K15 Vinilo y CD

Review: Wild Oats graduate K15 appears here under the Culross Close moniker, a title that is perhaps reserved for slower, deeper, and more beautiful things such as this latest six-tracker for Japan's Sound Of Speed. "Home" kicks things off with a mild-paced, sun-kissed groove for the downtempo heads, "Meditations" is a distinctly jazzy moment, "Fatherless Boys" takes us back to Dego-like broken beat years, and "Spark!" heads back to the Blue Note for some more jazz experimentation. Over on the B-side, "Requiem+Reflections" nods to house and salutes funk, whereas "(Faith)" meanders its placid waters through a long, meditative river of harmony. Beautifully executed music, end of.

Review: London-based beat smith K15 is a UK answer to the likes of Kyle Hall - his house music is steeped in jazz, soul and funk. His drums are dusty and loose - and louche - and his moods are deeply meaningful. His latest EP is another case in point with three more sublime and seductive sounds. 'Still Devoted' is a downtempo cut with analogue drums and gorgeous female vocals soaring up top with the elegance of a church choir. 'State Of Play' has a fantastically cosmic outlook and a nimble bassline that rides its own ride as the synths soar and 'Time Reveals' then closes down with a more melancholic but no less beautiful vibe.

Review: The prolific Kieron Ifill continues to gift us with truly expressive, elevated house music drawing from the well of soul music and Black innovation that birthed the genre in the first place. After a recent 7" drop on Sounds Familiar, he's back on his own Esencia label with Rituals, a four-track meditation on sweet, synth-led grooves with melodious expression, harmonic interplay and a certain melancholy magic in its bones. The 12" is bookended by mellow, beatless reveries, with 'Ritual IV' in particular closing the record out in a beautiful flourish of piano and trickling water, but the jams at the heart of the EP have more than enough presence to get a floor moving in unison.

Review: K15 is a special talent who brings spirituality to everything he does. This new one for Esencia opens with a cleansing bit of bright, cosmic ambiance that gets your attention and prepares you for what it to come. Firstly, that is 'Feel More,' a groover space dance on nice wooden hits and scattered kicks all overlaid with tender, nimble key work. It's lush and gorgeous. 'Tiny Triumphs' has shimmering hi hats and dynamic bass that is utterly off grid and brilliant as it stumbles through the stars and 'In The Doing' slows things down but the quality of the chords, the impromptu feel of the tracks and the general feel good vibes never wane.

Review: Kieron "K15" Ifill's music has not had much hype to date, despite a five-year career that has included singles for such admirable imprints as WotNot, Wild Oats and Apron. It would be nice to think that his latest two-tracker might buck the trend, because it's certainly worthy of plentiful praise. A-side "Brighter" more than lives up to its name, with Ifill layering sparkling, spacey and sun-bright jazz-funk synths atop a meandering bassline and swinging deep house beats. "Darker" is a little less bright and breezy, but still far warmer than its title suggests. In fact, its assembled music elements - rubbery synth-bass, glacial chords, jangling pianos and chiming lead lines - are still pretty positive despite an in-built hint of melancholy.

Review: Having previously only appeared on WotNot Music in the past couple of years, K15 now slides over to Wild Oats to deliver a wholly appropriate slab of fluttering house romanticism rich in Detroit dreams and Chicago cheekiness, wherever the music might have been conceived. The cheekiness is no doubt most noticeable on "GWRH" with its homage to "Gypsy Woman", turning it into a fluttering Latino house jam, but before that comes the plush bump n rub of "The Story Of Her Life". "Insecurities" gets into a sexier kind of deep house funk, which "Gratitude" dutifully carries on until "Yellow" can round the record out with some largely beatless piano business.

Review: Last time out Kieron Ifill AKA K15 was sharing vinyl space with legendary British techno producer Mr G. This time round, he's back on a solo mission, laying down three deep and expansive tracks for the mighty Eglo Records. Opener "Sunbeams" is undoubtedly a slab of hazy summer sunshine, with Ifill encasing a jaunty samba groove in lilting Rhodes riffs and Kaidi Tatham style synthesizer solos. The influence of Tatham's Herbie Hancock-inspired approach can also be heard on the intergalactic jazz-funk positivity of "Sunbeams 3", while "Essencia" is deliciously woozy and glassy eyed, with yearning melodies and analogue synthesizer chords rising above skittish jazz drums.

Review: Dusty deep house producer K15 has previously impressed via string of fine EPs on Wotnot Music, Sound of Speed, Eglo and Wild Oats. None, though, have been quite as expansive as Speed of Life, a double 12" outing packed to the rafters with high-grade material. There's naturally much to admire throughout, from dreamy opener "Look (Beyond You)" - where jazz pianos spar with Herbie Hancock style jazz-funk synths over a sumptuous groove - and ultra-positive jazz-house wonder "This Life Is All We Have", to the early Floating Points-meets-Chez Damier shuffle of "Movements of Joy" and the toe-tapping, head-nodding bump of sparkling instrumental hip-hop closer "The Speed of Life". Arguably best of all, though, is "Truthfully", a wonderfully evocative chunk of downtempo smokiness co-produced by Kyle Hall.

Review: After wowing the deep house heads with his double pack debut on Wild Oats last year, this 7" curio from K15 for the Detroit label's new sister operation No Room For Air brings some wholly different sounds to bear. "Mist" keeps things strictly melancholy with moody keys draping themselves over a most gentle of downtempo beats in a style that would gel perfectly with Floating Points' most mellow moments. "Twilight" goes even further out with a beautiful ambient excursion, but the real star of the show is the ethereal remix of Zhane's "Crush", adding a haunting emotional dimension to the '90s RnB classic that will melt every heart in a ten block radius. A real talent this one!

Review: Many years after the first instalment we are now treated to a second volume of the Culross Close project from K15, a one time Wild Oats graduate, artist, DJ, producer and deep thinker who mixes up house, hip hop and jazz. He assumes his usual alias for the opener 'Pulse' which dances on dusty drums with nagging melodies in the middle and plenty of swing. On the flip he becomes Culross Close for 'Dawn' which his less club ready and more expressive, with heart melting pianos and a real jumble of drums and perc that is brilliantly loose.

Review: Long celebrated as a hub for new producers to showcase their talents, CDR return to the releasing game in partnership with Dimensions Festival. Up and coming house heads K15 and FYI Chris reportedly invited Lismore and Ben Houghton to take part in this collaborative release, resulting in four tracks that wouldn't sound out of place soundtracking a balmy afternoon dance on the Adriatic Sea. Oozing quality and soul throughout, there's a distinctly laid back flavour to the house on offer across this release, although FYI Chris add a touch more bite with their grubby lo-fi synth lines on "Sugar".

Review: It was only a matter of time before Henry Wu and K15 would link up with London's Eglo, and their respective prior releases for the likes of Wild Oats, Rhythm Section and 22a have earned them a spot in one of the finest house and broken beat labels around. "Love's Gambit" is a perfect example of the latter genre, a sublime blend of jazzy percussion swings and smooth melodic drifts, followed by the even more soulful bounces of the gentle "Space & Time" - one for the jazz fusion heads! "The Anthem" heads towards more housey spheres thanks to its stable beat pattern - it-s an absolute peach of a tune, by the way - but it's "Shahada" that governs the dancefloor with its rough MPC drum programming and finger-licking synth rotations. A beautiful and fitting addition to the catalogue.