At the head of one of the oldest independent labels in Germany (!K7 was created in 1985), Horst Weidenmueller first tried a series called X-Mix, which ended after two volumes (Paul Van Dyk in 1993 and Laurent Garnier the following year), giving way in 1995 to the first DJ-Kicks, entrusted to C.J. Bolland, brilliant representative of the Belgian avant-garde dance music label R&S. The next two volumes celebrated the second generation of Detroit techno producers, who were flooding the stores, with Claude Young Jr. and Carl Craig, and the concept quickly found a favourable echo among professionals and amateurs alike. Indeed, instead of a simple compilation of the hits of the day, a DJ-Kick issue includes one or more exclusive tracks by the leading artist.
"The idea was to blur the lines between an artist's album and a DJ's mix," says Will Saul, the man who has been choosing DJ-Kicks' content for four years. "When they first came up with this concept, it was completely new." In addition to tracks that were bound to make it more appealing, the series also relied on the idea of enshrining an innovative musical movement. And the 1990s were rich with them. After Detroit techno, still fresh, DJ-Kicks honoured trip-hop and acid jazz with Rockers Hi Fi, Smith & Mighty and Nicolette, the freelance singer from Massive Attack, signed to Talkin' Loud, Gilles Peterson's label, and abstract hip-hop, represented by DJ Cam, the only French DJ on the list with Kid Loco. One of the most notable and talked-about compilations of the time was that of Kruder & Dorfmeister, the Austrian pair who reinvented dub, a genre riding the wave in 1996. In 1998, duo Kemistry & Storm brought to our attention the evolution of jungle/drum'n'bass and all the new breakaway sounds emerging from it on the other side of the Channel.
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