Philipp Kolbe - The Hill EP Philipp Kolbe

Sometimes demos are so captivating on first listen that the initial enthusiasm turns into certainty in the blink of an eye—and consequently into a contract and the pressing of a record. Our old friend, the Cologne house icon Hans Nieswandt, recently recommended a demo to us – and he was spot on. Philipp Kolbe from Leipzig won us over immediately. His music radiates so much free spirit, warmth, and lightness that the decision to sign him practically made itself.

If “Afrohouse” hadn’t already become a dirty word, we might classify the title track in that category. Instead, we’d rather call “The Hill” neo-hip house, because there’s actually some proper rapping going on here. “Over” is wonderfully trippy deep house with jazzy undertones, while “Hell” sounds as if The Field, DJ Koze, and Helmut Geier were to meet in that proverbial elevator on Halloween. “Burning Cigarettes” rounds out the EP with gently psychedelic, soothing tones. We flip the record over and listen to it all over again from the beginning