Here's to the revolution! 


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Reduced Cover of Silent Movie by Quiet Village.

Quiet Village

Silent Movie

K7

    After three sought-after singles for the Whatever We Want label - plus remixes for the likes of Gorillaz, Fran Ois K, Mudd, Toby Tobias, James Yorkston, Grandada Bob, Black Devil and Cosmo Vitelli - Quiet Village step out of the shadows to present their much-anticipated debut album, 'Silent Movie'. Comprised of master crate-digger Joel Martin and rising dance-music star Matt Edwards (a man of many monikers including Radio Slave & Rekid), and borrowing their name from Martin Denny's exotica masterpiece, Quiet Village make the old sound new (and vice versa). Influenced by Italian film soundtracks, library music, disco edits, acid rock and vintage soul, they mix the unlikeliest elements - bluesy guitar, chamber strings, air-raid sirens, shuffling breakbeats, even flutes and seagull cries - into an hour-long, beautiful reverie. Often cinematic in feel - their sound is unique and will wash over you in a refreshing embrace. This reissue is pressed on orange vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day.

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Sil says: Joel Martin and Radio Slave produced this beautiful piece of music which is actually a collage of great samples. I say what is wrong with that when the result is as amazing as this. You do not have it? Get it now. Freshly repressed just for you!

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    Cover of DJ Kicks - Laurel Halo by Various Artists.

    Various Artists

    DJ Kicks - Laurel Halo

    K7

    The 68th edition of the DJ-Kicks mix series is another landmark one, with experimental producer Laurel Halo taking the reins. The American’s adventurous 28 track trip features seven exclusives, including two of her own plus those from Rrose, Machinewoman, FIT Siegel, Nick León and Ikonika.

    An electronic outlier, Halo hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but has been based in Berlin for a number of years. Landing on labels like Hyperdub, Honest Jon’s and Latency, Halo has released a body of work ranging in style, yet cohered by production and compositional tendencies that sound distinctly her own. Her studio work tends to be a multi-layered mix of the electronic and the acoustic, the organic and the synthetic. As a DJ, meanwhile, she lays down more floor focussed mixes of techno, bass and worldly drum rhythms, and her live sets are similarly visceral and direct.

    Halo’s DJ-kicks packs a lot in to just 60 minutes. It kicks off with the first of two of her own exclusives, ‘Public Art’, a tactile piano loop that sets the melodic tone of the mix in focus. Crunchy drums soon take over and begin what is a blistering ride through electro, trippy minimalism and textures that range from icy and dubby to steel plated and sharp from the likes of Red Axes, Parris and an exclusive from Rrose.

    Another exclusive, rough and ready cut from Machinewoman follows, before the mid section twists and turns on surging drum patterns, frantic industrial textures and spaced out gqom sounds from the likes of Griffit Vigo, Dario Zenker and Final Cut. This is a mix forever on the move: one minute its tightly coiled and kinetic, the next it’s loose and joyful before switching into more cerebral and insular passages that keep you intrigued.

    Fusing together so many disparate sounds and textures is no mean feat, but like everything Halo does, here they all add up to something as thrilling and edgy as it is unpredictable and compelling.


    STAFF COMMENTS

    Patrick says: DJ Halo joins the DJ Kicks club with a post everything set of unorthodox dance bizznizz. At times propulsive and percussive, elsewhere hazy and wavy, the largely synthetic house selection is littered with fragments of rave, breakbeat, electro and experimental sounds, all tied together by the producer's own unique style.

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    Cover of DJ Kicks - DJ Koze by Various Artists.

    Various Artists

    DJ Kicks - DJ Koze

    K7

      DJ Koze - with his friendly and sometimes slightly melancholic take on the world - is one of the greatest auteurs of club music today, and one of the few internationally active DJs who dares to make music that has relevance beyond the dancefloor.

      During the 70-minute journey on his DJ Kicks - the 50th edition in the series - Kosi Kos manages to establish a uniform colour even though genres alternate in a way that is rarely heard on a mix CD: the stripped down hip hop of Madlib, brutalist Berghain techno, timeless songwriting, floating indie-pop and outlier numbers that oscillate between absurdity and melancholy. Koze's disregard for the stylistic yoke presents him with an immense challenge. Hence, almost all the tracks are more or less edited, and one is fully rhymed (Session Victim: Hyuwee).

      Koze rambles on here himself: "I didn't want to kick around sophisticated knowledge, but rather try and weave together some good gems that would make sense to anyone, even people who aren't necessarily music nerds". But this is blabbing that you can count on, also because he approaches the term "mix" from a different angle and doesn't even try to make something fit that doesn't fit: "During the day, I don't need to hear anything that's mixed on the beat. I put the focus on making sure that it works harmoniously – the idea is more to create the impression of a radio show, like people such as John Peel did so uniquely. There is a giant cosmos of music and it runs through my filter".


