Kosta Athanassiadis is one of the few contemporary European producers that has made a lasting contribution to deep house music. Avoiding the hackneyed tribal drums or tasteful keys that prevails on the vast majority of productions in this general category, Kosta's sound is dense and complex, but also soulful and unusually mysterious.
The title track is based on an insistent, tracky rhythm with driving percussion appearing as it progresses. It's not too far removed from a Levon Vincent production, but Kosta deploys an electronic bassline, like a sterner techno interpretation of the "Washing Machine" bass and adds some colour with warm chords. "119" is more pared back and repetitive, its 303-tinged jacking rhythms sounding more like a malfunctioning robotic device and less like looser Chicago jack.
Kosta delivers the killer blow with "Desert Storm" though. While not as ominous as its title suggests, the niggling horn sample and raw bass licks creates the same kind of eerie atmosphere as last year's stellar Espac release on Sistrum. These elements are underpinned by razor-sharp percussion and metallic rhythms, which amplify XDB's ability to deliver a foreboding yet alluring sensibility to house music. Faced with an alternative of ultra-polite Rhodes workouts, I know what I'll choose every time.
Published /
Mon, 26 Oct 2009
Buy XDB - Cagomi at
Tracklist: XDB - Cagomi
 A Desert Storm
B1 Cagomi
B2 119 | 
