V/A – DJ Koze Presents Pampa Vol. 1

An eccentric compilation blessed with shades of magic...

Stefan ‘DJ Koze’ Kozalla and Marcus Fink unwrap a two-disc, two-hour label showcase of returning and newly affiliated deep house desirables and dancefloor kooks – it’s saying something when Matthew Herbert and Jamie xx are branded as ‘newcomers’. ‘Pampa Vol. 1’ throws in a few wildcards, but overall tallies beats that are of as much pomp as the fine-looking bird on the compilation’s sleeve.

The name Koze stands for is alchemy and enchantment in house music, doing things in his own calmingly influential way. The opening statements – Matthew Herbert remixing Lianne La Havas perhaps a tiny bit more heavy handedly than you’d like, Koze remixing Roman Flügel with Jeremy Sylvester in mind, and Ada featuring Todd Edwards-style vocal chops – go out of their way to validate Pampa as a stable for all-comers. Funkstörung’s electro hip-hop ‘I Does It’ ends up as a bit of where-do-we-put-this misfit, and Mount Kimbie’s dense kick drum on ‘Bells_5’ is another to break the illusion of Koze always lining his pockets with a patent of pixie dust. In an unmixed format, you do feel the lack of his magic adhesive.

If you’re still pleasantly hungover from Koze’s ‘Amygdala’ LP and last year’s DJ-Kicks bow, you know the clothes that maketh the man are grooves of peace and goodwill. These are found in spades on Axel Boman’s ‘In the Dust of this Planet’ and Gold Panda’s sepia-tinged assurances of ‘Black Voices’, and are most definitely separate from the deep house sunsets of Jackmate and Lawrence, and in particular Isolée, whose ‘I Like It Here Can I Stay?’ is actually code for refusing to turn in for the night. The travelling folk shows of Michel Cleis and Die Vögel, healing dancefloors and faiths while handing out daisy chains, head the electronic curiosities helping join the dots of a compilation that poses as much might as it does magic.

7/10

Words: Matt Oliver

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