dj koze - kosi comes around

I was all set to write this album off as nice-but-unexciting" up until the halfway mark but then it really takes off. The vocals actively get in the way in a lot of places as well, they're so uninspired.

Overall I think Kosi Comes Around is by miles the better dancefloor record, and the remix comp does the whole kaleidoscopic multi-vocalist thing better than this one could hope to do. Then again how many producers could put out an album that's as good as a compilation of their best remixes, especially one that's put together as well as Reincarnations?

I never thought of Kosi Comes Round as an album - just a collection of bangers.

I never listened to the remix comp cos I'd heard them all already.

don't really get the annoyance at the vocals - i mean i know a man singing is just horrendous and how dare he - but they provide the quirk that ensures this isn't just say... a compilation of previously released tracks.

I never listened to the remix comp cos I'd heard them all already.

It's actually really well put together, you can tell he's really thought about the sequencing so it works in one listen and flows like an album.

don't really get the annoyance at the vocals - i mean i know a man singing is just horrendous and how dare he - but they provide the quirk that ensures this isn't just say... a compilation of previously released tracks.

I'm not sure I agree with that actually, this would still feel very much like an album (and an event at that) even if it were entirely instrumental, or if the only vocals were sampled. It wouldn't be much poorer for it either.

It's actually only Matthew Dear who really gets in the way, he actively ruins Magical Boy, and his presence on the otherwise fantastic My Plans over the line from full to overstuffed.

The other vocalists are fine, but not exactly bringing their A-game... like when I think of really great vocal house records the vocalists either transform the track into something amazing, or are so integrated with the groove that you couldn't imagine it without them - try and think of any Luomo record without the vocals. I don't really get the sense of the vocal tracks here falling into either camp, the singers feel inessential more than anything else. Maybe that's a result of most of the vocalists here being producers who also happen to sing over their tracks, rather than singers per se, I dunno.

That said I think this is a great record, although I like it a lot more if I start at Das Wort. The production on some of these songs is incredible, at its best its like listening to a really lush soul record that's constantly being refracted into different shapes.

I'm not sure I agree with that actually, this would still feel very much like an album (and an event at that) even if it were entirely instrumental, or if the only vocals were sampled. It wouldn't be much poorer for it either.

i disagree really, a lot of it is clearly made to have vocals, this criticism implies the vocals were just tacked on after the fact of making a dance track, there's o way that's the case.

just because the tracks have enough distractions to stop the vocalist taking centre stage doesn't mean they're not important - but yeah he should totes have got some divas, woo, #ilm.

Even if it is made with vocals in mind, it doesn't mean those vocals couldn't be different/better. Divas probably wouldn't work though.

localgarda on some prime arguing-with-oneself shit itt

at least i have the brain power to make a sandwich.

Even if it is made with vocals in mind, it doesn't mean those vocals couldn't be different/better. Divas probably wouldn't work though.

that's a different point to you saying it should be instrumental.

I'm not saying it should be instrumental, I'm saying it wouldn't be radically worse if it were instrumental, partly because there's so much else going on. And that the vocals that are actually on these tracks, by and large, either don't add much or actively detract from the enjoyment.

I'm also disagreeing with the point that the vocals "provide the quirk that ensures this isn't just say... a compilation of previously released tracks".

personally i feel like slightly camp male vocals of this sort are a part of the original kompakt appeal, but to each his own.

In general I agree with you (the camper the better more often than not), just maybe not in some specific instances here.

He does have form like this, the album is actually quite like the International Pony stuff, I quite like that aspect of it.

The title track and "Magical Boy" are amazing pieces of music: vertiginous and protean. I'm glad I stuck with this past the okay first third.

The vocals don't annoy me - I don't know if that was down to this thread being a warning that made the prospect seem worse than the actuality.

What I really like about this album - and its obvious cousin, Robag Wruhme's Thora Vukk, is the way that it's a home-listening dance album that isn't "electronica" - i.e it isn't just music for the brain, it's very much a pop record based around techno. The production is so crisp and precise on the drums but the sense of softness balances it all out. Texturally it reminds me of shoegaze/indie more than proper dance music, but these tracks could only work with a techno framing and production.

I don't want to start any "there are no dance music home-listening albums" bullshit, but I feel this is different from, say, John Talabot or Blondes' recent albums, in the way that it approaches its own dancefloor potential as an aside more than a key component despite using many of the same compositional and rhythmic structures.

Texturally it reminds me of shoegaze/indie more than proper dance music, but these tracks could only work with a techno framing and production.

This is silly FWIW.

that's rude!

em·e·sis (m-ss)
n. pl. em·e·ses (-sz)
The act of vomiting.
[Greek, from emein, to vomit; see wem- in Indo-European roots.]

The Mano Le Tough album is a better home listening techno inspired listening experience but this Koze album is fun too.

that's rude

otm, give it a rest.

a pop record based around techno

This is exactly what I like about this record.

Shoegazing and indie textures?

I don't mean so much swathes of guitar and noise, more a delicate sensibility in all those acoustic loops. "Texture" isn't the right word I guess? It's more on the surface, it reminds me of the more interesting moments on early Cardigans/Saint Etienne albums but with stronger grooves that still feel incidental to the songs themselves.