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      Cover of Happy Earthday by Bjarki.

      Bjarki

      Happy Earthday

      K7

      An expressive electronic album filled with sadness, yet one with the sort of positive, stirring resolve that leaves you feeling utterly comforted, Bjarki’s new album "Happy Earthday" is influenced by his home country Iceland as well as environmental issues. 'Maybe you can feel the melancholy of my life, the nature overall. Volcanos and the lava flowing down the slopes, the frightening noise of the ocean beating the land, the strong wind in the mountain passes and a glimpse of the first ray of the rising sun over the glacier. Now that is the dawn of a new day.”

      Having released bodies of work on Nina Kraviz’s label трип and his own label bbbbbb, Bjarki views "Happy Earthday" as his proper debut album; he feels it’s a more coherent and conceptual body of work that finds him offering up music he never thought he would release. 'You can consider this album a window into my head and even my soul,' says Bjarki. 'For me it is a bit odd, sharing like this to the world. As a very private person I am not used to opening my door so completely. It’s a little scary for me. ‘What if …’ I wonder, expecting all kinds of everything.'

      The album contains very personal material written over the last decade during fragile moments of introspection. And because of that, 'releasing this album is also a kind of a farewell to music I made in a certain period in my life. It’s like I’m saying farewell to a grown-up child which is now ready to leave the nest.'

      There are skeletal rhythms with sombre chords lingering in the air, downbeat drums with heavy moods, and moments of more uplifting optimism along the way. Throughout the album - made up of comparatively short tracks that help the whole thing move at an engaging pace - Bjarki always manages to make his machines sing with real resonance; they ooze genuine pain and a stunning sense of melancholy that is comforting even when the tempo is raised and drums come to the fore.


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      Cover of DJ Kicks - Leon Vynehall by Various Artists.

      Various Artists

      DJ Kicks - Leon Vynehall

      K7

      First to take the reins of the DJ-Kicks mix series in 2019 will be ever evolving UK artist, Leon Vynehall. His 26-track mix features new material from the man himself, as well as exclusives by Hessle Audio and Timedance affiliate, Ploy, rising newcomer Peach, and Pavilion, plus a number of gems that will be available digitally for the first time ever.

      In a short space of time, Leon Vynehall has established himself as a DJ and producer with real craft. He brings a much wider than usual array of skills and influences to electronic music, and is always as likely to talk about minimalism, post-punk, or hip-hop as he is house and techno. This comprehensive approach to was confirmed by his spellbinding debut album Nothing Is Still on Ninja Tune in June 2018. An imagined soundtrack to his grandparents' emigration from the UK to New York throughout the 1960s, it told a distinctive story that unfolded into a resonant narrative; a richly layered affair filled with curveballs and a wealth of adventurous ideas that Vynehall pulled off with confidence and style.

      It’s the same story with his DJs sets, and particularly this DJ-Kicks mix, which goes from 79-169bpm in fluid fashion. Always interesting and distinctly diverse both in genre and tempo, the mix works in a range of settings, as was the artist’s aim.

      'I wanted to approach this more like a compilation than a stand-alone ‘mix,'' he says. 'To me, compiling a DJ-Kicks is a significant statement of intent and representation, so with that in mind, I thought more about the selection than the mix. Being given the responsibility to select work from artists I admire, some of which have only ever been released on their first vinyl presses many years ago, was a task I didn’t take lightly.'


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Matt says: What a rise to stardom we've witnessed from this equisitive producer / DJ. From his early beginning in 2012, we've seen a multifaceted produce drop house, techno and ambient. Now, for a well-overdue DJ Kicks comp, we get to explore his major influences and musical landmarks from boy to man. Yes boss!

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      Cover of DJ Kicks - Robert Hood by Various Artists.

      Various Artists

      DJ Kicks - Robert Hood

      K7

      It’s hard to talk about techno without Robert Hood. The Motor City mainstay was a founding member of the pivotal Underground Resistance with Mad Mike Banks and Jeff Mills, and then went on to lay down a blueprint for minimal techno which continues to make an impact to this day. As Floorplan, of course, he veers into more funky and melodic house and techno, often with a gospel overtone that lead to rapturous receptions on dance floors around the world.

      But the techno he makes as Robert Hood is what he is best known for. It has come on his own M Plant label, as well as vital outlets like Tresor, Peacefrog and Dekmantel, where 2017’s"Paradygm Shift" album proved that, 25 years after first starting out, he is still a force unto himself. The record was a return to the roots of his definitive "Minimal Nation" LP in 1994, and was filled with the sort of expert melodic loops, scintillating drums and hypnotic sense of repetition
      that only a few can master: making such simple yet effective music is a skill that Hood has made all his own.

