DJ Koze: Knock Knock Vinyl 2LP+7″

I always aim for a kind of timelessness and in my subjective perception timelessness means avoiding things and sounds. This is a much more difficult task than vice versa. Like its predecessor Amygdala, Knock Knock sports a lot of vocalists, but each player is deployed at just the right moment, lending their talents to round out DJ Kozes grand vision. The result is somewhere on the spectrum near Massive Attacks Mezzanine or UNKLEs Psyence Fiction; both overly ambitious albums with long lists of collaborators, but timeless.The album credits citeBon Iveras a featured vocalist on Bonfire, one of the album’s most sublime moments. But truthfully,Kozejust sampled some ofJustin Vernons vocals fromBon Iver, Bon Iverstandout Calgary – not that it takes anything away from the track; if it were simply a Koze remix of Calgary wed be thrilled to have it on wax either way. Risn Murphys vocals lend a delicate and soulful counterweight to Kozes breakneck sample cutups on Illumination (she also appears on the downtempo palate cleanser Scratch That). Jos Gonzlez, Mano Le Tough, Eddie Fummler, Kurt Wagner of Lambchop and Pampa Records signee Sophia Kennedy also feature, plus (perhaps most surprisingly) Speech from Arrested Development. As always, Koze makes it abundantly clear hes not pandering to DJs or tailoring his tracks to neatly fit into the Tetris block rigidity that often defines a techno set he deploys broken beats, abrupt changes and beat switches with a playful wave of his wand. Although wed love to hear what some of these tracks would do on a rig to a packed room, Knock Knock seems best suited for introspective listening sessions at home. Double vinyl pressing housed in full color gatefold jacket with bonus 7 containing two additional tracks (a deluxe indie-only box set containing atonof bonus materials is also available). Recommended.

• double vinyl pressing
• full color gatefold sleeve
• bonus 7-inch
• release date: 05/04/18
• music label:Pampa 2018

reviewed bybig dumb man 04/2018

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