This is why I lurk more than I contribute, I can never say anything clearly, logical or insightful.

don't worry about it boxedjoy; i've been here over a decade and have yet to say anything clearly, logical or insightful.

i like koze a whole lot but this record bored the tits off me. i reserve the right to totally revise that last statement at a later date.

i feel like the new coma album, despite being almost entirely instrumental, works as pop-based-around-kompakt-techno far better than amygdala, which feels almost a bit sluggish in places, regardless of what the vox do or don't bring to it. i'm not sure koze's ever really grabbed me though, i've always found something a bit...off about the textures etc he uses - neither kosi comes around nor reincarnations hold a particularly special place in my heart and i def remember disliking his "minimal" remix compared to the original

I like the parts where it gets schlager more than pop. Like, the unashamed cheesiness of it is really great. 'Das wort heist: Love!' And stuff like that

I definitely get more out of this record listening for textures and melodies than I do for groove per se, and a lot of it clearly isn't concerned with the dancefloor at all. I wouldn't call it shoegaze sensibility in the slightest but otherwise I don't think Boxedjoy's comment is that off-base.

Oh no it was only the shoegaze/indie reference which I found amusing, the rest is spot-on.

But I'd also say that in general terms it's not as uncommon an approach in dance music as the comment implies; conversely, the way in which Koze is singular - that overly-intimate, queasily physical quality to his music, like the sound of your organs talking to one another - is so specific I'm not sure there are easy parallels in rock or dance.

This album is great. I gave Kosi Comes Around lots of play 05-07 as well.

The sounds of this one are up to the times, which is good. Koze endures. It's maybe a bit more accessible for the broadening audience of electronic music (which some people seem to take partial issue with in this thread); and it's generally less mix-friendly than its predecessor. But like Kosi Comes Around, it's one of those albums that immediately pops with playability — in both rhythm and melody - and it continues to offer more in replay value. For me, it's the most exciting full-length in the genre released this year. At least so far. BOC and Daft Punk will be noble contenders in the next few months. I predict that upcoming releases of newer artists (like Mount Kimbie) will trail behind.

I listened to this and got very, very annoyed by how staid and mannered it was up until it hit "Marilyn Whirlwind", which made me go out and buy the album

The sounds of this one are up to the times, which is good. Koze endures. It's maybe a bit more accessible for the broadening audience of electronic music (which some people seem to take partial issue with in this thread); and it's generally less mix-friendly than its predecessor. But like Kosi Comes Around, it's one of those albums that immediately pops with playability — in both rhythm and melody - and it continues to offer more in replay value. For me, it's the most exciting full-length in the genre released this year. At least so far. BOC and Daft Punk will be noble contenders in the next few months. I predict that upcoming releases of newer artists (like Mount Kimbie) will trail behind.

― Eggs and the marketing board behind them, Thursday, April 4, 2013 8:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

someone tell this guy the news about BOC :/

...what??? Nooooooooooooooooooo. Well, the point stands.

Further, I think a lot of the criticisms of this (boring, too indie) stem from the album opener, which is perhaps the weakest track.

I'm like 7 minutes into this and I already want to vocals to stop :(

A reward goes our to anyone who brings me Matthew Dear's vocal chords, dead or alive. (To be fair, I don't mind his voice so much as his egocentric and self indulgent urge to put his vocals on fucking everything - especially remixes of other people's tracks)

lol of course lex hates the matthew dear vocals, they're actually pretty great.

Didn't expect this to be so completely laid back and woozy, nothing half as direct as the bangers on Kosi Comes Around. Reminds me of the Wolf+Lamb / Soul Clap DJ Kicks. Best track's probably the one with Apparat.

xpost

i can see thinking they're serviceable or that they round out the track(s) in a way that is somehow appropriate, but great, purely as a vocal performance, is a stretch.

mb not but they have character. at least it's not panda bear.

"at least it's not actual dogshit"

Anyone else finding this record just makes so much more sense in the spring sunshine?

Definitely an album for great weather. (See also the new Daft Punk, I suspect.)

+ the Classixx album

Fab: http://www.factmag.com/2013/06/17/fact-mix-387-dj-koze/

Loving the Sohn track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AslPYSm7jfg

And speaking of mixes, this is stupid great:

http://www.thefader.com/2015/06/09/stream-dj-koze-dj-kicks

the koze remix of geduld by wolfgang voigt is maybe not great but quite interesting, the youtube is 240p shit but anyway

Great mix. This is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZgslfTeLdU

Enjoying this: https://soundcloud.com/pamparecords/pampa024-dj-koze-xtc

Yeah, excited about hearing this mix, will download asap when I get home.

Between Koze and Actress, great year for DJ Kicks!

Also love his titles: Music is Okay; All People is My Friends; I Haven’t Been Everywhere But It’s On My List.

This mix sounds perfect in the cool air of a sunny Saturday afternoon. I had never really bought into the hype of Marcel Fengler's "Jaz" but it sounds so good in this mix, and there's no bad time to hear Portable's "Surrender" either.

Jaz is great on it's own!

Anyways, this mix is basically just a compilation of tracks with kind-of-irritating vocals, no?