Two years on since his last appearance on Zaltan’s label and the release of ‘Distant Images‘, through detours via Jonny Nash imprint Melody As Truth and MFM’s sub-branch Second Circle, D.K. makes a comeback on Parisian imprint Antinote – home to his first 12″ exploits – with the much anticipated ‘Mystic Warrior‘ EP.
All at once perpetuating and altering the phantasmagoric power of Asian folklore as seen from a Western perspective, with its ironic take on wide-scale-vehicled aesthetic clichés, D.K. keeps tracing a flurry of new possibilities and cross-genre interplays up from a seemingly narrow cultural bottleneck. And so does his newest for Antinote, upcycling such hackneyed pouncing patterns to its own advantage.
Transcending the limited narrative force of the largely overused tropes usually attached to Easternmost exotica, D.K. ‘Worries In The Dance‘ cleverly bridges the gap between grimey bass rhythms, ’90s-style bleepy robotics and a new age-y kind of downtempo hoodoo, all woven across by a wealth of organic and synthetic samples that feel lifted from some smoke-filled opium den of the Ming era.
Atmosphere-wise, one could easily situate the action in some high-altitude Shaolin temple, nestled in the solitude of a silent Chinese valley and surrounded by the mist-shrouded Longsheng rice terraces, as two enemy schools fight for dominance – but it’s just one big fantasy scenario, right?
Yet, when the needle hits the groove, the picture is brought to life with such intensity that beyond the surgical precision of his floor-focused production skills, we can’t help but think that D.K. has to be one of the finest club-associated sound designers around these days. And in that regard, ‘Mystic Warrior‘ simply counts as one of his most excellent efforts to date.
Mystic Warrior is released via Antinote on 15th March, pre-order a copy from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
A1. Mystic Warrior 06:50
A2. Elements 06:19
B1. Worries In The Dance
B2. Earth People