KI/KI: slash003 - compilation two

The 8‑track com­pi­la­tion series is a col­lec­tion of propul­sive trance, split over two equal­ly potent parts. Fea­tur­ing a selec­tion of dance­floor favourites curat­ed by KI/KI her­self, each track has been thor­ough­ly road test­ed dur­ing her shows over the past year — so qual­i­ty assured.

Open­ing slash002, Copenhagen’s Peach­lyfe deliv­ers a devi­ous­ly ambi­ent inter­lude. Ris­ing into a tran­scen­dent crux, ​‘Sane & Awake’ flirts with breakbeat’s sig­na­ture per­cus­sive style, teas­ing a drop, before tak­ing a U‑turn, pan­ning out into ever­more bliss­ful peaks. Full of bounce, DJ Lucid brings the build with ​‘Entry Plug’, draw­ing togeth­er dra­mat­ic strings and a pound­ing kick drum, while Nar­ciss expert­ly splices up a haunt­ing vocal frag­ment on ​‘Once More With Feel­ing.’ Geared towards fes­ti­val stages – huge crowds and height-of-the-night sum­mer cli­max­es – the record takes its cues from the hedo­nism of the 1990s, deliv­er­ing a pow­er­ful punch that’s any­thing but back­ward fac­ing. DJ Car Keys, part of Dutch-pop sen­sa­tion Gold­band, makes a spe­cial appear­ance in his debut as a solo pro­duc­er. Clos­ing the B‑side, ​’Spin­ning’ is a 155-bpm bel­ter, where a looped hit-hat col­lides with psy­che­del­ic spo­ken word pas­sages.

slash003 turns more intro­spec­tive, recall­ing dark­ened, brood­ing club base­ments. Launch­ing off, DJ Hyper­drive more than lives up to his name­sake. ​’Star­burst’ rock­ets at light speed, its space-age momen­tum con­jur­ing a retro­fu­tur­ist fan­ta­sy. Amour Noir’s ​’Sun­day Morn­ing’ is a love let­ter to dance floors, its choral-style vocal and glid­ing synth allud­ing to the rev­er­ence of litur­gi­cal music. Tbilisi’s Bassiani res­i­dent Newa trans­pos­es a wig­gy acid bassline onto a steely tech­no pulse, then for ​‘Astral Recall’ (one of KI/KI​’s most played songs of 2022) Arman John part­ners a dri­ving beat with a lucid melody, craft­ing a hybrid flex that melds gen­res and moods seam­less­ly. Plung­ing into dark­ness before emerg­ing into sun­lit eupho­ria, slash003 chan­nels a vital fea­ture of every mas­ter­ful DJ set – the emo­tion­al jour­ney of con­trast­ing styles and atmos­pheres, set in motion by adren­a­line-fuelled beats

The com­pi­la­tion is already sold out on vinyl but is avail­able for dig­i­tal down­load here.