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Krystal Klear
Browse the latest digital releases by Krystal Klear
Review: Krystal Klear is on a winning streak with his latest release, Automat Kingsland. The music on this album perfectly captures the artist's experiences over the past six months, featuring songs which are fast-paced and dynamic. His goal was to bring the feeling of being lost in the busyness of life to the dancefloor, with music combining both joyful and bittersweet elements to create an overall mix of emotions. Recorded in various cities and now being shared with you through Gerd Janson's Running Back, it's an album that never stops and keeps pushing boundaries
Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House
Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House
Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House
Review: Dec Lennon AKA Krystal Klear is once again coming to Gerd Janson and Thorsten Scheu's imprint Running Back. The EP deals in the sort of jubilant Italo-trance that namechecks the aesthetic sensibilities of old European uplifting dance, but also has a cleanliness to it that justifies its status as a new release. 'Essentia' is essential, with dramatic four-chord trance underpinning a mega-repetitive FM riff. 'Winnie's Karaoke', is airier, and replete with detuned sunset saws, making it a truly mighty release from the ever impressive Krystal Klear.
Played by: Juno Recommends Downtempo
Review: With the series approaching its 30th volume, you do kind of know what you're getting from a 'Cafe del Mar' comp - what's easy to forget is quite how delightful and varied a concoction such a known quantity can be. Now here comes Vol 28 to remind us, as it flits back and forth effortlessly between ultra-deep prog ('Love On A Real Train'), laidback piano house ('Nabi'), stripped-down lovers rock (Yvonne Archer's take on 'Ain't Nobody'), shufflin' broken beat/soul ('From Little Seeds We Grow'), hefty dub (see cuts from Feiertrag and Ghetto Priest), the Pink Floyd-isms of Common Saints' 'Starchild' and more besides. Deeply chilled - and deeply satisfying.
Played by: Mirror People
Review: As Krystal Klear, Dec Lennon has always prioritised colourful synth sounds and sparkling, life-affirming electronics. Once upon a time, that was via boogie-influenced beats and 21st century electrofunk; these days, it's usually by serving up unashamedly positive, spine-tingling house cuts that are as rush-inducing as they come. That's the mode he's in on his latest Running Back outing, giddily bouncing between the immersive, Italo-influenced house bliss of 'Mega Chords (Long Version)', the kaleidoscopic synth builds and saucer-eyed breakdowns of 'Our Signal', the all-action, Italo-disco surge of 'Telephone (Long Version)' and the darker, New Wave-influenced house hum of 'Paris Metro'.
Played by: Pete Herbert, Juno Recommends Disco, Marco Giannini (Sticky Heat), Kenneth Bager // Musicfordreams, Alan Dixon, Citizens Of Vice, JAMES ROD, Problematic Disko
Review: By the sounds of his latest single for Running Back - his fifth in total - Krystal Klear has spent much of the last 12 months dreaming about DJing at Adriatic beach parties and open-air outdoor raves. 'Piano Banana' is as positive and rushing as they come, with the EP-leading 'Long Version' delivering an ear-catching, mood-enhancing mix of vibrant, Italo-style synthesizer motifs, arpeggio-driven bass, tough-but-groovy drums and the kind of hands-in-the-air piano riffs that were once a common feature of Italian house records. The alternative mixes are really rather good too, with two drum-focused DJ tools (the edit-heavy, sweat-soaked 'Bonus Bananas' and the pitched-down, sunset-ready 'Beach Beats') being joined by a relaxed, loved-up, dream house-influenced '1990s Mix' and a chiming, immersive, new age-inspired 'Banambient Mix'. Ace!
Special Request/Various
Played by: Christophe Quinlivan-Hunt, Juno Recommends Deep House, Marco Giannini (Sticky Heat), Shan, JAMES ROD, Andy Buchan
Review: Between 1965 and '68, future Muppets creator Jim Henson spent much time drawing and painting "the entertainment experience of the future - the theatre of the year 2020", which he called Cyclia. It's this psychedelic nightclub vision that inspired Krystal Klear's "Cyclia" series of EPs. There's much to enjoy on this suitably colourful and retro-futurist second EP, from the sleazy, synth-heavy Italo-disco/trance fusion of opener "Future Fantasy", to the bubbling electronic motifs, sequenced synth-bass and "Labyrinth" movie soundtrack vibes of slow-motion closing cut "Genesis". In between you'll find the dark, pulsating and muscular electronic disco/hypnotic house fusion of "One Night In Pbar" and the neo-trance grandiosity of "Dutch Gold".
