Photo by Curtly Thomas
As a co-founder of London's boundary pushing Bala Club collective/party/label, Kamixlo's been involved with making, releasing, or playing a fair share of the world's most exciting club music over the last couple years. The collective's really flowered in the last calendar year, with all of their component members—including Endgame and Uli K—releasing a veritable torrent of twisted takes on techno, dancehall riddims, R&B and pretty much whatever other sorts of grimy and ghostly sounds they can get their hands on.At the end of last year, Kamixlo released the six-track EP Angélico—a version of his jittery productions that felt both haunted and mud-caked, spectral and corporeal all at once. Kami's been busy this year with a handful of Bala Club parties, and gigs elsewhere in the world, but today he's sharing a new track with the smirking title "No Hablo Aleman Pero Puedo Si Quieres" (Spanish for "I Don't Speak German But I Can If You Want").It's a more austere and monochromatic take on the sounds and rhythms he usually plays around with. The clattering snare hits, and twitchy cymbals layer and pulse in ways that feel like a drum line. Drawn out bass notes hum ominously. There's little in the way of traditional melody, and it creeps along at a laborious pace, like a wounded beast moaning for release. You'll be afraid, maybe you should be.This Saturday, Kamixlo plays the afterparty of Mixpak's Summer Frenzy show, which features Spice, Tink, Equiknoxx, SquidNice, Mixpak Sound System (featuring Dre Skull and Jubilee), and the Large. DJ BeBe, Tygapaw, and Jayhood will join Kami at the afterparty. Full disclosure: THUMP associate editor Ezra Marcus is involved with the booking of the show, and is playing the opening set of the daytime portion of the show.
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Update [June 24, 2017 12:48 AM]: This post has been amended to reflect the updated track title.