Vlado dZihan grew up surrounded by music: his father’s drum-kit, his brothers piano and a bunch of Revox tapes. Expansion of his musical horizons took place by the speed of light. He soon became a respected musician in former Yugoslavia, but his curiosity requested more of him.
Mario Kamien - a prototype of Future European. Born in Switzerland, German and Italian parents, even some Polish ancestors. He discovered his passion for music at an early age. A keen manipulator of sound since completing his early days.
The guys became friends in Vienna in the early 90s, as music students. Soon after they formed ‚MC Sultan’ and it became obvious that their music reflects that city’s position as the crossroads of East and West. The band released one CD, SUPER ETHNO ASTRONAUT, which featured the club classic DER BAUCH, hailed as an ‚epic’ by the press.
In 1998 they established themselves as dZihan & Kamien and set up their own label – COUCH RECORDS
Their first EP, CODE: NO PORK PLEASE excited interest from tastemakers everywhere on its release in 1999. With two more EPs to follow the same year, BEFORE/AFTER and TEAROOM 2004 they definitely anounced the birth of a fruitful and interesting label. FREAKS AND ICONS, their debut album, bursts forth in 2000. Their brew of cool jazz and pulsating Eastern rhythms captured imaginations around the world. Result: tens of thousands of albums taking up residence on turntables and CD players across the world. Tracks from FREAKS AND ICONS have been licensed for over 150 compilations worldwide, including CAFÉ DEL MAR, FREEZONE and HED KANDI. Remixes of this album appeared as REFREAKED in 2001, including UFO, Hefner, Herbert, Fauna Flash, AtJazz and Mum, among others.
Remix requests also came in thick and fast, among others HOMELANDS for Nitin Sawhney and BUSENFREUND for Richard Dorfmeister’s TOSCA project.
Equally historical projects were the remixes of Billie Holiday’s sublime DON’TEXPLAIN for the landmark VERVE REMIXED project, and Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s sultry JE T’AIME, MOI NON PLUS for I LOVE SERGE, a compilation of Gainsbourg remixes issued on the tenth anniversary of his death.
In the last years, - inspired by both their fathers, jazz musicians of the 60s and 70s - D&K shifted the focus towards an even more organic sound, retaining the advantages of digital techniques. After hanging around Vienna, London and Istanbul with guesting vocalists and musicians, they presented us with GRAN RISERVA, a magical blend of sparkling cool jazz, groovy dancefloor beats and compulsive Eastern spices. But such a powerfull experience had to find an extension: the next step was LIVE IN VIENNA, with 22 people on stage in Porgy ‚n’ Bess, one of the worlds most famous jazz clubs. Musicians (in fact a ‚dreamteam’ of people who toured the world with the ones like Miles Davis and Massive Attack) took this performance amazingly high granting a new dimension to D&K music by presenting it in a rougher but profoundly new way. As the sparks of that performance kept dZihan & Kamien positively electrified the tour with D&K ELECTRIC followed, where the adapted arangements of their material were presented on festivals and in clubs of ROSKILDE, ISTANBUL, LISABON, VIENNA, BUDAPEST.....
Now, two years later dZihan & Kamien are presenting us with FAKES, a two-way manouver, that strategically displays the depth and width of their operational field. On one side a collection of sublime remixes that dZihan & Kamien have made during the last couple of years - on the other their own tracks wraped in the vintage style by improvisational skill of BRUT IMPERIAL QUINTET. Both fighting for the most of your hearing and senses. Check that new formula: HQ remixism vs. Improvisation Force. Heavy weight demonstration of talent. And a sensibility check. Instantly striking.
