Page 63 - Zone Magazine Issue 020

\\ TUNES
V A - Krafted For The Moment Vol. 3
[Krafted Digital]
Minimal/Tech House
Krafted deliver the goods again with this their latest compilation album which has been compiled by one of the three label owners Darren Braddick who has selected 17 tracks of new and even some unreleased material to showcase what the label is all about. With over 500 records released to this date its fair to say that the guys behind Krafted know a good tune when they hear one and many of them have made it onto this album.
The opener for example, David Ricardo and Jimmy Switch’s ‘Micron City’ which is a technoid track with serious electro influences that is driven by an almighty funky bassline and some seriously whacked out sounds that make it hard to categorise. Its songs like these that give Krafted an edge in a cluttered marketplace as they cover many bases and no two releases are rarely the same genre but sit somewhere between Deep House, Tech House, Techno and House, which gives them the freedom just to sign great tracks and not worry if they fit the right musical pigeonhole. Another great example is the ‘Made By Pete Remix’ of Redux Saints ‘Boundaries’ which is a smoldering deep house cut with a beautiful piano interlude that's warm and emotive with orchestral strings and ambient sampling thrown in to really warm the track up. This is followed by Damaged Disko’s ‘Dope Remote’ Which is an unashamedly techno cut with hard tinged sounds that really cut through the sound waves and make you want to loose it on the dancefloor where this track literally springs into my life.
Then half way through the album you get the ‘Sam Skilz Mix’ of Lee Pearce’s ‘Shoreline’ which is a funky house track but with attitude with a frenetic looped bassline, old school drum sounds and various vocal cuts that make all make it really pop and Paul Sawyer’s ‘Change’ which has been remodelled by Redux Saints which is almost on a progressive house tip with soulful male vocals, keyboard stabs and loads of sound effects. These four tracks show that level of diversity that Krafted are so good portraying with their release schedule
As the album comes to an end you get DMorse’s ‘Jungle Nights’ which is an unashamedly ethnic funky houser with layer upon layer of samples that build over ethnic drumming and is another track that comes to life on a dance floor with its intense drum patterns and foreign spoken vocal samples. Diversity and some smoking hot A&R prowess are the key to their success and this album perfectly showcases those skills to a tee. So if you are looking for some variety of musical genres and an album full of quality tunes, look no further as this album has 17 of them just waiting to be discovered.
Connect: www.krafted.co.uk words by danny slade
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