As if compiling over a dozen great down-tempo tracks into one offering wasn’ t good enough, Kruder & Dorfmeister have pieced together a mini-scrapbook to partner with the record.
“The over 300-page mini-scrapbook helps mark the past few years of G-Stone Recordings, a label K&D started with their G-Stoned EP in 1993. Since then, the duo hasn’t really released that much material through the label, something that this compilation proves when running down the list. Of the 14 tracks, exactly half of them belong to either Kruder & Dorfmeister or Tosca, which isn’t a bad thing considering that it’s these cuts that stand out above the others, especially “High Noon” and “Deep Shit Part 1 & 2,” which start and finish this album the same way they did with the G-Stoned EP eight years ago. The actual book is fantastic, consisting of various amateur, professional and oddball photographs of Kruder & Dorfmeister on tour. Also included are the graphics of past G-Stone releases, as well as promotional material and tour flyers. There’s some really great imagery within these full-colour pages that make you feel like a child listening to a picture book on your stereo while the abstract photographs tells the story. Memorable sections of the book include K&D pasting their heads on photographs of muscle-bound, Speedo-sporting bodies, candid snapshots with friends at weekend getaways and the priceless image of Peter Kruder and friends dressed as KISS from 1977. The combination of this fabulous book and equally impressive audio portion equal a brilliant package from Kruder & Dorfmeister. Even though G-Stone releases seem to be few and far between (usually in the form of remixes on other artist’s recordings), it looks like there’s much thought and creativity put into them, thus proving that when it comes to G-Stone, quality is better than quantity.” (Noel Dix@Exclaim – Apr. 2001)
Just who do Kruder & Dorfmeister think they are? Well, basically just two guys from Vienna whose dub plate melting DJ sets, vinyl releases and remix work has kept them in the minds and hi fis of the world’s discerning music lovers since 1993.
Creators of a trademark sound, blending bass heavy downbeat tracks with epic soundscapes, double-time breaks and deep, deep Viennese feeling. K&D roam in a unique musical wonderland that draws on classic funk, electric jazz arrangements, the feeling of deep soul, hip hop, dub, drum ‘n’ bass and a multitude of other influences that grab the attention of these musical magpies.
At a time when hip hop beats began to emancipate themselves from the MC, and every head was turned to the UK’s nascent breakbeat scene, K&D came from nowhere with a single 4-track EP – G-Stoned, featuring the hypnotic beauty of ‘High Noon’ and a cover depicting the dj-duo in Simon & Garfunkel form. The impact was massive, and the K&D phenomenon gained momentum as they gathered support from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Wall Of Sound’s Mark Jones and William Orbit. Richard’s spin off project Tosca began to take shape, and K&D together remixed the likes of Bomb The Bass, Alex Reece, Lamb, Depeche Mode and DJed in more clubs than you would care to count.
Be it their self produced tracks or their finely tuned remixes, the K&D feeling of lush loungecore dub transcended the trip hop hype and survived as a highly personal expression that found itself equally at home in the worlds of the ambient experimentalists and the soulful drum ‘n’ bass pioneers. Their regular presence on the club circuit saw them become welcome guests on the international beat circuit, taking them from Vienna to London, to the American west coast, to Germany and back, tightly packed DJ bags full of exclusive dubplates following every step of the way.
A mix CD compilation, DJ Kicks, for German label studio K7 marked a major change in the world’s perception of K&D. The quality of the selection, and the power of the mix, which takes you seamlessly through ambient beats, instrumental hip hop, drum ‘n’ bass and back again, made for a mix-CD of unmatched quality. From being respected underground heroes, they emerged as fully fledged media celebrities, attracting new fans across the globe, and selling close to 100,000 copies of their album in the process. You can find parallels to K&D’s work in the British breakbeat or American illbient scene, but their musical blueprint is truly international anyway. They have achieved a special global reputation that makes them neighbours to the likes of DJ Shadow, Howie B, Thievery Corporation and Fila Brazilia in a virtual community of sonic explorers.