Played by: Juno Recommends Techno
Review: Since first pitching up on Running Back a year or two back, Dec Lennon AKA Krystal Klear has delivered some of his strongest music to date, including a string of peak-time anthems ("Neutron Dance, "Euphoric Dreams" etc). His latest EP for Gerd Janson's label is similarly strong. Check first the trance-influenced, synth-laden throb of "Entre Nous", where big room piano riffs help raise the track to hands-in-the-air anthem status, before admiring the new beat and EBM influenced neo-trance workout "Autobahn". "I'll Be There When You Need Me" is one of Lennon's most saucer-eyed and loved-up tunes to date - all warm waves of synthesizer bliss and decidedly Balearic melodies - while "Gambino" is a cheery skip through 1980s NYC freestyle territory with added Mylo style riffs.
Played by: Andy Buchan
Review: Krystal Klear's last outing on Running Back, "Neutron Dance", became one of the house success stories of 2018, so hopes are naturally high for this follow-up. "Euphoric Dreams" certainly lives up to its title, with the Manchester-based Irishman peppering a heavy, delay-laden drum machine groove with elastic synth lines, grandiose melodies and sparkling, Italo-disco style syntheszizer stabs. Like much of his work in the last few years, it subtly references a variety of old dance styles and tracks whilst still sounding pleasingly fresh. The producer's love of snappy, delay-laden drum machine beats and throbbing NYC freestyle electronics returns to the fore on virtual flipside "Miyoki", a cut that's every bit as joyous and glassy eyed as its predecessor.
Review: Here, a quartet of producers step up to offer their interpretations of "Neutron Dance", the throbbing, Italo-disco-fired lead cut from Krystal Klear's "Division EP". Paul Woolford pays tribute to early Eddie Richards project Jolly Roger on his jaunty, early UK house style rework - all squidgy TB-303 bass, drum machine cowbells and fluid house pianos - before Fango re-imagines the track as a sprightly chunk of New York freestyle/breakbeat house fusion. Fellow Irishman Mano Le Tough takes to the mic on his hybrid Italo-disco/throbbing house take, before Running Back chief Gerd Jansen straps on his "Birkies" and re-imagines the Dublin producer's original as a breezy blast of dub-wise, retro-futurist house.
Played by: Jimpster, Juno Recommends Deep House, Juno Recommends Downtempo, Neil Diablo, Kenneth Bager // Musicfordreams, Markus Schneider / Robot Scientists, Vhyce, DJ Lukas
Review: In recent times, Krystal Klear's EPs have wholeheartedly paid tribute to a variety of (mostly New York-based) historic clubs, artists and dance music sub-genres. While he's officially broken the spell with The Division EP - his first outing on Running Back - for the most part it's still a heart-warming, retro-futurist treat. He kicks things off with the cheery, Italo-disco revivalism of "Neutron Dance", where throbbing synthesizer arpeggio lines and mid-80s melodies are underpinned by a bustling mid-tempo house groove, before slowing things down via the Balearic synth-pop shuffle of "Division Ave". Then you'll find more muscular, freestyle-meets-acid house fun (wild and mind-altering peak-time highlight "Shockzoid") as well as the baggy, glassy-eyed Balearic house rush of closer "Moonshake Mike".
Various
Various
Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House
Review: The decision to launch his own Cold Tonic imprint seems to have reinvigorated Krystal Klear, judging on the two records issued to date. This third in the series is arguably the best yet, with vocalist Flex Washington providing some speeded-up R&B swagger (think singing with the inflections and speed of rapping) to help propel things forward. Musically, "Cash Champagne" is impressive too, with Krystal Klear's deft touch ensuring the blend of huggable chords and loose deep house rhythms hits the spot. There are also a couple of handy DJ tools; the sparse, beats-and-vocal "Cash-a-pella", and Washington's brilliant acapella version.
Played by: Juno Recommends Funky House
Played by: Doorly
Various
Played by: BEDMO DISCO
Played by: Tom Central
