Kruder & Dorfmeister - The K&D Sessions (25th Anniversary Edition) 6xLP

Label: !K7

For Sessions’ 25th anniversary, the landmark release sees a special treatment in the form of a limited audiophile edition box set with an additional 6th LP containing previously unreleased music, including remixes of the likes of Madonna, Lewis Taylor, Count Basic, and more. It comes in gloss finish and highlight clear UV varnishing, sleeves and labels printed using metallic gold pantone and a hi-res A2 poster as well as a 32 page booklet with original and previously unseen photographs from the time alongside extensive liner notes by Max Dax, Robert Menasse and Werner Geier. 

In the late '90s, Viennese duo Kruder & Dorfmeister found themselves gigging around Europe, riding the explosive success of their 1993 debut EP, G-Stoned. After a gig in Munich, they had a run-in with a peeved student reporter who couldn't comprehend how their live shows were so packed with just one solo release out. He wasn't aware of the pair's excellent remixes for the likes of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Depeche Mode and David Holmes.

On their way home to Vienna, Peter Kruder couldn't stop thinking about the interaction. He told Richard Dorfmeister, "We have to do a compilation—put all of our remixes together so people can see what we've done." If it weren't for that one disgruntled journalist, the duo's masterwork of dubby downtempo, The K&D Sessions, may have never come to light. "We have no idea who that student is, but we should have dinner with him because he was the initial spark to do the compilation," Kruder says with a smile.

Released in 1999, Sessions was a double-album of two original tracks and nineteen remixes spanning high-grade drum & bass, cerebral dub and Brazilian samples. Its beauty lies in subtly complex details. Luxuriously minimal instrumentals move at a leisurely pace, bolstered by warped FX that playfully counter hi-def drums. Ripples of bubbling acid and spectral ambient chords emerge and then dissipate without fanfare or build-up. It's understated but head-spinning, inviting you to sit down and take a beat.

Sessions set a high bar for what has come to know as "mood music." It encompasses a range of genres, from quiet-storm R&B to lo-fi psychedelia. It's undemanding and versatile, with the right amount of relatability and intrigue for universal appeal. But Sessions doesn't just set the mood, it is the mood. It dims the lights in any room, applying a smoky, starry-eyed filter to conversations. Mundane moments become cinematic vignettes, fleeting thoughts turn into profound musings.

Sessions not only brought together listeners of various tastes, widening Kruder & Dorfmeister's cult following, it also captured the underlying spirit of its time. Brooding intensity and a sense of melancholic indulgence coloured many seminal releases of the late ‘90s, including Massive Attack's Mezzanine, Photek's Form & Function, Air's Moon Safari and Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children. Nodding to the zeitgeist, Sessions embraced a decidedly heavier, darker sound than its predecessor G-Stoned.