Deetron - DJ-Kicks

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  • "I guess the day I stop beat mixing is the day I call it quits," Sam Geiser, or Deetron, once told Resident Advisor. His fascination with DJing's technical side goes back a long way. At 15, he was a hip-hop DJ, and later looked up to Jeff Mills. ("He played like a hip-hop DJ but he was really good at beat-matching as well," he told Todd Burns.) Geiser has since built a reputation for playing smooth, melodic house and techno, and doing so on three decks (and, in recent years, on CDJs as well). DJ-Kicks's latest mix CD, spanning 34 tracks in a little under 80 minutes, is another example of his graceful style. Under Geiser's velvety touch, several tracks can easily coalesce into one. The barely-there blend of Carl Craig's "Goodbye World" with GB's "The Dreamer" blossoms into the warm pads of Linkwood's "Love Lost," and then the creamy house vocal of SBM's "Criticize." The transitions are almost imperceptible. Where suitable, Geiser will make a more abrupt switch—see the crunchy synths of Aardvarck's "Komt Goed" quickly drown out Julie Dexter's jazz vocal—but even these moments feel seamless. Even in its more ambitious moments, the mix's flow is always smooth. Geiser's enduring love of Detroit techno and Chicago house is as palpable here as it was on his 2002 In The Mix CD, but as he told the Ransom Note in 2012, "... I prefer to do just a bit more with [the classics] than just playing them for the sake of their legacy." Mr. Fingers' "Waterfall" is modernised by Ovasoul 7's rich vocal. Steve Spacek's croon cuts through the warm fug of Ron Trent and Chez Damier's "Morning Factory." Black Dog Productions' "Flux," another atmospheric instrumental, leads into an untitled track by Deetron. By reframing old tracks in novel ways, the mix keeps itself fresh. DJ-Kicks has several blissful pockets—the gorgeous piano of Roman Flügel's "Song With Blue," Jessy Lanza's languid vocal on "Strange Emotion"—but its most memorable stretch begins with Carl Craig's remix of Tony Allen's "Kilode." The vocals make way for an elastic bassline and funk riff, which then ease into the bleary melodies of Pepe's "Benzine Electronics." A little later, DJ Bone's "All My Heart" arrives in a tingle of fizzing pads before Geiser changes tack again with a playful Pilooski edit. Here and throughout, Geiser gives tracks the space to be savoured without letting any overstay their welcome. That owes a lot to the mix's tight yet unhurried pacing. The arrangement of melodies and vocals is also key: though prominent, they aren't overdone. If DJ-Kicks seems effortless, it's because Geiser has the skills to make it seem so.
  • Tracklist
      CD: 01. Carl Craig - Goodbye World / GB - The Dreamer 02. Linkwood - Love Lost 03. Indian Ocean - Schoolbell / Treehouse 04. SBM - Criticize 05. Mr. Fingers feat. Ovasoul 7 - Waterfall (DJ-Kicks Version) 06. Roman Flügel - Song With Blue 07. Burnt Friedmann - Plastikthai / Dresvn - Voyage (DJ Sotofett's Extended Mix) 08. Spacetime Continuum - Swing Fantasy (Strange Attractor Mix) 09. Morgan Geist - Linking Tunnel / Julie Dexter - The Plan 10. Aardvarck – Komt Goed 11. Circulation - Sincerely (Creation Mix) 12. DJ Koze - Let's Love 13. Ron Trent & Chez Damier - Morning Factory / Deetron feat. Steve Spacek - Choose Me 14. Nikola Gala - Only (Ryan Elliott Remix) 15. Keith Worthy - Moon Dance 16. Paul W. Teebrooke - Thing 1 17. Radio Slave - Children Of The E (KiNK SP1200 Remix) 18. Deetron feat. Jamie Lidell - Cry With The Stars (Accapella) 19. A Made Up Sound - Rework 20. HNNY - Hotline Riddim (Jacques Renault Edit) 21. Tony Allen - Kilode (Remix By Carl Craig) 22. Pépe - Benzine Electronics 23. Black Dog Productions - Flux 24. Deetron - Untitled 25. DJ Bone - All My Heart 26. Francis Bebey - Bissau (Pilooski Remix) 27. Floorplan - Let the Church 28. Terrace - Seventh City (Filtered Dub) 29. Derrick May - Kaotic Harmony 30. Equiknoxx - Flagged Up (Mark Ernestus Remix) 31. DJ Bone - Dreamers 6.1 32. ɋɬаɧɢɫɥавɌɨɥɤачёв - ɨɩɬɢчеɫɤɢе-ɢɥɥюɡɢɢ 33. K-Lone - Old Fashioned 34. Jessy Lanza - Strange Emotion
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