12"

genre: HOUSE - DEEP HOUSE

label: Pampa Records   Cat.No: Pampa024

2025 Reissue - Dj Koze’s 2013 album, Amygdala, has continued to beguile anyone who’s heard it since its release. Considered his own Sgt. Pepper, the sublime long-player revealed a fully realised, personal body of work, with classical songwriting at its core, house music in its heart and veins running with psychedelic colours.
"La Duquesa" was the dreamy stand out single from the album, a trip into deep tropical ecstasy. "XTC" begins in the same spirit and captures all the blissful allusions of its name, but its initial gentleness belies the profound intensity that will follow. Floating pads glow with a heavenly aura as a kick drum is gradually coaxed into solid form, and the introduction of spoken word opens the second act. “Many people are experimenting with the drug Ecstasy,” it says, “...is the drug like a lie and meditation the truth? Or am I missing out on something that could really help me?” "XTC" then transforms: softly imploring tones become demanding, the gentle gradients between chords become angular and sharp hi-hats cut through the haze. Complete with Koze’s distinctive percussive idiosyncrasies, it builds to the track’s eventual pay-off: an undeniable, all-encompassing, irresistible high. "Knee On Belly" recalls Koze at his most tongue-in-cheek and outspoken; it’s bright, bold and literally brassy, using chopped brass stabs of all shapes and sizes to make up its unique arrangement. With the highs and mids accounted for, Koze adds a swollen, thumping bassline to mix it up and bring this dance floor filler to life. "Knee on Belly" conjures up a raw, filtered, funky approach to groove, with a nod to disco house and the art of artistic sampling, as it orbits between its neon highs and latent lows.[txt from distribution]