Pampa Germany At Juno Download

Review: DJ Koze's Pampa has already a lot to be proud about - including the reissue of Isolee's We Are Monster - but this new album by Ada may propel it into the mainstream. Sounding like "Bryter Later" period Nick Drake getting comfortable with Jose Padilla's DJ sets, the German producer delivers jaw-droppingly beautiful songs like "Faith" and "On The Mend", where breathy vocals and plaintive, chiming bells are combined with mournful guitar playing and ambient textures. Meanwhile, "Interlude" and "Happy Birthday" embrace IDM sensibilities, the latter in particular teeming with warbling melodies. However, it would be wrong to dismiss Meine Zarten Pfoten as being fey or ephemeral, and the brooding bass of "At The Gate" is a reminder that while Ada's head is in the clouds, her feet remain planted on the dancefloor.

Review: Given his own background in the studio and behind the decks, it's no surprise that DJ Koze's Pampa label is releasing Fratzengulasch. The title track starts off fairly innocuously, with deft tribal house beats providing the basis for an understated house groove, but soon enough, an eccentric-sounding woman starts singing in German. Things take an even more bizarre turn as some Middle Eastern string instruments appear midway through. "Maikaferbenzin" is only marginally more conventional; based on a bass-heavy groove, its squealing sax solos and foggy trombone bleating are reminiscent of Villalobos after the end of a long weekend. And no, we have no idea either what the track titles mean, but we love this release.

Review: When Kosi Comes Around originally dropped back in 2005 on Kompakt, it was a seismic blast in the minimal scene it was borne unto. As that genre got resigned to the back of the shelf in favour of more traditional house and techno, so this album may have been overlooked somewhat, but time can be a great healer. With a fresh perspective and a loving reissue on his own Pampa, DJ Koze returns to his magnum opus and proves the music has strength and weatherproofing far beyond the winds of hype. With an arresting use of melodic elements and a mind-bending focus on micro-detail in the rhythmic arrangements, Kosi Comes Around sounds as shocking and inspiring today as it did when it first came out.

Review: If you're looking for an alternative to functional techno or boorish bass music, then you've come to the right place. Over twelve tracks Dntel delivers an album that places great emphasis on melodies and dream-like textures. Although there is a good deal of variety on Aimlessness - compare and contrast the warm, fuzzy ambience of "Never Say Goodbye" and "Waitingfortherest II" - the underlying sound design and approach favours the seductively fragile. There are some echoes of Dntel's glitch past, most notably on "Bright Night" and "Retracer", but the highlights here are the dreamy, wispy arrangements like "Doc" and "Paper Landscape".

Review: Providing a choice pair of remixes for the Pampa imprint, Koze enlists himself and Die Vogel to perform surgery on tracks from Herbert and Dntel respectively. Die Vogel's version of "My Orphaned Son" is an endearing excursion into pastoral house music, where music box chimes meet with strummed bass, stoic brass and simmering strings in a purposeful and finely balanced track founded on club dynamics but expressed through a richer tapestry of sounds. Koze's version of "It's Only" finds him in brooding mood, as largely depicted by the prowling organ line. There's all the goodness (or should that say weirdness?) that you want from a Koze jam, playing on emotions with unconventionality like only he can.

Review: Amazingly, it's 15 years since Isolee first tickled our fancy with the deliciously hypnotic and pleasingly melodic micro-house anthem "Beau Mot Plage". He's tried many things in the years since, from stripped-back minimalism to semi-organic loop techno. "Allowance" his first full solo EP for nearly three years, has echoes of his glory days. The darting, fluid "Wobble", for example, employs similar synth stabs of shuffling grooves, while "You Could Do Your Memories" is as heart aching and emotion-rich as any of his Playhouse-era classics. Best of all, though, is "Allowance", a sparse but beautifully appointed slice of deep-tronica underpinned by a loose but sturdy groove.

Review: After putting out his most US-focused release so far in the shape of the sublime Timeless mix for Cocoon, Peter Kersten now focuses his attention on a more European approach to house music. The title track has
all the hallmark subtlety of Lawrence productions, with a bleepy bassline powered along by textured, hissing percussion, but the German producer does not forget his love of Detroit techno, and it's the melancholic synths that make this track so special. Lawrence opts for a similar approach on "Oolong High": there, a more understated combination of bass pulses and sonic blips are audible, but it's the gloriously introspective pads and synth flourishes that make it so irresistible.

Review: DJ Koze's label delivers its own riposte to Cadenza-style tribal house on Nero. While the title track's drums are more rigid than the organic beats that have become the staple of Luciano's label, they provide the basis upon which Cleis introduces lithe percussive touches and infectious piano keys. Just when you thought that the arrangement couldn't get any more infectious, sensuous strings and an insistent Latino vocal sweep in to ensure it becomes an anthem. Hopefully "Amaranthus" on the flip won't be forgotten about. A deeper techno cut, its throbbing bass, ethereal vocal samples and dreamy melodies show that Cleis isn't solely focused on party sounds.