dZihan & Kamien

Where as many pioneers of electronic music began their training as DJs and moved to digital and analogue gadgets to compose the masterpieces that everyone danced to for the better part of the ’90s, the new trend seems to be that more and more traditionally trained musicians are clicking mice rather than plucking guitar strings. For dZihan and Kamien, who play jazz, drums and guitar respectively, they are comfortable with both types of music: real and synthetic. These days they also lay down a mean laptop, creating some amazing nu-jazz compositions that take the intimate sound of acoustic instruments and create tracks with an edge that only computer production can give. There are two discs that make up Fakes, one of traditional jazz by the Brut Imperial Quintet and the other of remakes and remixes of jazz standards performed and mixed by D & K themselves. By far, the more interesting disc of the two is the modern remakes because they’ve totally reinvented and given a new lease on life to some timeless songs that have been completely ignored by most modern music fans. The likes of Billie Holiday and Cay Taylan have been renovated and remodelled, making them relevant on cooler dance floors and in younger ears. Considering that the duo hail from Vienna, one of the most overlooked music scenes in the world, their brilliant work is no surprise.