NEWS
EVENTS
Mix of the Month
House | Tuesday 25th June 2013 | Chris
This is the first instalment of our monthly mixtape/DJ mix recommendation.
For the premiere we have an insight into the weird and wonderful mind of Stefan Kozalla aka DJ Koze and a fresh sample of the German DJ's eclectic music taste.
His productions over the years have been consistently ground-breaking and this year was no different. He released Amygdala in late March, which was his first solo album in 9 years and an inspiring offering to the music world that wrapped up his own blend of indefinable music. He is an artist that has been cultivating his own sound since he was taken under the wing of Kompakt Records in 2003, but this sound is still not ready to be boxed up and put a label on. In a recent interview with Fact Magazine he said,
“I’m interested in colour, in warmth...organic sounds are always a good measure of soul.”
This comes across in his music which bares a certain crispness and softness, no matter what tempo or underlying electronic genre may be present.
Amygdala (a few tracks of which can be found in his Fact mix below) leaned away from any dance music cliches and is a breathe of fresh air in the current slightly repetitive climate.
To quote DJ Koze, “at a certain point you can no longer hear these always-same-sounding deep house chords. They no longer trigger any feeling with me. They’re abgefrühstückt, fobbed-off really. That’s why I’m always looking for new sounds, new worlds of emotions you can discover. Which is also tricky, because you can get off on the wrong foot because some tracks extinguish the flow of the night. I try to bring melanchola into it, a bit of sadness. That’s what I find worth striving for. A mixture between euphoria and sadness.”
The album certainly shows Stefan's creative side as it has some really bizarre reworks of famous vocals and incorporates humorous lyrics, but that's what Koze's all about. His signature sampling style is one of the most interesting in electronic music history as he has extracts snippets from just about every setting including football commentaries, television shows, radio plays, telephone calls and tennis matches (hear it to believe it below). It therefore came as no surprise that his latest selection for Fact Magazine is peppered with random cuts to spur the mix on.
Here's what Fact had to say about their 387th mix in the series.
Kozalla’s FACT session sees him nominally gather together a selection of his favourite records of 2013 to date (although we’re not entirely sure Harry Belafonte’s ‘Mo Mary’ qualifies as particularly hot-off-the-press). Like Amygdala, it’s a lush and beguiling way to spend an hour, taking in heartsore house, scrambled beat music and just a soupçon of electro-boogie. When it comes to 4/4 with a melancholy streak, trust us – Koze knows.
Link to mix:https://soundcloud.com/factmag/fact-mix-387-dj-koze-june-13-1
Tracklist
Child Of Lov – ‘Call Me Up’
Jono McCleery – ‘Painted Blue’
Sohn – ‘The Wheel’
Enja – ‘To Go Beyond’ (Dntel Edit)
Harry Belafonte – ‘Mo Marry’
DJ Koze – ‘Don’t Lose My Mind’
Bibio – ‘You’
Dürerstuben – ‘Freiherr In Der Wall’
Recondite – ‘Felicity’
Dj Koze – ‘Nioces Wölkchen’
JaKönigJa – ‘Be Kind To Be The Shape’
Herbert – ‘You Saw It All’ (DJ Koze Remix)
Matt Karmil -’Reverse Peephole’
Westbam- ‘You Need The Drugs’
Christian Löffler – ‘Eisberg (Hemal)’
Bibio – ‘You Won´t Remember’
