Mount Kimbie: MK 3.5 - Die Cuts / City Planning (Indie Exclusive Colored Vinyl) Vinyl 2LP

"Mount Kimbie just keep evolving; they can’t do anything else. First they were young stars of the London electronic underground, turning the breakout success of a pair of EPs into a lasting album statement, 2010’s Crooks & Lovers. Later they were Warp-signed shapeshifters, changing coordinates across a pair of albums, between electronic duo and band, and between a rich constellation of influences. At each moment they could have stuck with a formula they knew worked. Instead they explored and experimented, looking for the next spark of inspiration and the freshest ideas. 13 years on, the search has brought them somewhere new. Over the past half decade the pair have taken parallel paths: Kai Campos dove deep into avant-garde club and DJ culture, while Dom Maker has been collaborating with world-renowned vocalists in the fertile LA scene. Coming back together for this double album, they offer new insight into the two sides of their sound. Die Cuts / City Planning is an engrossing yin-and-yang exercise that infuses Mount Kimbie with a vivid new palette of sounds and influences, setting the stage for their future collaborations. Kai had always dabbled in making more club-centric music, but gradually, through this process of exploration, scattered ideas formed into a clearer vision. The outcome of this creative journey is “City Planning”. Wild, warped and loopy, the album twists avant-garde signifiers from on and off the dancefloor into a deft and refined statement. Its sleek beats and stuttering arpeggios are caked with scuzz and personality, making for an album that’s warm and inviting even at its most confrontational. Dom’s story, meanwhile, starts on the other side of the world. He moved to LA half a decade ago, around the same time as the band’s old friend and collaborator James Blake. The pair began doing production sessions with a series of increasingly big names from the world of rap and hip-hop, working with Jay-Z early on (on 2017’s “MaNyfaCedGod”). Since then, Dom’s confidence has grown alongside his jawdropping list of collaborators, which includes Travis Scott, ASAP Rocky, SZA, and Rosalia, among many others. He has also been building a network of exciting artists around him in LA. Die Cuts is a reflection of this nascent community and a statement of Dom’s producerly vision. Skipping between hip-hop, RnB, and electronic pop, the album combines high class songcraft with a delicate leftfield touch, and showcases a cast of vocalists including Reggie, Nomi, Keiyaa, Liv.e, and Choker. Die Cuts / City Planning shows how Dom and Kai have grown over the past decade, and demonstrates the two sides of Mount Kimbie’s aesthetic coin. Kai’s side is tactile and unpredictable, the product of a deeply personal aesthetic voyage; Dom’s is colourful and melody-led, thriving on the spark of collaboration. The two sides complement each other through their contrasts. But in other ways they’re not so different. Both artists present a unique vision which stands apart from their peers; neither side could have been made by anyone but Mount Kimbie." - Warp

• full-length double album from Kai Campos + Dom Maker, comprised of two 'solo' albums from each member of Mount Kimbie
• clear colored double vinyl pressing
• featuring collaborations w/ James Blake, Danny Brown, slowthai, Wiki + more
• printed inner sleeves
• digital download included
• limited edition
• music label: Warp Records 2022