The package you now hold in your hand is your ticket to the wonderful world of Kruder & Dorfmeister. Gathering together the cream of their remixes / sessions from the last five years, K&D have been immersed in the studio blending these individual parts into a mesmerising body of music, creating two brand new tracks and numerous other musical sections to hone the album’s flow to perfection. The fact that many of the tracks featured here have previously been unavailable on commercial formats, only adds to the desirability of ‘The K&D Sessions TM’.
A K&D interpretation of another artists record has always been more than a remix in the traditional sense; these Austrian perfectionists spend weeks on each ‘Session’, breaking a track down to its elements and reconstructing it in a way that is uniquely theirs. While their CV of production work contains some of the greatest names in contemporary music (as a glance at this album’s tracklist confirms), K&D have also had to turn down offers from the likes of U2 and Elvis Costello due to their refusal to become a remix production line. With ‘The K&D Sessions TM’ ready to drop, a host of international DJ dates in the pipeline and a remix for Madonna’s next single ‘Nothing Really Matters’ forthcoming, it seems K&D will be unavoidable over the coming months. But stress not and just roll with the G-Stone… (!K7 Records)
1. Phone call: While K+D were hanging out at the G-Stone lounge, Ellen – the health instructor at G-Stone leisure 1 – handed them over the telephone. It was a guy from Germany, who called himself the mighty Horst. Since K+D were relaxing in a jacuzzi with Luna de Morantos of Heus 69 they could not understand more than the word – compilation.
K+D immediately said no because compilations nowadays tend to be boring anyway. After days and days of please do it, STUD!O K7 came with an offer that suited them: drugs, money, mo’ drugs + money and then some gals and their sisters. Since K+D are not made of wood they gave in.
2. Berlin: Flying to Berlin takes about 74 minutes, which can be a very long time. So, STUD!O K7 chartered a private jet full of cool gals to ease K+D’s hard and long flight. Horst knows about the important things in life. In the evening, the K7 crew took K+D to a cheap Italian joint. There they worked out some ideas. After two bottles of Chianti, K+D convinced STUD!O K7 that there is a way where Germans and Austrians can work together. So, the crew left for the bathroom – hell knows what they did there – returned with big smiles and said: “Yes – you’re right!”
3. Production: To get away from the – one track after the other – compilation concept, K+D checked in at HAVLIS – SUPER SOUND where their man Alex (don of the echo chambers) has a secret dub-laboratory. There K+D did a dub session on the selected tracks to inject some dynamics and life into it. They took two bottles of Highland park whisky and their old dub-echoes from the cellar and did a smoked-out dub echo-orgy. The new track and a slight headache was the result.
4. Finale: When the mighty Horst got the tape of the finished session, he had to listen to it on his old skool cassette answering machine. Rumor has it, that due to the awesome expenses for K+D he had to sell his car with his new stereo. But nevertheless he was happy.
The start of something very special! K&D broke through the gates big time in 93 with what is considered by many as the best ever display of downbeat mellow madness.
Some of the most intense beats and bass put together ever appeared on this excellent four track EP. Tracks like “High Noon” changed the perceptions of what trip-hop was really about. Even better, the basic component in the formation of what Vienna had to offer regarding left field dance music was changed too. The rest is nearly history.
“On their debut EP, G-Stoned, the acid jazz duo Kruder & Dorfmeister create a supreme soundtrack for blunted daydreams: music that soars on a cloud of found sounds, mutant beats, tribal chants, and hip hop technology. Borrowing its title from the classic western, “High Noon” is a hybrid of slo-mo beats and harmonic riffs that creates a sound-system image of the West, and the spooky “Original Bedroom Rockers” rules. Though K&D’s hometown of Vienna is known better for The Sound of Music than for laid-back funk, tracks like “Deep Shit pt. 1 & pt. 2″ sound like Brian Eno invading the Mothership.” (Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe Magazine march 1996)