Matthew Dear's addition to the !K7 label's DJ-Kicks series follows Fabric 27 (2006) and Body Language, Vol. 7 (2008) as the artist's third commercially available mix album. Like the preceding two, the selections are up to date, with only an Alex & Digby edit of Gary Sloan and Clone's "Harmonitalk" (1980) potentially making the listener feel transported to another era ( la Mixed Up in the Hague). After a gentle instrumental from Nils Frahm, Dear leads into the mix with a turbulent dancefloor ballad, one of his hypnotic, slightly unsettling best. It plays out for its duration, after which Dear sequences finely detailed and near-brutal selections that blur into one another. After the mix seems to peak with a section of battering Simian Mobile Disco, Pearson Sound, and Soulphiction tracks, Dear ratchets up the intensity with a clutch of his Audion productions. Punctuated by DJ Khalab (and Baba Sissoko)'s rolling and disorienting "Kumu," this is Dear's funnest and oddest mix yet. ~ Andy Kellman
Professional Reviews
Clash (magazine) - "The American's apparitional, just-past-tipsy vocal welcomes you to the party with mix exclusive `Wrong With Us', before his harlequin ear goes to work on mystical deep house vibrations, making you move to a tribal groove from two rooms away."
