DJ Koze
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Biografía
- Stefan Kozalla aka DJ Koze lives and works in Hamburg and Cadaqués. His Profession: DJ, Musician (International Pony, Adolf Noise), Producer (Róisín Murphy & Marteria) and Remixer (Gorillaz, Moderat, Matthew Dear, Låpsley, Caribou and many others).DJ Koze exists a little outside of time of time. Not only because his records can take you to places where everything seems to stop, the present moment expanding out to the horizon, but because he manages to function on a timeline completely detached from the usual dreary cycles of hype, influence, club hits, press credibility and career progression that govern so many of the structures of the music world. None of which is to say, though, that he's a wilful “outsider” artist: though Koze's music has been consistently strange and psychedelic, he has absolutely no truck with courting obscurity or alienating people for the sake of it, and he is hugely popular with very good reason. Stefan Kozalla was born in Marrakech but his itinerant family eventually settled in the very northernmost reaches of Germany by the Danish border, in time for Stefan to gravitate to the music scene of nearby Hamburg. By the age of 16, in 1988, he was already insanely skilled as a cutting-and-scratching DJ, coming second in the DMC mixing championships. He joined local hip hop crew Fischmob, committing his first release to vinyl with them in 1994, and made his first solo releases later in the 90s as Adolf Noise. Even back here, there was nothing conventional about anything he did, nothing that he did fit into any trend or sub-genre of the time – yet it kep reaching new ears as people picked up on the unique frequencies he was accessing and quickly ran to share them with his friends. Likewise when he formed electronic pop band International Pony around the turn of the millennium – signing to a major label for two albums: though their influences and quirky humour might have invited comparisons with acts from the then-dominant electroclash scene, in fact their records sounded (and still sound) utterly unique, existing in a world all of their own. His identity on the dance scene as DJ Koze was also becoming well established by this point. He was first voted SPEX magazine's number one most popular DJ in 1999, and would hold that honour for NINE years. He also began a relationship with Frankfurt's Kompakt label around this time, his releases beginning with September 2003's "Der Säger Von St. Georg" (a track on the Speicher 11 EP) and a three-track 12" titled The Geklöppel Continues. The following month, he recorded his second commercially released mix, All People Is My Friends, which was released on Kompakt the following January. From here his flow of tracks was steady, punctuated occasionally with thrilling albums, all of which still stand the test of time: Adolf Noise's Wo Die Rammelwolle Fliegt (Buback, 2005), DJ Koze Kosi Comes Around (Kompakt, 2005) and, on his own Pampa label, Amygdala (2013). Reincarnations: The Remix Chapter 2001-2009 (Get Physical) and Reincarnations: The Remix Chapter 2009-2014 (Pampa) collected his considerable, often spellbinding, remix work – this being the arena in which he would first demonstrate his true capabilities in terms of stylistic breadth. As the 2010s progressed, his productions, and the releases by others that he selected for Pampa, paradoxically placed him right at the heart of the dance establishment, even as each one undermined or rewrote the rules of what a dance track is. His 2012 remix of Matthew Herbert's “It's Only” was made Resident Advisor #1 Track of the year the following year. In 2014 his reworking of Moderat's “Bad Kingdom” was inescapable – and in 2015, his track “XTC”, with its pitched-down, deeply philosophical alternative take on drug musings, became one of the most peculiar tracks ever to achieve club anthem status. In 2016, his remix of Lapsley's “Operator” was nominated for best remix & best record at the Electronic Music Awards, LA ), and in 2017, his heartbreakingly gorgeous remix for his old Kompakt compadre Michael Mayer's track “For You” with Joe Goddard again achieved ubiquitous status. And that's just a very few choice tracks: plenty of electronic music heads would pick other tracks as favourites, or cite the importance of his remixes for Caribou, Mount Kimbie, Apparat, Lapsley, Matthew Dear, Whomadewho, Gonzales, Battles, Soap&Skin, Mathias Aguayo, Ben Watt, Hildegard Knef or any of a huge number of other luminaries. And there's more besides. In 2015, Koze had the honor of compiling the 50th installment of !K7's celebrated DJ-Kicks series, which he used as an opportunity to remind us of his love for leftfield hip-hop and pop as well as house: exactly the kind of variety he's brought to bear on knock knock. The following year, he presented Pampa, Vol. 1, an unmixed selection of exclusives sent by his good friends who also happen to represent a who's who of underground talent: Acid Pauli, Gold Panda, Mount Kimbie, Roman Flügel, Ada, Stimmung, Dntel, Isolée – and the small matter of a collaboration between DJ Koze & Jamie XX. Rather remarkably, and showing that no matter how peculiar his music gets, the