      His DJ-Kicks mix proves that once more: it is a techno mix, pure and simple. It exudes the trademark machine warmth and muscular sense of groove that makes Hood’s style so infectious. Most tracks are from the last few years and come from a range of mainly European producers, but the result is pure Robert Hood.

      The perennial futurist wastes no time in getting down to business: after a brief buzzing synth line sounds like a spacecraft warming up for takeoff, the rubbery, relentless drums arrive and remain rooted to the floor for seventy minutes. Despite his famously linear approach, the tension between tracks, suspenseful breakdowns and sci-fi sense of melody throughout keeps you engaged: there is just enough light in the dark, sufficient colour between the shadows and constant sense of pressure to keep you utterly engaged from start to finish. Robert Hood is synonymous with techno, and his entry into the DJ-Kicks series shows exactly why.

      The double LP version contains eight singular tracks in their entirety (as opposed to the CD which contains the whole mix, uninterupted). Truncate, Slam, Gary Beck and Robert Hood are amongst its contributors and it's the perfect companion vinyl to the full length DJ Mix.


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: One of the godfathers of modern techno, Robert Hood slams through a wide-ranging collection of straight-up bangers, filter-heavy basement tackle and hypnotic syncopated dissonance, all underpinned with a robust and ever-present kick. Get up, and GO.

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      Cover of The Lapse Of The Exchange / Alone Moving Often by Reto A Ichi (AKA Prefuse 73).

      Reto A Ichi (AKA Prefuse 73)

      The Lapse Of The Exchange / Alone Moving Often

      K7

      Reto A Ichi is a sonic tabula rasa for Guillermo Herren AKA Prefuse 73. There are identifiable elements of the artist you already know - an uncanny sense for rhythm, an ability to shape samples and frequencies like clay, an affinity for the subtle changes of repetition - yet this is first and foremost music born from the need for silence. There is no easy entrance point or index for the listener.

      The first album, "The Lapse of Exchange", is the sound of life as heard from a small Chinatown window in downtown Manhattan, the thunder of populism on the horizon. The album opens with music that reflects the inherent tension between the life of the artist - the self-doubt, the late nights, the aspirations - and the world outside - the hustle and bustle of a city that never sleeps, the wars abroad, the politicians at home. It's a tension felt in the repeating, circling keys of "Let The Pianos Freeze", the pulsating rhythms of "No Juntos", or the call and response of pitched vocal samples in "A Sword In The Rain". Ultimately it all becomes too much for our unwitting hero: the car horns outside the window, the 24 hour news cycle, the early stages of an election that tears down any remaining semblance of normality. Reto A’ichi can no longer grasp his humanity or connect to that of people around him.

      With the walls closing in, he packs his small life and escapes. This change in situation is reflected in the second half of the album, with tension giving way to a rush of emotions: modulated elation on "All Regrets", sweeping melancholy on "Tuesdays Always Awful", and soaring hope on "Broad Plant Pt.2". On Alone Moving Often, the second album, we find Reto A’ichi away from the city, lost in the vastness of empty summer houses and the complications that solitude brings. Sitting in the prison of his own quiet, Reto A’ichi seeks to capture the essence of silence: the compositions are stripped back further ("Pforever Reto"), the instruments given prominence ("So Contra"), and the chaos of the city replaced by the cacophony of nature ("Criminality"). To be alone, one must learn to constantly move in both work and purpose. As the rest of the record unfolds, Reto A’ichi comes to realize that nothing is ever truly quiet and that to run from the world is to simply find yourself in another part of it. A sense of acceptance for these unsettling realities is reflected in the music, from the harsher tones and frequencies that resonate throughout "Noise Counter Melody" and "Ghost Arpeggio" to the heavy stroke of the keys on "Alone Moving Often" and the haunting drone of "Mountainside Hillside".


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      Cover of DJ Kicks - Mount Kimbie by Various Artists.

      Various Artists

      DJ Kicks - Mount Kimbie

      K7

      Mount Kimbie heads up the latest DJ Kicks series with a 23 track mix that includes one of their own new exclusives. It’s a snapshot of exactly what the UK duo sound like in the club right now and is accompanied by a DJ Kicks tour that sees the pair feature extensively all over the globe.

      2018 marks a decade since Kai Campos and Dominic Maker first hooked up and started making music. In the early years they refashioned dubstep into innovative new forms that drew on ambient, garage and electronica. After a critically acclaimed debut album on Hotflush, they signed to Warp Records and have consolidated their position at the forefront of the international electronic scene with two critically acclaimed albums and countless world live tours.

