The K&D Sessions™

About

The K&D Sessions is the second DJ mix compilation album by the Vienna-based duo Kruder & Dorfmeister. Released by Studio !K7 in 1998 to glowing reviews, the double album features two original songs with the remixes. The compilation album is a selection of remixes from the previous five years from either Richard Dorfmeister, Peter Kruder or the two together. The album also contains two original productions. Dorfmeister stated that they worked about two weeks on each remix. John Bush of Allmusic described the album's sound as "earthy, downtempo and acid-based, even more so than previous mix albums by the pair." The K&D Sessions was released on 5 October 1998 in both a two-compact disc set or a four vinyl record set by Studio !K7. On February 28, 1999, Kruder & Dorfmeister started on a ten city tour of North America to promote the album. After the release and success of the album, the group received several requests to remix their music which they turned down. Dorfmeister stated that they had "felt like we'd already done it," and "I'd rather release nothing than something that is half and half…Perhaps we don't have so much output, but at least then we don't release some bullshit." The K&D Sessions received acclaim on its release. Spike Magazine gave the album a positive review, stating that it is "one of those albums that comes out of the blue, providing a whole bunch of surprises to make even the most jaded get excited about music again." Spin felt that The K&D Sessions has "less scope and vibrancy" than the duo's DJ Kicks album, but nonetheless praised it as a more consistent release. Spin later placed the album at number 19 on their list of top 20 albums of 1999. Music database AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five, opining that "the impossibly deep beats on almost every track simply couldn't have been recorded by any other act" and referring to the music as "the most blissfully blunted music the world has ever heard." NME gave the album a mixed review, feeling that the album was overlong, noting "does the world really need to own both their reappraisals of Bomb The Bass' 'Bug Powder Dust', even if the first one is a corker?" Pitchfork also noted the length of the album referring to the second disc as "thoroughly boring", but praising the album stating "a handful of the tracks on this sprawling two-CD set demonstrate a mastery of rhythm unseen in DJ'd music since DJ Shadow bestowed upon us the gift of Endtroducing…… Out of the depths of their remix material's musical void, Kruder and Dorfmeister assemble organic downtempo triumphs which may alone be sufficient to perpetuate the otherwise trite brand of music currently labeled 'trip-hop.'".

via Last.fm