The Sunset Violent began in a disused frat house in the American Yucca Valley. Kimbie’s founding members Dominic Maker & Kai Campos began work on their first proper album together since 2017’s Love What Survives – the decision was made to leave London. Campos and Maker relocated for a month to a town in the middle of a desert. The resulting album, finished in London with longtime confidante Dillip Harris and their band mates Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell, is 37 minutes of Mount Kimbie at simultaneously their most daring and their most giddily infectious.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Mount Kimbie have taken a little swerve with 'The Sunset Violent', taking their usual sound and injecting it with a concept that's both perfectly conceived and accomplished. While all the usual MK sounds are in-situ here, there outer reaches of their sound swerves into synth-pop, gritty electronics and moody post-punk.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Trail
2. Dumb Guitar
3. Shipwreck
4. Boxing (Feat. King Krule)
5. Got Me
6. A Figure In The Surf
7. Fishbrain
8. Yukka Tree
9. Empty And Silent (Feat. King Krule)

MK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning shows how Dom Maker and Kai Campos have grown over the past decade, and demonstrates the two sides of Mount Kimbie’s aesthetic coin - each side produced entirely by either member. Dom’s side, Die Cuts, is colourful and melody-led, thriving on the spark of collaboration; Kai’s, City Planning, is tactile and unpredictable, the product of a deeply personal aesthetic voyage. The two sides complement each other through their contrasts. But in other ways they’re not so different. Both artists present a unique vision which stands apart from their peers; neither side could have been made by anyone but Mount Kimbie.

Die Cuts, produced by Dom, was inspired by his move to LA half a decade ago, around the same time as the band’s old friend and collaborator James Blake. The pair began doing production sessions with a series of increasingly big names from the world of rap and hip-hop, including Jay-Z, Travis Scott, ASAP Rocky, SZA, and Rosalia, among many others. Dom’s collaborative work is going from strength to strength, hitting a recent high with his and James’ headturning work on Slowthai’s ‘Feel Away’.

Die Cuts is a reflection of this nascent community and Dom’s producerly vision. Skipping between hip-hop, RnB, and electronic pop, the album combines high class songcraft with a delicate leftfield touch, and showcases a cast of vocalists including longtime friends James Blake and Slowthai, alongside new collaborators Danny Brown, Reggie, Nomi, Keiyaa, Wiki, Liv.e, Kucka and Choker.

Kai’s side began after the duo’s finest record yet, 2017’s Love What Survives, led to a period of extensive touring. Back home, he was hungry for a change of pace. He found it in DJing, which offered a new kind of performance - unplannable, unpredictable, and thrilling. He has since become a seasoned DJ, clocking in at the finest festivals (Field Day, Dekmantel, Melt) and clubs (Printworks, Fabric, Sub Club, Concrete) and recording numerous mixes, including a slick DJ-Kicks mix in 2018. Following this, he embarked on a project of "intense listening and thinking about listening,” immersing himself in new sounds and music-making approaches.

The outcome of this creative journey is City Planning. Wild, warped and loopy, the album twists avant-garde signifiers from on and off the dancefloor into a deft and refined statement. Its sleek beats and stuttering arpeggios are caked with scuzz and personality, making for an album that’s warm and inviting even at its most confrontational.

They also share the news that for the first time ever, acclaimed photographers/directors and longtime collaborators, Tyrone Lebon & Frank Lebon are working together with Mount Kimbie alongside legendary US visual artist and sculptor Tom Shannon to create a multi-format creative campaign.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's really interesting to see the two musical parts of Mount Kimbie laid out like this, and as well as both sides being equally as brilliant in their own right, perfectly illustrates the individual influences on their overall sound.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklist:
Dom Maker - Die Cuts
A1. Dvd (feat. Choker)
A2. In Your Eyes (feat. Slowthai & Danny Brown)
A3. F1 Racer (feat. Kučka)
A4. Heat On, Lips On
A5. End Of The Road (feat. Reggie)
A6. Somehow She’s Still Here (feat. James Blake)
B1. Kissing (feat. Slowthai)
B2. Say That (feat. Nomi)
B3. Need U Tonight
B4. If And When (feat. Wiki)
B5. Tender Hearts Meet The Sky (feat. Keiyaa)
B6. A Deities Encore (feat. Liv.e)

Kai Campos - City Planning
A1. Q
A2. Quartz
A3. Transit Map (Flattened)
A4. Satellite 7
A5. Satellite 9
A6. Satellite 6 (Corrupted)
B1. Zone 3 (City Limits)
B2. Zone 2 (Last Connection)
B3. Zone 1 (24 Hours)
B4. Industry
B5. Human Voices

CD / Digital Tracklist:
Dom Maker - Die Cuts
1. Dvd (feat. Choker)
2. In Your Eyes (feat. Slowthai & Danny Brown)
3. F1 Racer (feat. Kučka)
4. Heat On, Lips On
5. End Of The Road (feat. Reggie)
6. Somehow She’s Still Here (feat. James Blake)
7. Kissing (feat. Slowthai)
8. Say That (feat. Nomi)
9. Need U Tonight
10. If And When (feat. Wiki)
11. Tender Hearts Meet The Sky (feat. Keiyaa)
12. A Deities Encore (feat. Liv.e)

Kai Campos - City Planning
1. Q
2. Quartz
3. Transit Map (Flattened)
4. Satellite 7
5. Satellite 9
6. Satellite 6 (Corrupted)
7. Zone 3 (City Limits)
8. Zone 2 (Last Connection)
9. Zone 1 (24 Hours)
10. Industry
11. Human Voices

Volume.... seven I think we're up to know in this thorough and expansive Warp 'TX' series - made up of sessions old and new from a plethora of Warp's flagship acts.

Another newer addition to the ranks, Mount Kimbe records a brand new session for the label comprised of four tracks: "You Look Certain", "Delta", "Marilyn" featuring Micachi and "Made To Stray".

A far cry from Dominic Maker and Kai Campos's dubstep-indebted beginnings, "You Look Certain" and "Delta" contain technicoloured, spiraling, almost psychedelic leads - buzzsaw synths, purring organs and motorik drums propelling the tracks forward at a rate of knots.

"Marilyn", one of the duo's biggest tracks, is re-done achieving new levels of intimacy through a slightly stripped back and live sounding arrangement. Finally "Made To Stray" from 2013's "Cold Spring Fault Less Youth" closes off the EP with one of their more introspective, yet vastly gigantium pieces. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Some of my favourite Mount Kimbe tunes all reproduced on this vital Warp session. These alternative takes are just as good as the originals making this set an imperative release for fans of this unique act.

TRACK LISTING

01. You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure) (feat. Andrea Balency)
02. Delta
03. Marilyn (feat. Micachu)
04. Made To Stray

The second Mount Kimbie remix package and Warp have enlisted another celebrity selection of producers to work with tracks from "Love What Survives".

The second 12” features two takes on album opener "Four Years and One Day". The first is a slow burning techno throbber from Marcel Dettmann, complete with concentric kick patterns and that Blade Runner growl and metallic flux that he's made his trademark over many years, hundreds of productions and literally days and nights behind turntables. Climaxing in a catastrophic explosion of iron girders and phosphorous explosions it pairs perfectly the visceral punk attitude of Mount Kimbie with the relentless anarco-techno ethos of the Berlin techno scene.

German house maverick Gerd Janson is enjoying an extended period in the spotlight at the moment, and rightly so, effortlessly conjuring an accomplished remix of "Four Years..." with a driving, fashionably close to EBM kinda sound that'll still work in the purist of house sets. Beautifully decorated with a tantalizing 303 line and angelic pad sequences and arranged with maximum elevation in mind, this is one track you're bound to be hearing on the big stages this Summer.

Finally, if you needed any more convincing, "T.A.M.E.D" gets drawn out into a mid-session techno romp by another German legend: Ellen Alien. Taking up the entirety of side B this is perfectly for those looong warehouse sessions when you need to give the lightning engineer summat to do while you enjoy watching the dancefloor slowly catch fire. Just the right side of proggy (read: druggy) and with mind melting, time shift vox flowing in the recesses of the mix, this is an impressive display of a producer with complete control of large, uninhibited crowds. Once the dancefloor hive mind gets locked onto this one anything's possible. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Stupendously strong remix package this folks, one of the best I've seen for some time. Often high budget / max hype remix campaigns seriously disappoint but not this one; across both twelves there's been some really killer moments. Fully approved!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Four Years And One Day (Marcel Dettmann Remix)
A2. Four Years And One Day (Gerd Janson Remix)
B1. T.A.M.E.D (Ellen Allien U.F.O RMX)

The incredible second album from pioneering electronic duo Mount Kimbie, and their first for Warp. Follows 2010's 'Crooks and Lovers' with a broader, deeper sonic palette and a more live sound.

The South London duo, comprised of Dom Maker and Kai Campos, have created a deeper and more complex album than their 2010 debut ‘Crooks And Lovers’, featuring vocals from both the band themselves and guest vocals from King Krule, alongside crisp beats and production, brooding melodies and electronic soundscapes. 'Cold Spring' places live instrumentation alongside the electronics, with organ and drums enriching the sonic mulch. What's more, there are vocals, too, enabling a step into a newly emotional approach.

For fans of Burial, Gold Panda, SBTRKT, Thom Yorke, Bonobo, James Blake, Caribou, The xx, Kindness etc.