The club music supergroup of deadmau5 and Kaskade, Kx5, have dropped their debut self-titled studio album. The 10-track project delivers a pretty eclectic collection of sounds, which includes electro-house, progressive-house, acid techno, tech trance, and tech house. It also brings a pretty impressive list of credited features, with names like Sofi Tukker, Elderbrook, Hayla, and others contributing in one form or another. Individually the pair have given us some of the most successful house and
progressive tracks off all time, with their 2008-released collaboration ‘I Remember’ being an iconic sound for that decade. The pair are now working together in a much more intense way, to the point that they have now produced an entire studio album together. ‘Escape’ and ‘pwdr Blu’ will bring back memories of that late ’00’s sound, dominated by uplifting melodies and heavily filtered synth chords, albeit with much more polished production. Elsewhere you’ll find techno on ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Eat Sleep’, as well as a few more subtle hints of trance, acid, and tech house on titles such as ‘When I Talk’, ‘Unobsidian’, and ‘Avalanche’. Every track kind of does its job, and there’s not really any filler at all, it’s all well measured, well produced, and if there’s something you can’t seem to enjoy, then it’s likely just because it doesn’t fit to your taste.
Where to start:
Escape: Pluck style progressive melodies and softened vocals from Hayla
Eat Sleep: Punchy drum transients and a chunky low end
Take Me High: Supersaw melodies, reverb soaked vocals, and pitched up string pads
Previous from Kx5:
deadmau5 – W:/2016ALBUM/ LP (2016, mau5trap)
Kaskade – Redux 003 LP (2019, Arlade)
If you like this then check out:
i_o – Warehouse Summer LP (2022, Armada Music)
No Mana – Secret Level LP (2020, 720MAU5)
Kx5 – Kx5 LP is out now on mau5trap Recordings.