XV Kilist & Rocco - XV Kilist & Rocco (Traktor)

On 2007-05-16 17:07, Acidhive wrote:
Artist: XV Kilist & Rocco
Album: XV Kilist & Rocco
Label: Traktor
Released: January 2007
Cover: http://212.227.206.198/cgi-bin/zoom.cgi?trk1cd012_b.jpg:CDs/trk/trk1cd012.html:;
http://www.juno.co.uk/covers/255501-01-back.htm

Tracklist:

1. Hasta la victoria siempre (8:26)
2. Wisdomfeet (9:24)
3. Fuhrwerk rmx (7:58)
4. Pasta Asciutta (8:11)
5. No Mames rmx (9:14)
6. Sedate (7:21)
7. Solid Hunter (8:57)
8. Palindromic (10:07)
9. Flipside (Bonustrack) (5:36)

The review: XV Kilist always was a personal favourite of mine. Ever since his first album on Spiral Trax, which took me several months to really appreciate, I was hooked on his music. His second album had more housey influences and now his third album has hit the shelves. Together with Rocco he has cooked up some more tracks for us, some more entrenched in housey atmospheres, others containing more sharp minimal techno influences. Let's go through the tracks.

Track 1: Starts off with a kickdrum and some pads immediately and soon more percussion comes in. A sunny vibe is emitting from this track and it's a groover for sure. More in the housey atmosphere, with some pleasant sounds. Great opener.

Track 2: Begins very minimal with kick and percussion. Proceeds to become much like track 1 at about 4 minutes with some lush pads and it all continues very funky from there. Great work on the percussion again, this is truly something XV Kilist has mastered in full. Nice track.

Track 3: More technoey in nature and this sounds more like older XV Kilist classics like Kante, Affenbrot etc. Has some dubstabs beneath it all though, so it's not as minimal as some of his older tracks were. The Rocco influence maybe Anyway, nice track for the diversity. Great work on percussion as usual. Some samples can be heard as well, droplets falling and a voice saying "I drink to this special occassion". Alrighty.

Track 4: Deeper than the track before and less on the light side. Quite minimal in atmosphere once again. Great work on the percussion. This is the most minimal track so far. If you liked older XV Kilist you'll like this. If you're more into psyprogressive you'll probably end up skipping this one. A pity, since as far as minimal trance goes, this is a gem. Nice, but not as good as previous tracks.

Track 5: Starts off minimal again with a plain kickdrum. Some sounds come in and some pads. This is sunnier in vibe once more, but on a deeper note than tracks 1,2. Has some deep pads and the song can become quite hypnotic in nature. So far, I'm liking this album a lot. Great track.

Track 6: Starting off with filtered sounds and slowly everything becomes more audible. A bassdrum starts, not as hard as previous tracks, a little softer. Great emphasis on percussion again and this one is a bit more minimal but that bassline speaks house more than it does techno, and it gets people moving alright. Some nice little dubstabs come in again and we're off. This has that sunny vibe again that track 1 introduced. Nice stuff for sure.

Track 7: We start off with some dubstabs again and this is more minimal once more. If I'm not mistaken this is the same track that was on 'Alfa Aroma'. Overall, a nice piece of work, and if I'm not wrong this even sounds a little different, although I can't be 100% sure. I'd have to dig XV Kilist's 2nd album from my collection somewhere and I can't be bothered now. In any case, it sits really well in the flow here so that's a big plus once again.

Track 8: Beginning with bassdrum and hi-hats. Percussion comes in gradually, as does a padsound and a deep bassline. More funky and on the housey side again, this is one deep track for sure. Gets some dubstabs later on, and overall this is the longest track on the album. It takes its time to build and turns into quite a funky track overall.

Track 9: A bonustrack, and not all that long really. This is the most house-influenced track on the cd. Quite bouncy and more of a happier vibe than the rest of the tracks with those samples and that little melody inside.

Conclusion time then. Overall, a good album and I'd give it 9/10, simply because I know this will grow on me some more the more I play it, as happened with the 2 albums before this one. I expect to have some enjoyment from this for some time to come and hey, if you like this more minimal funky housestyle you'd do well to check this. If you're a fan of XV Kilist in general, then this just can't be missed. Great stuff.

Listen to samples here:
http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/trk/trk1cd012.html
http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=6357