Customer Reviews

DJ-Kicks

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kruder & Dorfmeister created the benchmark for the DJ Kicks series and at the same time put it on the proverbial 'Dance map'. Seamless mixing throughout leaves the listener dumbfounded as to where each track starts and ends. Track selection is innovative and fresh. There are those that complain about 'knowing ' some of the songs... Okay, at this stage many people who listen to dance music regularly will have heard some of the tracks on this album. But so what? It came out a good while ago and still wreaks havoc with partygoers, and isn't that the true test of a good CD? For newcomers to the Dance music genre this DJ Kicks release is a cornerstone. It blends many different genres and produces an educated and innovative sound that breaks down barriers rather than puts them up. Neither before nor since this release have any of the other DJ Kicks albums come close. The also rans :-Smith and Mighty got lost in a cut & paste D&B haze and lost the plot. Thievery did the job okay but were rather predictable and created a somewhat forgetful mix and Kid Loco missed the boat completely with his DJ Kicks album. Get K&D DJ Kicks and learn. Play it for your mother some Sunday afternoon. Bring it to a party and put it on at midnight......

Albeit a decent album, "Dj-Kicks" just has one too many boring and cliched beats. You know what I'm talking about...those generic Roni Size-type grooves that are incessant and repetitive beyond toleration. The layering that K&D does on top of the beats is clever at times, but the foundation of the songs is weak. Although the consensus below is that the album is amazing, don't buy into the hype; it's only mediocre. There are some tight tracks like their remix of T.Corp's "Shaolin Satellite", but the whole of the album bores me. My suggestion is that if you like ambient albums that are also interesting and inventive, "Sessions" is a MUCH better choice. But I suppose if you're into bland beats and lackluster mixing...go for this one.

This cd is not as good as K&D sessions but is right up there. Some may beg to differ. The one good thing about Kruder and Dorfmeister is you have to listen to enter with an open mind cause every cd is different. A lot of mellow pop, bass and drums, techno. This album could be the most mellow I've heard, but the kicks are a plus. A lot of bass and drums, which is the Kruder dorfmeister style anyways.

A class album in both its production and its selection of mixes, "DJ Kicks" shows just how good electronica, drum & bass... whatever you want to call it... can be made to be in skilled hands. Incredibly effective in its sequencing of the complex, multi-layered instrumental & vocal loops that drive most of the selected tracks, and underpinned by some wonderfully deep bass hooks and lock-tight percussion overlays, Kruder & Dorfmeister craft a kaleidoscopic musical journey that just gets better & better with repeat playing. These guys know how to generate "atmosphere" but in the case of "DJ Kicks" they also create something that builds through tracks 1 to 13 into something genuinely "exciting". By track 3 the urge to dance has become irresistible and after a short respite to catch your breath at the start of track 8 we're off again for a further 25 minutes of super-cool club grooves, leaving the more erratic last four tracks as a slight let down, but only because you just want it to keep on going... higher & higher. Time to hit the replay button.

OK, so i am biased having about all of the K&D cds as well as tosca and Peace orchestra. But this is a phenomenal disk. this along with the K&D sessions is one of my all time favorites. i just love the first two songs and this is just the beginning. The music is sublime and as usual multilayered. The beauty is that all these layers seem to come to my conscious at different times and so listening to this disc i am constantly scratching my head saying, "i never heard this before." in the downtempo genre that has mushroomed over the last several years, K&D has set the standard that everyone else has tried to equal but hasn't. this is an essential cd for music lovers in general and for sure for fans who love hearing djs spin. rock on y'all.

K&D prove themselves to be the masters of downtempo once again with this mix. It has been out for a while but like a classic it is timeless. The thing I've noticed most about these guys is they can keep the mellow beat while laying down a groove that sticks with you. This is the perfect disc for a late nighter or for just Saturday afternoon lounging.

Anyone who gives this less than 5 stars does not know what they are talking about. I've listened to this literally hundreds of times since 97. Most electronic music sounds pretty dated after a few years but this disc is just incredible; amazing tunes in just the right order, perfectly mixed. This disc proves that there is an art to the dj mix and only a few others can even come close to this.

Chilled out and interesting to listen to. Easily became an old favorite for me. I like it most of all the albums I have by K&D, it may be because it feels the most cohesive.

Kruder and Dorfmeister, cool-class weavers of drum and bass and otherwise obscure fragments of funk, have knocked off another album of slick chill tunes cribbed from the likes of Herbaliser, Thievery Corporation, Beanfield, and Sapien. This effort is a bit more caffeinated than "Conversions," but it lacks the creative influx of "Sessions." The end product has a good set of legs but fails to use them to go anywhere unique.

The vibe is one strata of liquid lounge after another, and in most cases, the lack of their trademark inventiveness doesn't detract much from the beautifully placid aura the music evokes. "A Mother" and "Livin' Free" have clean, crystalline swells of sound that kick the album off to a good start. "Dadamnphreaknoizphunk" and "Keep On Believing" mix dark ambient soul with deep house intentions with great effect. However, the album lapses occasionally into realms that, while not bad, aren't especially interesting. "Give My Soul" becomes a bit too repetitive, "Radio Burning Chrome" has an electric jazz groove that, while fun, is ultimately out of place on this line up, and every once in a while (see "In Too Deep" and "High Noon") the record hits a level of velvet-lavender lounge that is almost -- if you can believe it -- too chill for the tone that's already been set.

I don't want to harp too much on the various setbacks. This is K&D we're talking about. Like pizza or sex, even when it's not that great, it's still way better than most. In spite of the few uneven snags, the overall product is above average in style, soothing and emotive, and well worth the purchase.

At the risk of sounding out of place, I don't think this CD is as great as some people make it out to be. I am not an avid clubber or party-chiller-out. I like to listen to good music on my personal stereo. As such, I find the selection of tracks quite good, the seamless mixing great, and, yes, quite possibly this disc *is* a benchmark for the DJ Kicks series. But, (you knew that was coming along, didn't you?) some of the original tracks they "tidied up" were not quite creative in the first place. In a lot of cases, the tracks get into a groove and just stick to it. OK, this is great for the grooves that rock, but not so great on the ones that don't. Hey listen, this is a subjective call: my impression changed with time and I grew to like the album more with time, but ultimately it is just a "quite good" collection of dancey-ambient tracks -- for me.