      This is a mix inspired by a mini-run of DJ gigs that Mount Kimbie played with Actress. 'It was an interesting and challenging experience, and I learnt a lot on the six dates we did,' says Kai, who explains that plenty of the tracks he was playing during those gigs make it into the mix. They make it a forward looking affair that calls on music the band have discovered recently; music they have found inspiring. Their own 'DJ Kicks’ exclusive track was made especially for the mix and was initially influenced by Stanislav Tolkachev and Alexis Perala, who are both also included. Rather than a painstaking plan or meticulous studio approach, this session captures the improvised energy of a real DJ mix, but one where each track is given time to breath and make an impact rather than one where DJ trickery is at the fore.

      The result is a succinct 50 minutes that often goes deep, with rough hewn drums and grainy atmospheres from the likes of Terrence Dixon, Severed Heads, Marco Bernardi and Object Blue. It perfectly knits together stripped back rhythms, percussive tracks and more harmonic techno while seamlessly joining the dots between the old and the new. It’s a well balanced mix that stays low and heady, and that sense of focused tension is what makes it so utterly compelling throughout.

      The vinyl, as is the norm, selects the tastiest, more sought after or simply the tracks that were permissible for vinyl licensing and does away with the mixed concept, presenting a smorgasbord of cutting edge tracks for you to relish at your own enjoyment. 


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      Cover of Kepler by Tomat Petrella.

      Tomat Petrella

      Kepler

      K7

      Sometimes magic happens. Sometimes, emotions enwrap you in a way you’ve rarely experienced before. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of freedom: the freedom to create, improvise, process, and re-process, without specific references, deadlines, or obligations to please whatever markets or audiences with clear-cut styles and sound signatures.

      Actually, this Tomat Petrella affair is quite unexpected. It’s a game of two: Turin-based Davide Tomat, who has over twenty years experience as a multi-instrumentalist, band leader, and sound designer in several Italian projects (Niagara, N.A.M.B., and founder of the Superbudda collective); and musician Gianluca Petrella, hailing from southern Italy but in fact a citizen of the world and - more importantly - one of the most revered and inventive jazz trombone players in the world from the last decade or so (as stated on several Down Beat Critics’ Polls and proven on his Blue Note and ECM releases).

      “Kepler”, their collaborative effort, is a beast of a different nature. It has so many textures, intuitions, and complexities that you can hardly list this simply as a 'jazz-meets-electronica' project. So much well-educated, well intentioned, nicely predictable music has been produced under that moniker, but this surpasses them and then some.

      Tracks build under mountains of static, Petrella's haunting trombone resurrecting the ghost of Peter Zummo as fluttering layers of fleeting synth and analogue detritus rush past our ears. On other tracks mountainous walls of bass and rhythm hit us in the frontal lobes, our senses crushed under the emotive saturation and guided purely by the moods contained within. Really quite arresting and one of those albums that's impossible to ignore, however quiet and and empty the arrangements get - they captivate you entirely. 


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      Cover of DJ Kicks - Deetron by Various Artists.

      Various Artists

      DJ Kicks - Deetron

      K7

      DJ-Kicks start 2018 in fine style with another vital entry into their long running series. The latest comes from Swiss DJ and producer Deetron on March 3rd 2018, and features an exclusive solo track as well as exclusive collaborations with Steve Spacek, Jinadu and Jamie Lidell.
      As one of the other most famous musical exports from his Swiss homeland, he has pretty much done it all from fabric and Balance mix CDs to running his own label, from essential albums like Twisted and Music Over Matter on Music Man Records to club focussed 12”s on Will Saul’s Aus Music and French label Circus Company. After 20 years in the game, he is still in demand at key clubs around the world, and is sufficiently respected as to be able to call on big names like Seth Troxler, Cooly G and Ben Westbeech for collaborations.

      This landmark mix shows off his timeless style and passion for the nostalgic emotions associated with Chicago and the serene machine soul of Detroit. Selected from records that have resonated with him over the years and that continue to conjure strong feelings, it also features various vocals from friends “in the style of a traditional mixtape,” explains the artist. “Over the years I have worked on bringing techno and soulful vocals together and I wanted to represent that in the mix. On the technical side of things, the mix represents my work as a producer and remixer as well as my aim to recreate tracks using three decks when deejaying. A large part of the mix was recorded using three decks but I also included a section which I approached more like a production or remix. “The eighty minute mix starts with the spine tingling chills of Carl Craig’s ‘Goodbye World’ and smoothly builds through dreamscape house from masters of the form including Gifted & Blessed, Linkwood, Soulphiction and Mr Fingers. Often only playing a few minutes of each track with more than 35 employed in all, this is a dynamic and ever-evolving soundtrack with masterfully blurred transitions.

      The early melodic beauty of the mix slowly makes way for more propulsive drums from the likes of Morgan Geist, Aardvarck and DJ Koze, while the mid-section gets trippy and zoned out with deep, elastic grooves. Carl Craig then reappears with his remix of Tony Allen’s ‘Kilode’ to break up the beats and colourful keys and smooth classic house slowly lead towards a more techno leaning crescendo with Floorplan and Derrick May providing the blissful goods. Ending on the dissipating energies of Jessy Lanza’s ‘Strange Emotion’ is a fine move that leaves you feeling cleansed and ready to go again.

