Recommendation: Kris Wadsworth

'Kris Wadsworth is seemingly brand new to electronic music; however, he has been writing and producing tracks since he was fourteen years old. Raised in and around Detroit, he first heard the sounds of dance music from mix tapes his sibling would bring home from the local nightclubs. From age eleven he was studying blues and rock guitar, painting graffiti, listening to hip hop, jazz, and the dance sounds of Detroit, Chicago and New York. He luckily found electronic music to be his ultimate creative medium. Anyone could have guessed this kid would have been an artist from an early age. Now at age 24, he has numerous internationally acclaimed recordings to his credit and shows no sign of stopping. Kris is in this for the long haul, as it were, and his nostalgic, yet forward-thinking productions ought to spell that out loud and clear.

Some of the world’s most respected labels have him on board, along with some of the freshest new up-and-coming labels. (Morris/Audio, Adult Only, Millions of Moments, Hypercolour, BRUT!, Boe, Snapshot, etc). His remixes are nothing to sneeze at either, gaining relentless plays from the brightest and best. A person who definitely stands out in an era of over-saturation and pretentiousness, Kris offers you a bold introspective and retrospective look at “why you fell in love with this music in the first place.” (Resident Advisor). KW does genre-defying, dense, lush, emotive, sexy music that is instantly recognized. From dub-esque textures and wanderings, to square bass rockers, to large peak-time destroyers; the young blood of Detroit Techno City knows what he is doing. Some call it house; some call it techno. To those who know, it ‘s called dance music.

As a DJ, Kris Wadsworth is a vinyl junky. He started playing Detroit warehouse parties at the ripe old age of sixteen alongside techno and house royalty from around the world. As that era finally died, he moved to playing clubs and after-hours spots even when he was not even old enough to get in; paying his dues in the city that started it all. Since then, getting bookings at some of the world’s most prestigious clubs is what has naturally followed. Kris’s sets usually move through a fittingly wide range of 4/4 genres with the utmost tact and class. No fancy tricks, or cheats; just the essential, time-tested skill and art of mixing records.'

preview:

new release: A Sexual Position [july 2010, Morris / Audio, morris audio 69]

"Taking deep house tropes and shifting them around so that they deftly avoid cliche.) The key is in the detail. Wadsworth's beats are often straighter than most, but he swings them ever so slightly here to create a compelling sense of momentum. "Junky Lust" hits especially hard, taking a snatch of a piano in hand and figuring every which way it can be started, finished, cut and re-cut. He doesn't polish it, though: You can hear the air of the room disappear each time he comes to the end of the sample. Here and elsewhere, Wadsworth is intent on you hearing the effort that went into A Sexual Position. It was time well spent." - Dan Hartner, RA.

Track from The Electric Truth EP:

Dig EP [2009, boe recordings, BOE005, 12"] & ORON

“Dig” is Kris’ first four-track EP and showcases his sound through four slices of deep, groovy late night house. The first track “The Depths Of” is Kris’ sound summed up in just under nine minutes. The first three minutes belong to a long intro that builds and builds through vox snippets, stab samples, synth chords and h-hats that ride the groove. The track breaks down only to kick back in with a chunky snare and trippy pads to whip the listener into a frenzy. “Macrotones” is a wonky late night rhythm synth track that wouldn’t sound out of place at Fabric at 7am. On the flip, “White Bread” kicks off where “The Depths Of” left off, a catchy rhythm with swinging stabs and moody chords. A growling, gut-moving baseline makes the track a real dance floor favourite. The final track on the EP is “Haunted House” a deep houser with a delayed bassline perfect for those late-night moments."

Get Your Wadsworth [may 2008, Morris / Audio, morris61, 12"]

"This is the first record released this year that has really put a smile on my face. With its blatant lack of pretension and no-nonsense honesty, 'Get Your Wadsworth' has the depth and the versatility to be a staple in thinking house/techno sets for a good while. 

'Ripped Open' sounds painful, and there's a wailing vocal sample to match, but put that down to the masochistic pleasure of jacking one's body until the joints have been dislocated because that's what this tune makes you want to do. This is an idiomatic dance track that is on one level incredibly familiar and yet it’s also refreshingly different.

On the B-side, 'DET Sound' is full of delicate touches, including a cheeky little sax riff meandering through a dream-like soundscape. 'Sorta Down' slows things down a touch and has a melancholic feel offset by jazz-funk phrasing of the deftest type. The sampled squeak is also a nice touch, sounding like over-zealous lovemaking on an old mattress. 

This is simply emotional and visceral music that has the power to remind you why you fell in love with house in the first place." - Paul Corey, RA.

Deport This EP [2008, hypercolour, HYPE012, 12"]

"Here is the next installment in the Hypercolour catalogue, it comes from Detroit cat 'Kris Wadsworth', Following on from his Morris Audio release. we are proud to present 'Deport This' - The title was a reference to an unfortunate event where Kris was deported from the UK prior to performing at our party at The End!! Here we have 3 tracks of RAW Detroit nu-house, put Derrick Carter, Sneak and Theo Parrish in a washing machine and this is the sort of noise your machine would make!" - K-Records.