Various

As if compiling over a dozen great down-tempo tracks into one offering wasn’t good enough, Kruder & Dormeister have also pieced together a mini-scrapbook to partner with the record. The over 300-page mini-scrapbook helps mark the past few years of G-Stone Recordings, a label K&D started with their G-Stoned EP in 1993. Since then, the duo hasn’t really released that much material through the label, something that this compilation proves when running down the list. Of the 14 tracks, exactly half of them belong to either Kruder & Dorfmeister or Tosca, which isn’t a bad thing considering that it’s these cuts that stand out above the others, especially “High Noon” and “Deep Shit Part 1 & 2,” which start and finish this album the same way they did with the G-Stoned EP eight years ago. The actual book is fantastic, consisting of various amateur, professional and oddball photographs of Kruder & Dorfmeister on tour. Also included are the graphics of past G-Stone releases, as well as promotional material and tour flyers. There’s some really great imagery within these full-colour pages that make you feel like a child listening to a picture book on your stereo while the abstract photographs tells the story. Memorable sections of the book include K&D pasting their heads on photographs of muscle-bound, Speedo-sporting bodies, candid snapshots with friends at weekend getaways and the priceless image of Peter Kruder and friends dressed as KISS from 1977. The combination of this fabulous book and equally impressive audio portion equal a brilliant package from Kruder & Dorfmeister. Even though G-Stone releases seem to be few and far between (usually in the form of remixes on other artist’s recordings), it looks like there’s much thought and creativity put into them, thus proving that when it comes to G-Stone, quality is better than quantity.