      This is an adventurous mix that packs a lot in without ever feeling hurried or harried. In short, it is the sound of a master deck technician doing what he does best.


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      Cover of I'll Break Ya Legg by Lars Eidinger.

      Lars Eidinger

      I'll Break Ya Legg

      K7

      Lars Eidinger is an artist, born and raised in Berlin, working mostly as an actor at the Schaubühne theatre in Berlin. He is especially known for his interpretations of the characters Hamlet and Richard III in the eponymous plays of William Shakespeare in productions directed by Thomas Ostermeier. He also appeared in several German movie productions such as "Everyone Else" by Maren Ade, "Home For The Weekend" by Hans-Christian Schmid and "Blooms Of Yesterday" by Chris Kraus alongside international films such as "Goltzius And The Pelican Company" by Peter Greenaway, "Mathilda" by Alexey Uchitel and "Clouds Of Sils Maria" by Olivier Assayas plus German and international TV series like "Tatort", "Polizeiruf 110", BBC’s "SS-GB" and the Netflix series "Sense8" by the Wachowski Sisters. In 1998, during the time he was studying acting he released a 10" called "I’ll Break Ya Legg" under his name on !K7’s sub label Studio 54, produced on a PC in the basement of his parents house on a 4 MB sound card - the whole record is 100% sample based. The resulting sound is Lo-Fi, giving the whole tonal aesthetic a very rough and dark feel with a very melancholic and morbid atmosphere.

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      Cover of Suzuki by Tosca.

      Tosca

      Suzuki

      K7

      First press since original release in 2000, Suzuki is the second studio album by Austrian downtempo / trip-hop duo Tosca, released by Studio !K7 and G-Stone Recordings in 2000. Unlike many of Tosca's subsequent releases, "Suzuki" is essentially an instrumental album, with vocal samples integrated throughout, but in such a way that they "become a part of the instrumentation." The album is dedicated to the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki. The dedication can be found on the inside of the front cover.

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      Cover of DJ Kicks - Michael Mayer by Various Artists.

      Various Artists

      DJ Kicks - Michael Mayer

      K7

      Michael Mayer. Credited by many as one of the leading tastemakers in dance music, his DJ sets have influenced a generation (or two) of musicians and fans out there today. An artist that has never allowed time or age to slow him down – Michael Mayer remains tirelessly motivated behind the DJ decks, in the studio or behind his desk at Kompakt, the company he co-owns.

      Last year’s full-length LP, ‘&’, was Michael’s fourth, a departure that saw him extensively collaborate with an impressive host of contemporaries and friends, including Joe Goddard, Prins Thomas and Agoria. Complimenting these excursions perfectly, Michael’s long overdue contribution to the legendary DJ Kicks series finds the Cologne artist in just as generous of a mood, only rooted in his ever-expanding record collection, and above all, his defining instinct to share the beauty of music with others. “On an abstract level, the approach was basically the same for both projects”, observes Mayer. “For & I put together a group of people that are close to my heart. For Kicks it was a group of records that are like friends to me. All of the tracks I used went through heaven and hell with me. They've become true companions. Circling in on and bringing together these friends was the only criterion for the making of this mix. I wanted it to be as personal as possible.”

      Perhaps unnervingly to some, fifteen years have passed since the debut edition to Mayer’s breathtaking, scene defining mix trilogy, Immer. Not that it’s legacy - Resident Advisor’s #1 Mix of the 00s, one of Rolling Stone’s 30 Greatest EDM Albums Of All Time - has disturbed Mayer’s formidable workload. A catalogue of no less than 23 EPs, 4 albums and 170 remixes informs a near constant level of international touring. Exhausting as this can be, even after all these years, it’s a ritual that informs the delicate construction of Mayer’s contribution to the DJ Kicks series.

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      Cover of Alpha by Audion.

      Audion

      Alpha

      K7

      Matthew Dear’s Audion project stands proudly at the intersection between art and hedonism, realised over a decade long dedication to powerful and relevant dance music. Growing out of the vibrant DIY Detroit underground, Audion and his contemporaries were free to feed off the energy reverberating from UK and European dancefloors, but singular in their desire to create their own sound and spirit. An Audion release is techno in its purest sense - whether it’s pushing the bombastic limits, spinning the dancefloor out of control or elegantly toying with just a few sonic elements.

      ‘Alpha’ is Audion’s first artist album in 10 years and comes at the end of a period of fevered activity. The collective body of work standing as a marker in time and a defining moment in the life of the artist. Drowning out the noise of the outside world, ‘Alpha’ was a puzzle pieced together sonically in the shadows and wildly brought to life in a matter of weeks. The artwork for ‘Alpha’ has again been realised by Will Calcutt, Dear’s long-time collaborator, who has a visual plan for the music that matches the sonic vision, completing the final critical piece of the puzzle.


