Do you have an album that always used to be playing in the background somewhere? You don’t know anything about it, and you can only remember little bits of it. It’s the album you try to describe to someone, so you can find it, but it’s no use. Maybe some of you haven't found it, but I have. A couple years ago, I ventured into my mum's cd collection. I found a card-case CD, and I put it in. I realized that this was that long-lost album, for which I had that vague recollection. From the very first second of the very first song, I instantly knew that this was the album I had been looking for for years.
I was going to call The K&D Sessions electronica, but I suppose it is trip hope because it so down-tempo. Entroducing and Mezzanine are often credited as the heights of trip hop, rightly so, but I've felt for a while now that this cd has been overlooked. It doesn’t rank with DJ Shadow or Massive Attack in terms of popularity, so obviously that’s a reason. But still, I feel that this album needs to be listened to by everyone who is into trip hop or electronica. I also felt that there needed to be some information on sputnik about it.
Basically, the K&D Sessions is a 2-disc remix album, with notable original artists Roni Size, Rocker's Hi Fi, Depeche Mode, and David Holmes. It would not be fair to say that the K&D Sessions isn’t a true work of music from Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister. The majority of the songs may be remixes, but it isn’t exactly just mixing a few things around. I have downloaded some of the originals, and it’s fair to say that Kruder and Dorfmeister completely reinvented the songs, not just reanimated.
One of the stand-out tracks is Speechless, originally by Count Basic. It is the ultimate demonstration of how trip hop transcends so many different sounds and vibes. It had an almost Wild-Western theme to it, yet there is ethnic percussion (whatever that means). After four minutes or so, there is an amazing trumpet solo. I suppose it sounds most like Spanish trumpet. It soars high, joyful and beautiful, with the dark bassline continuing in the background. Certain moments on this album meet the frenetic energy of some drum n' bass and jungle; wild and somehow primal (think of Basement Jaxx' affiliation with apes).
The next best song, and one of my personal favorites, is Bug Powder Dust, which was by Bomb The Bass. Bug Powder Dust is most likely my favorite hip hop (or at least hip-hop rooted) song out there. It’s purely impeccable. I find it joyful, but not simple, and also humorous at times. One of the lines goes, 'Never been a fake and I'm never phony
I got more flavour than the packet in macaroni.' Maybe it sounds like something Insane Clown Posse, but in a completely different vein.
I once mentioned to classmate that I liked Moby, and he said, 'Dude, techno sucks.' I didn't even bother to try to tell him the difference between techno and electronica/trip hop. Even Eminem thinks that Moby makes techno. The reason is, when most people think of electronic music, they think of simple music you mind find in Party Boy's cd collection. You know, that 'uhn'sah uhn'sah' rubbish. The K&D Sessions, although it can be considered trip hop, truly spits in the face of the musically ignorant.
This is because the music is everything but simple. The amount of work and effort that went into this album is astounding. Not only is the K&D Sessions technically proficient, but it is also very atmospheric. It easily creates certain moods. The overall tone of the album is pretty mellow, but there are different kinds of chillout songs. Some are happy and soothing, like Brian Eno's work. Going Under, on the other hand, is very dark. It could be considered a chillout song by some, but it has a very paranoid sound to it, especially the second version of the song found on disc 2. "I'm going under, going under, I’m going under and I can’t turn around" creates a sinking feeling, that lasts for the whole song.
The K&D Sessions is composed so flawlessly, in my opinion, that it easily ranks in my top 5 albums. I could not recommend it more, and I only wish that it could be heard more than it is. So now that I have found that mystery album, the one I could never put my finger on, I rate it a 5/5 without a doubt.
