Kruder & Dorfmeister

Despite their minimal output, Austrians Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister cast a long shadow. Indeed, they're accountable for a thousand chill-out com-pilations that would follow in their wake, and their music (or the countless imitations thereof) would become a staple in clothing boutiques and coffee shops the world over. On their one available release of original material, the EP G-Stoned, they successfully crossbreed downbeat, ambient, trip-hop, dub, and mid-tempo electronic music to arrive at their signature sound: cinematic and spliffed-out with gently pulsing breakbeats, minimalist keyboards, and the occasional vocal sample.

Their subsequent studio work would revolve largely around remixing. On the landmark two-disc collection The K&D Sessions, the pair rework and effectively bliss-out tunes by everyone from Depeche Mode and Bomb the Bass to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. DJ Kicks shows why their DJ sets frequently draw big crowds. It's a superb mix by the duo that picks up the tempo a bit by mixing smoothed-out versions of house to drum-and-bass tracks alongside the regular chill-out fare. Less interesting is the shorter DJ set Conversions. The only original material to be heard from the two since has been via their respective side-projects, Dorfmeister's Tosca and Kruder's Peace Orchestra. (DEV SHERLOCK)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide