DJ Koze is one of the most inventive remixers out there, so it figures that his DJ-Kicks is less like one of his club sessions and more like an extended remix, swirling together exclusive edits of his chosen selections into a playfully sidewinding set that’s steeped in his quirky sensibility. (Where else are you going to encounter a William Shatner monologue in what is ostensibly a house-music set?) He draws as much from leftfield hip-hop as he does dance music—hence cuts early on from cLOUDDEAD, Mndsgn, and Freddie Gibbs & Madlib—and roams far and wide, stylistically. Broadcast’s “Tears in the Typing Pool” suggests a lost psychedelic-folk song from the ’60s; Daniel Lanois’ “Carla” dips a toe into pedal-steel exotica; and Marker Starling’s “In Stride” evokes vintage bedroom soul at its shaggiest. No matter the genre, the common denominators are juicy tone colors and lopsided beats, all threaded together with wistfully dreamlike vocals. Electronic music has rarely sounded so enchanting.
- 2018
- John Talabot