DJ Kicks start the new year with a flourish, in the form of Matthew Dear’s first mix for eight years. It’s a carefully thought out affair, and a personal one too, as in the background Dear has included vocal snippets of family and friends. This is a nice touch that brings a certain warmth to proceedings, complementing the machine-based material that forms the earlier part of the mix. Musically it’s brilliantly worked together, from the calm, palette cleansing ‘Ode’ from Nils Frahm that opens the mix, through Dear’s contribution ‘Wrong With Us’, right up to the exclusive trio of Audion tracks rounding things off. On the way Dear explores some rewarding corners of techno, from the chunky lower end of Smoke’s ‘Nuutri’ to the out and out brilliance of Duff Disco’s wobbly ‘Feed The Horse’, not to mention the cracking beats of Markus Enochson’s ‘Hot Juice Box’. Throughout he keeps his finger on the pulse, creating a mix that gets better the more you listen to it, topped off with that winning personal touch. Every bit as good as we hoped it would be!
Ben Hogwood
5 out of 5
http://dj-kicks.com/matthewdear/
VARIOUS ARTISTS – DJ KICKS: MATTHEW DEAR – !K7
