Reaching out to humanity
Matthew Krouse
The grooviest album of the week, and at a nice price, is Just My Humanity, a local compilation of tracks from the mythical German !K7 label. This is the first time the label has let out such a range of its finery to an outside agent. In this instance the honour goes to What’s Phat, who locally release artists like Kruder and Dorfmeister, the stallions of the !K7 stable.
So, as expected, Vienna-based Kruder and Dorfmeister appear on the album loud and crackly with a disturbing little number called Black Baby from the album DJ-Kicks Kruder and Dorfmeister. Present also are a wide range of heroes of everything deep and meaningful like Matthew Herbert’s Leave Me Now and The Audience from his well-worn Bodily Functions. (Herbert’s everywhere catch him in What’s Phat bins on compilations by Victor Duplaix and Swayzak.)
There’s avant-reggae supplied by Thievery Corporation, there’s Rae and Christian pairing up with Latin diva Tania Maria, and there’s poetry from Supa Sista Ursula Rucker. The whole thing rounds off with a rerun of Nicolette’s anarchic plea for sanity in No Government.
What’s Phat is celebrating its triumph with an online album launch where you can hear it all and see it all, but only until May 15.
Find the label’s website at www.whatsphatrecords.com.