Daniel Avery
DJ-Kicks
Release Date: Nov 11, 2016
Genre(s): Electronic, Club/Dance
Record label: !K7
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy DJ-Kicks from Amazon
Album Review: DJ-Kicks by Daniel Avery
Great, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
DJ mixes often get short shrift compared to studio albums: they’re not entirely new creations and anyway, with streaming sites curating intuitive playlists for your every mood, surely the skill for selecting music is becoming extinct? Not so the esteemed DJ-Kicks series on !K7 Records that, along with the mix series from Fabric nightclub and – less clubby, more laidback, the Late Night Tales series – is long dedicated to the art of DJing. Simply, that’s the skill of unearthing excellent tracks and sewing them together. This year was the turn of dark London technoist Daniel Avery and it’s surely one of their strongest instalments so far.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Fans of UK DJ-producer Daniel Avery might find his entry in the esteemed DJ Kicks mix series a little surprising. Sonically it’s oceans apart from the thorny, acidic electro of his rapturously received Drone Logic debut album, and more tellingly, from his entry in the fabric mix series, FABRICLIVE 66. In 2015, New Energy pulled together remixes of his material so far, and in its choice of remixers, hinted at his new direction.
Based on rating 3.6/5
In spite of his growing fame, following the crossover success of his debut LP, Drone Logic, and the ensuing tours, Daniel Avery's sound hasn't become any more commercial or approachable. In fact, it's gone the other way. He's made steely techno with Volte-Face as Rote, while his last solo record was severe and minimalist compared to past work. Avery tapped Rrose and Abdulla Rashim to remix that EP, which illustrates the sound he prefers these days.
Based on rating 7/10
It seems like almost every year is a big year for the venerable DJ mix series DJ-Kicks, but if there's any year that definitively deserves the title, it's this one. Following entries curated by Moodymann, Dâm-Funk, Jackmaster and Marcel Dettmann, independent record label !K7 Records wrap up 2016 with a mix by Daniel Avery, the tech house DJ who burst onto the scene with 2013's excellent Drone Logic. While fans of that record will have to keep waiting for a full-length followup, this mix should whet appetites for Avery's sophomore album.
Opinion: Very Good
Daniel Avery 'DJ-Kicks' (!K7)The DJ-Kicks series has had some killer installments recently – notably from Moodymann and Dâm-Funk, who mixed up the tempos and styles. Avery’s mix, in contrast, is a very uniform thing. Bar some bleak and beautiful ambient topping and tailing, it’s basically a set of austere Berlin-style techno. Ironically, it has far more drones than Avery’s own ‘Drone Logic’ album – there are none of the big, electro-influenced riffs of that record, just slowly evolving tones and percussion rattles over a never-ending kickdrum.
'DJ-Kicks'
is available now