DJ Koze

Over the past decade, Stefan Kozalla has kept his fingers in many pies. Besides recording his debut LP as DJ Koze in 2005, Kozalla has released a handful of DJ mixes, remixed songs for a slew of Kompakt artists and has recorded singles under aliases like Monaco Schranze and Adolf Noise. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Amygdala (DJ Koze's forever-in-the-making sophomore release) would utilize such an overwhelming array of ideas and voices. Pulling in an impressive roster of guest musicians, Kozalla manages to organically incorporate Caribou's soft-psychedelic ("Track ID Anyone?"), Apparat's hissing, faded ambience ("Nices Wolkchen") and Matthew Dear's urban goth ("Magical Boy" and "My Plans"), using them as musical tools rather than featured players. It isn't ultra-impressive that Kozalla blends together so many varied sounds — numerous producers are capable of genre blending. However, it's how Amygdala manages to feel like a singular labour of love, a 78-minute piece that never feels laborious that is the accomplishment.