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: Dystoptian techno heaven. Pristinely produced but filthily saturated hardware jams. Booming sub-bass and to-their-breaking-point resonators squelch and scream , whilst Tresor-esque 808 kicks underpin the whole endeavour. Meticulously crafted robot rave. A++, would listen again.

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      Cover of DJ Kicks - Moodymann by Various Artists.

      Various Artists

      DJ Kicks - Moodymann

      K7

      Following a year that saw the 50th entry in the long-running series released to wide acclaim, DJ-Kicks returns in 2016 another landmark edition. Iconic Detroit DJ and producer Moodymann is at the helm for his first ever multi-artist DJ mix compilation. Born Kenny Dixon Jr., Moodymann is a one-of-a-kind electronic music icon, hailing from, and wholly synonymous with the Motor City. He is an outspoken, impossibly charismatic artist who has been putting a distinctive and soulful stamp on house and techno since the early 90s. Melting together jazz, funk, soul, blues and rock in captivating ways, he is responsible for some of electronic music’s most definitive tracks, EPs and LPs on labels like Planet E, Peacefrog and his own KDJ and Mahogani Music imprints. As able to serve up the sweetest and most sensual sounds as he is the darkest and most depraved grooves, his own unique voice and stream of conscious musings infuse expertly sought-out samples for music that is decisively alive and authentic.

      Across 75 minutes and 30 tracks, Moodymann does not disappoint: despite being a notorious vinyl fetishist, Dixon’s aim is to present music of quality, not to one-up fellow collectors. Rather than serving up ridiculously rare or hard-to-find records, he instead focuses on creating a libidinous, blues-drenched mood that takes in heart-breaking soul, gorgeous hip-hop and love-fuelled house. In addition to cuts from his own creative circle, the mix features 11 exclusive Moodymann edits. Like everything Kenny Dixon Jr. touches, DJ-Kicks showcases the taste, skill, and soul of a dance music original.


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      Cover of Graspers - Bonus Disc Edition by AKASE.

      AKASE

      Graspers - Bonus Disc Edition

      K7

      !K7 serve up another superb release here, dropping the debut LP from UK live and studio duo, AKASE, aka Harry “Midland” Agius and Robbie Redway. "Graspers" was recorded over the course of two years in Harry’s studio in South East London. Both members of the group had equal input, putting to good use their respective backgrounds and influences, in the end coming up with something new, fresh and absorbing. With a helping hand from legendary producer and studio wizard Ewan Pearson of Kompakt Records association, this album has come together naturally, at its own pace, with no outside pressures, and that really shows. At just 44 minutes long, "Graspers" is all about capturing emotions and brief moments in time, and it does that expertly. Kicking off with the broody, swelling "Adrift", the album unfolds through glitchy beats and pained vocal lines on "Rust" before tracks like "Beseech" de-humanise Redway’s vocals into fractured organic textures. Percussion ranges from crisp and sharp to slick and uplifting and Redway’s voice takes on many different forms. At once pained, at other times carefree, it lends a compelling edge to the variously frazzled, floating, staccato and sombre drums and synths that frame and drive each track. This is a timeless album that stands up to intimate headphone listening, but it also works for post break-up nights in and emotionally laden post club afterparties. With live shows also in the pipeline, "Graspers" is sure to resonate throughout 2016.


      FORMAT INFORMATION

      LP Info: Includes 5 track bonus exclusives / remixes CD while stocks last.

      Vinyl comes with CD version of the album enclosed.

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      [ - ]
      Cover of Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions (Vinyl Edition) by Various Artists.

      Various Artists

      Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions (Vinyl Edition)

      K7

      Originally released on Studio !K7 Records in 1998, Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister's groundbreaking release, 'The K&D Sessions' reset the bar for what could be achieved in a compilation. Across an array of original tracks, dubs and infamous ‘K&D Session’ remixes, the DJ and producer duo took the listener on a smoke-filled blunted journey that flowed flawlessly. Often compared to DJ Shadow's 'Endtroducing' for its similarly deft craft of rhythm and quoted by Allmusic as "the most blissfully blunted music the world has ever heard", the album has sold over 1,000,000 copies to date and was included in Spin’s ‘Top 20 albums of 1999’. The album has long since been deleted on Vinyl with original 4LP sets changing hands for €300+ on the collectors market and even a bootleg vinyl copy will set a buyer back over €100. Sixteen years later, this legendary album will be available as a long overdue 5LP reissue remastered by Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood.


      FORMAT INFORMATION

      5xLP Info: Repress!

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      [ - ]
      Cover of Live In Berlin 1988 by Mudhoney.