more momentum Koze builds, the second Reincarnations set, the DJ-Kicks mix, and Pampa, Vol. 1 all placed on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the U.S. Almost a quarter century from his first release, in his own words, Koze “keeps delivering like a pizza boy.” Even in a world flooded by cheap copies and functional clubs, his remixing skills are some of the most in-demand in the world, the Pampa label is one of the most important in electronic music, and his DJ sets are revered worldwide to this day... and as knock knock! shows without question, he is still a world-bestriding music artist in his own right. Outside of time, outside of obvious influence, outside of trend and hype – but right inside a circle of great “artists with gifted talents... somewhere on the edge of pop music” – DJ Koze just keeps on keeping on.̸Album 2005: Kosi Comes Around (Kompakt Records) 2013: Amygdala (Pampa Records) 2018: Knock Knock (Pampa Records) Compilations 2000: Music Is Okay (Yo Mama) 2009: Reincarnations: The Remix Chapter 2001-2009 (Get Physical Music) 2014: Reincarnations Pt. II: The Remix Chapter 2009-2014 (Pampa Records) Producer: 2021: Materia - 5. Dimension (Tracks: Paradise Delay, Neonwest, Loft &Liebe feat. Miss Platnum & Hacki, Zug der Erkenntnis) 2023: Róisín Murphy - Hit Parade (Full Album) DJ mixsets 2004: All People Is My Friends 2009: Resident Advisor #145 2013: FACT 387 2013: XLR8R 324 2015: DJ-Kicks: DJ Koze (#50) EPs 1998: Happy Hip Hop (Yo Mama) 2001: Deine Reime Sind Schweine (Regelrechte Schweine) (Buback) 2003: The Geklöppel Continues (Kompakt Records) 2004: Late Check Out (Kompakt Records) 2004: Speicher 20 (Kompakt Extra) 2005: Lighta Spuba (Freude am Tanzen) 2006: Kosi Comes Around – Remixes Part 1 (Kompakt Records) 2006: Stompin at the Clubfoot (Kompakt Records) 2007: All The Time (Philpot) 2007: Naked (Cereal/Killers) 2008: I Want To Sleep (International Records Recordings) 2009: Mrs. Bojangels (Circus Company) 2010: Rue Burnout / Blume der Nacht (Pampa Records) 2012: My Orphaned Son / It's Only (Pampa Records) 2014: La Duquesa / Burn With Me (Pampa Records) 2013: Amygdala Remixes #1 (Pampa Records) 2014: Amygdala Remixes #2 (Pampa Records) 2014: La Duquesa / Burn With Me (Pampa Records) 2015: XTC (Pampa Records) 2016: Driven (Hart&Tief) 2018: Seeing Aliens (Pampa Records) 2018: Pick Up (Pampa Records) 2021: Record Store Day Exclusive (Pampa Records) 2022: knock knock Remixes #1 (Pampa Records) 2022: knock knock Remixes #2 (Pampa Records) 2023: Róisín Murphy & DJ Koze – Can't Replicate 12” Edit (White Label) 2023: Wespennest/Candidasa EP (Pampa Records) Remixes (selected) Låpsley – Operator (DJ Koze Remix) (XL) Melle Brown feat. Annie Mac - Feel About You (DJ Koze Remix) Peggy Gou - I Go (DJ Koze Remix) Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray - Sanba Yo Pran Pale (DJ Koze Remix) José González – Tjomme (DJ Koze Remix) Solomun feat. Jamie Foxx - Ocean (DJ Koze Remix) Gerry Read – It’ll All Be Over (DJ Koze remix) Herbert – It’s Only (DJ Koze Remix) Moderat – Bad Kingdom (DJ Koze Remix) Mount Kimbie – Made to Stray (DJ Koze Remix) Malaria! vs. Chicks On Speed – Kaltes Klares Wasser (DJ Koze Remix) Blumfeld – Tausend Tränen Tief (Loverboy Mix) Fettes Brot – Silberfische In Meinem Bett (Adolf Noise Meets Fettes Blut) Die Goldenen Zitronen – Weil Wir Einverstanden Sind (DJ Koze a.k.a. Adolf Noise Remix) Egoexpress – Telefunken (DJ Koze Remix) Rocko Schamoni – The Diskoteer (DJ Koze Remix) Die Fantastischen Vier – Le Smou (DJ Koze & Mario Von Hacht Rmx) Reinhard Voigt – Zu Dicht Dran (DJ Koze Remix) Hildegard Knef – Ich Liebe Euch (DJ Koze Remix) Andreas Dorau – Kein Liebeslied (DJ Koze Remix) Ada – Eve (DJ Koze Remix) Ada – Faith (DJ Koze Remix) Heiko Voss – I Think About You (DJ Koze Mix) Mano Le Tough – Energy Flow (DJ Koze Remixes) James Figurine – Apologies (DJ Koze Rmx) Wassermann – Die Schallplatte (DJ Koze Remix) Meloboy – Hot Love (DJ Koze Mix) Wechsel Garland – Mutes (DJ Koze's Broken CD-Mix) Blagger – Strange Behavior (DJ Koze AKA Swhaimi Remix) Alter Ego – Jolly Joker (DJ Koze's Nuttich Styler Remix) Battles – Atlas (DJ Koze Remix) Gerd – 1 In The Morning (At The Club) (DJ Koze Remix) Sascha Funke – Mango Cookie (DJ Koze Remix) Mathias Kaden – Kawaba (DJ Koze's Kosi-San Remix) Nôze – Danse Avec Moi (DJ Koze Rework) Matthew Dear – Elementary Lover (Dj Koze Rmx) Lawrence – Rabbit Tube (DJ Koze Remix) Caribou – Found Out (DJ Koze Remix) Caribou – Jamelia (DJ Koze Remix) The Big Crunch Theory – Distortion (DJ Koze Remix) Who Made Who – Keep Me In My Plane (DJ Koze Hudson River Dub) Makossa & Megablast Feat. Cleydys Villalon – Soy Como Soy (DJ Koze No Voy A Cambiar Repaso) Efdemin – There Will Be Singing (DJ Koze Remix) Michael Mayer & Joe Goddard – For You (DJ Koze Remixes) Chilly Gonzales – Knight Moves (DJ Koze Remix) Apparat – Black Water (DJ Koze Remix) Superflu – Jo Gurt (Dj Koze RMX) 2raumwohnung – Somebody Lonely and Me (Remixes) Matias Aguayo – Minimal (DJ Koze Remix) Underworld – I Exhale (DJ Koze Remix) Roman Flügel – 9 Years (DJ Koze Remix) Radio Slave – Reverse (DJ Koze Edit) Gorillaz – Humility (DJ Koze Remix) Radio Slave – Reverse (DJ Koze Edit)
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