Peter Kruder is a bit of a compilation king racking up six and seven figure sales with some of his previous outings and once you’ve listened to this album you’ll know why they sold so well. The concept with this private collection is that Peter Kruder invites us into his living room to listen to some of his favourite records. Great! Milk, two sugars, thanks Pete
Peter Kruder is one half of the legendary production duo Kruder & Dorfmeister as well as the driving force behind The Peace Orchestra and the best thing musically to come out of Austria since yodelling and with 35,000 records in his collection when he puts a compilation together you should really take note.
He kicks off with 80s pop experimentalists Talk Talk and the deep bluesy electronic pop of ‘The Rainbow’ before post-rock Chicago dons Tortoise take up the mantle with the slow atmospheric guitar led ‘On The Chin’. Typical of a dj he he only plays a short section of ‘Waste Your Life’ from The Observatory as a bridge into the ever green soulful jazz of ‘Enchanted Lady’ from vibes virtuoso Milt Jackson before he launches into Gong offshoot Pierre Moerten’s Gong and the xylophone jazz fusion of ‘Adrien’ — a track he discovered through a mixtape handed to him by Gilles Peterson in the early 90′s.
House deity Charles Webster contributes one of his rare down tempo experiments, Tom Waits adds his dulcet tones on the leftfield percussive gem ‘Clap Hands’. Jan Hammer provides some 80′s synth stylings and Kruder throws in a Peace Orchestra track from the next album — whenever that might appear and an old K&D track called ‘Sleazy Rider’ also makes the cut — well he is the compiler!
The cosmic soul of Stargard rubs shoulders with an instrumental classical piano piece by Massive Attack vocalist Craig Armstrong and 80′s electronic pioneers Japan contribute their classic ‘Ghosts’. American composer, famous for his Hitchcock collaborations, Bernard Hermann, pops up alongside fellow film composer and modern producer Jon Brion before versatile French producers Chateau Flight lead us into the album closer from one of my favourite African vocalists Rokia Traore and the beautiful ‘Mariama’
The album start to finish is a musical wonder and best listened to in its entirety preferably in the dark. Thanks Pete, now where’s your bathroom?
G-Stone Records
Peter Kruder Myspace