      Mudhoney

      Live In Berlin 1988

      K7

        Filmed by a professional camera crew at 1988’s Berlin Independent Days festival, Live In Berlin, 1988 captures the Seattle grunge pioneers’ first ever performance on foreign soil. Playing as representatives of Sub Pop Records to a crowd of curious punters, critics and members of Europe’s independent music community, the show was also the first Grunge gig in Europe, laying essential groundwork for Grunge’s subsequent global domination.

        A testament to the enduring vitality of the independent music scene, the release celebrates the 27th anniversary of !K7, a Berlin-based independent label and distributor with offices in New York and London, and an internationally renowned purveyor of electronic music in particular. In its early days, !K7 also served as a video production company run by label-owner Horst Weidenmüller, whose crew filmed a number of performances from that year’s Berlin Independent Days festival. Weidenmüller recently rediscovered the Mudhoney footage, realising that he held in his hands a crucial rock’n’roll document that had to be shared with the world.

        Besides its historical importance, Mudhoney: Live In Berlin, 1988 presents one of the greatest rock’n’roll groups of all time at their very best, a glorious mess of flailed hair, acidic caterwaul, gnarly riffage and fried guitar skronk as Mudhoney tear through material from their epochal (but then-unreleased) Superfuzz Bigmuff EP and eponymous debut album. The show’s wild, thrilling, and funny-as-fuck, much like Mudhoney themselves. You’ll wish you’d been there – now, thanks to this Mudhoney:Live In Berlin, 1988, you almost can be.

        Bonus DVD content, including exclusive interview with Mudhoney’s Mark Arm by journalist Stevie Chick

        Liner notes written by Stevie Chick

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        [ - ]
        Cover of New Look by New Look.

        New Look

        New Look

        K7

        Recorded over the past three years, across the creative trinity of Berlin, Brooklyn and the sleepy hollow town of Hamilton, near Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, New Look’s self-titled debut album is a feverishly anticipated affair. The Canadian future-pop duo and real life couple, Sarah Ruba and Adam Pavao have an undeniable creative synergy, combining the stunning, synth-playing chanteuse and former model, 25-year-old Ruba and multi-instrumentalist, 31-year-old producer Pavao.

        There is a confidence and wit to their songwriting, coupled with cosmic tweaks and soft synths underpinning their future pop aesthetic. It’s controlled yet wistful pop perfectionism. Opening with “Nap on the Bow”, New Look slowly caress an introductory world of warm 80s analogue pads and distanced echoes, the track building up around Ruba’s ethereal dreams. Striding along with “Numbers” and “A Light”, New Look showcase their talent for creating a multi-synth-orchestra vibe. The band’s obsession with analogue equipment rises through the MIDI gaps, with the gear’s white noise and tape hiss being musically manipulated around gorgeous, crystal clear vocals.

        New Look’s anthemic single “The Ballad” is the record’s futuristic pop centrepiece, juxtaposed by the stripped-back, harder hitting electro of “Teen Need” where Ruba’s vocals are twisted with a late night, 5am throwback party vibe. With a pitched down Sarah Ruba contributing androgynous guest vocals on “You & I”, the album’s morning-after-the-night-before turnaround, the latter half of the album returns to New Look’s soaring, amorous electronic pop roots.


        FORMAT INFORMATION

        CD Info: Includes bonus New Look 'This Is My Jam' mixtape CD.

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        Cover of Songs For Endless Cities Vol.1 - Brackles by Various Artists.

        Various Artists

        Songs For Endless Cities Vol.1 - Brackles

        K7

        "Songs For Endless Cities" is a new series that will be focusing on the new generation of DJs and producers who have a fresh and individual take on an ever evolving electronic scene.

        Anyone with a passing interest in new electronic music may have noticed a generational shift over the last few years, and Brackles comes from that new wave of producers, promoters, DJs, hustlers and bustlers who have little to do with the 40+ year old Ibiza veterans still punting out big tunes for ever diminishing creative returns. They’re part of the 'hardcore continuum', but not shackled by it, they play post dubstep / future garage / UK funky but aren’t defined by it, and whilst the likes of Brackles and his contemporaries work dancefloors with the kind of energy only a new, young generation of DJs can, their musical scope and breadth reaches well beyond club confines.

        "Songs for Endless Cities" aims to capture a slice of Brackles after hours and out of hours, with the afterglow still burning, maybe the rhythms still bumping, but with the freedom to rove around a bit, enjoying and exploring sound without always having to turn back to the dancefloor. From the langorous, ethereal machine funk of opener Flying Lotus’ "Mr Chippy", and the cosmic-jazz tinged 303 energy of Floating Points' "People’s Potential", the classy, stripped back future-soul of Roska’s "I Need Love" and the UR-style strains of Dorian Concept's "Trilingual Dance Sexperience", to Deadboy’s "If You Want Me," a lethal combination of broken, funky rhythms, futuristic machine drones, disembodied soul diva looped up into hypno oblivion, topped off with an M1 organ riff straight out of the Frog and Nightgown in 1996, "Songs..." never stays in one musical place, but is a very much a coherent whole.


