Kolsch – 1977

Label: KompaktScore: 8/10

Kolsch/Rune RK has been touring with the Swedish House Mafia. I imagine it was the snob in me which initially prevented me taking any notice of what’s going on in this album. On the surface it’s a compilation of catchy summertime hits (some recogniseable tunes from many a DJ set have been released previously on the Kompakt sub-label Speicher) supplemented with unreleased material.

It took a long drive listening through my shitty car stereo to realise how good it is. In one of those rare perfect storms of a listening experience, I’d stopped for a coffee down the M6 and decided to give 1977 another go after not really getting on with it at the first few tries. 8pm sunlight was looking kindly upon the greenery of the West Midlands and, to my surprise, I felt aggrieved when the first track came to a close. A feeling replicated at the close of each of the next twelve tracks.

There’s a very definite Kolsch sound, characterised mostly by the bold catchy synth melodies he seems to have such a knack for. Within that sound however he displays a degree of variety: “Opa” demonstrates a kind of electro dissonance an beepiness contrasting with “Goldfisch”’s smooth sustenance. “Der Alte” begins sounding like the song Jay puts his lipstick on to in Clerks 2 (Goodbye Horses by Q Lazarus) but ends up sounding like a Max Cooper reimagination of “Changes of Life”.

Oma and Zig evokes images of the 80s synth rock of Van Halen while Bappedekkel’s bombastic lead is underpinned by a Four Tet-esque shuffling beat.

Pretty much, if you’re a fan of Kolsch’s previous work you’re going to enjoy the cuts on this album. Solid sunny fare and we’re sure to hear more of most of it as the summer progresses and probably beyond.

As a a man keen on people having fun and partying Kolsch definitely achieves exactly what he sets out to do. He makes exeptionally high spirited dance music perfectly suited to the floor and this album is a great showcase of that. Look a little closer and and the details are where the production experience of 20 years makes itself known. Live drum samples are blended expertly within highly modern almost commercial sounding elements in what has come to be an idiosyncratic and fairly unique way. Great summer fare.