So who are Kruder & Dorfmeister?
Well, basically two guys mainly known through their successful dj-sets and a respectable record of
vinyl-releases since 1993. A dubplate-melting factor from Vienna. Two producers/djs/remixers
whose distinctive trademark sound is at most times extremely mellow, has a
lot of bass, downbeat tracks and a sense of epic soundscapes. There might
be the occasional double-time breaks and the heavy and deep typically viennese
feeling.
Consider K&D; to roam in their own, unique realm of musical beutekunst
that owes and gives a lot to rare funk tunes, electric jazz arrangements,
the feeling of deep soul, hiphop, dub, reggae, ambient, fusion, brazil, chansons,
dope beats and drum+bass and still a lot more influences that happen to find
the interest of the two austrians.
At a time when hip hopbeats started to emancipate themselves
from the rapping and everyone started to pay highest attention to the
blooming breakbeat scene in the UK, K&D; broke through out of nowhere with
one 4-track e.p. (G-stoned)
that featured a hypnotic track called High Noon and a cover that showed
the dj-duo in true Simon & Garfunkel form,
straight out of Richard Avedon anno 1969.
The impact was massive, especially since the first wave of enthusiasm
came from the UK where musical imports from the continent are seldom appreciated.
Gilles Peterson played the track at first on his famous now called Worldwide-show.
Gathering momentum with support from people like Wall of Sounds Mark Jones
and tracks for fellow Austrians Count Basic or strange people like William
Orbit, the further story of K&D; and Richard's Tosca project is well documented
on various compilations and twelve inch releases. They met people like
the Ninja tune posse, touched base with the leftfield dance, befriended
Munich's Compost crew, remixed artists as diverse as Bomb
the bass, Bones
thugs & harmony, Alex
Reece, United
Future Organisation, Rockers
Hifi (the K&D; version was used in the video of "Going under"), Lamb,
Roni
Size, Depeche
Mode and dj-ed in more clubs than you would care to count.
Be
it their self-produced tracks or the sound of their remixes, the K&D; symptomatic feeling of lush european
loungcore-dub pervaded all swift changes of the triphop hype and survived as
a highly personal expression that found easy access into the world of drum&bass;
when the breakbeats became soulful.
Their regular presence in the club circuit,
a characteristic side effect of their consistant travelling as djs, made them
well-received guest at the various crossing of an international beat-set that
took them from Vienna to London, to the American Westcoast, to Germany and back,
with a tightly packed dj-bag full of remixes tracing their steps.
A mix-CD compilation, DJ-kicks,
for german label studio
K7 marked a relevant change in the overall concept of K&D; or rather
in the way the audience seemed to take them in. From being well-respected
underground heroes they had emerged to be full fledged media-celebrities
in the music-press whose mix-CD was so excellently mixed and selected,
that many new fans were attracted all over the world.
K&D; are maybe
something like the continental answer to the british breakbeat or the american illbient scene, but then again
their musical imprint is outernational anyway. They could achieve the special
abstract global reputation that makes them neighbours to RockersHifi, Fila
Brazilia, Howie B., DJ Shadow, the wordsound collective, Coldcut or the
Thievery corporation in a virtual neighbourhood of twekwando-ing beatmeisters.
But, with a number of prolific dj-dates of K&D; all around the world and
the production and releases of two Tosca CD's of Tosca, a remix for Gregory
Isaacs for the tribute remix compilation of dub-classics on Island
records, and a remix for Madonna's single Nothing
really matters, it seems unavoidable that there will be a lot of talk
about Peter Kruder & Richard Dorfmeister.
So if you are looking for the living music, go and check G-stone
and roll a big one ....
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