Knock Knock
German electronic producer DJ Koze has always been a self-selecting outsider, the kind of artist who sits blissfully on the sidelines of the big picture while the world passes him by. His third proper studio album unfolds like a daydream: breezy, sunny, and strangely beautiful, filled with ideas that don’t make sense until they suddenly—thrillingly—do. As with 2013’s *Amygdala* (as well as his endlessly inventive DJ sets and remixes), the style here is curiously out of time, touching on house (“Pick Up”), hip-hop (“Colors of Autum”), and downtempo soul (“Scratch That”), all with a slightly psychedelic twist that keeps everything hovering an inch or two off the floor. Fashion is fine, but it’s no match for a muse.
Listening to Stefan Kozalla’s latest is an essential experience. He finds the moments that express wistful longing, burrows into them, and then blows it all up to color-saturated widescreen.
Ambient techno master Jon Hopkins balances dance-floor euphoria with armchair contemplation on Singularity, while German producer DJ Koze’s excellent Knock Knock feels like a day spent in paradise, and the Fiery Furnaces sound creeps back in on Eleanor Friedberger’s fourth solo LP, Rebound. These, plus Belly, Iceage,…
The German psychedelic DJ enlists Bon Iver, Gladys Knight and more on his latest trip.
DJ Koze's new album showcases an artist in complete control; regardless of whether his music is actually progressing, it's constantly moving forward.
Maybe the best way to get an introduction to DJ Koze, the moniker of German electronic artist Stefan Kozalla, is to listen to his 2015 DJ-Kicks mix.
The eccentric producer uses samples and collaborations to brilliantly exploit the spaces between deep house, trip-hop and R&B on an appealingly odd album