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        [ - ]
        Cover of Grains by Boozoo Bajou.

        Boozoo Bajou

        Grains

        K7

        After 10 years of forward-thinking musical fusion, Boozoo Bajou return with their most seductive and sophisticated album yet, "Grains". The producers Florian Seyberth and Peter Heider are already widely respected around the globe for their unique blend of downbeat with blues, jazz, soul, Latin and dub elements. But on "Grains", the Nuremberg duo take a lighter and brighter path, absorbing acoustic folk and classic songwriting into their progressive musical journey. Boozoo Bajou earned global attention with their irresistible breakthrough single "Night Over Manaus" in 1998, their 2001 debut album "Satta" and its 2005 sequel "Dust My Broom". They also demonstrated their wide-ranging musical taste on two excellent mix compilations, "Juke Joint" and "Juke Joint II".

        Tracklisting
        1. Flickers
        2. Sign
        3. Big Nicks
        4. Same Sun
        5. Grains
        6. Fuersattel
        7. Heavy On Me
        8. Kinder Ohne Strom
        9. Tonschraube
        10. Messengers
        11. Nebelkloster

        [ + ]
        [ - ]
        Cover of Slappers by Dani Siciliano.

        Dani Siciliano

        Slappers

        K7

        Building on the critical success of her debut full-length album "Likes" and her collaborations with Matthew Herbert, "Slappers" is very much a statement of intent. A masterpiece of swinging syncopation, melodic sophistication and inspired sampling, "Slappers" belongs to that rare vintage of record that fizzes, twangs and sashays in all the right directions, slicing through house, disco, electronica, pop, blues and even a little country with wit, verve and honesty. Dani's sung on all the Herbert albums, from "Around The House" to "Bodily Functions", the big band outing "Goodbye Swingtime" and 2006 outing "Scale". Matthew returns the collaboration favour on this album, sharing production duties with Dani here.

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        [ - ]
        Cover of Let Us Never Speak Of It Again by Out Hud.

        Out Hud

        Let Us Never Speak Of It Again

        K7

        Out Hud release the follow up to 2002's "STREET DAD", keeping up associations with !!! (for whom Tyler Pope, Nic Offer and Justin Vandervolgen also play) and LCD Soundsystem (for whom Tyler Pope also plays bass). "Let Us Never Speak Of It Again" was recorded in Washington DC, before the band returned to their New York house to have it mixed and deconstructed by band member Justin Vandervolgen. The album is an indefinable feast of filthy grooves, spectral sounds, tribal beats and haunting melodies that is unmistakably their own and yet immediately familiar, with tracks influenced by sources as various as Adrian Sherwood, Larry Levan, Judy Nylon, Dr Dre, dub, disco, The Neptunes, Timbaland, Lenky and Dancehall. It's been called 'Freak Sh*t' and it's been called 'Mutant Disco', inevitably it's going to be one of the defining records of 2005.

        [ + ]
        [ - ]
        Cover of Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions by Various Artists.

        Various Artists

        Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions

        K7

        Originally released on Studio !K7 Records in 1998, Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister's groundbreaking release, 'The K&D Sessions' reset the bar for what could be achieved in a compilation. Across an array of original tracks, dubs and infamous ‘K&D Session’ remixes, the DJ and producer duo took the listener on a smoke-filled blunted journey that flowed flawlessly. Often compared to DJ Shadow's 'Endtroducing' for its similarly deft craft of rhythm and quoted by Allmusic as "the most blissfully blunted music the world has ever heard", the album has sold over 1,000,000 copies to date and was included in Spin’s ‘Top 20 albums of 1999’. Includes tracks by Roni Size, Rockers Hi-Fi, David Holmes, Alex Reece, Lamb, Bomb The Bass, and Kruder & Dorfmeister themselves. A smokers' delight!

        [ + ]
        [ - ]
        Cover of Kinkynasti by Five Deez.

        Five Deez

        Kinkynasti

        K7

        This is the first proper UK LP release from the Fat Jon produced Ohio quartet, and shows them at the top of their game, taking in everything from sweet soulful numbers for the ladies (extra vocals come from Venus Malone, Amleset Solomon and Arnyka Harris) to headnodders and breakers for the b-boys and flygirls to booty bass and R'n'B flavas. Good stuff.

        [ + ]
        [ - ]
        Cover of Life Is... by Smith & Mighty.

        Smith & Mighty

        Life Is...

        K7

        The Bristol duo are back with more of what they do best - dubby downbeat with heavyweight soundsystem basslines and soulful / reggae vocals.

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        [ - ]

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