Mount Kimbie | |
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.jpg) Mount Kimbie at Electronic Beats Festival 2013, Podgorica, Montenegro | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | |
| Members |
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| Website | www |
Mount Kimbie is an Englishelectronic music andindie rock group consisting ofDominic Maker,Kai Campos, Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell. Mount Kimbie was formed in 2008 by Maker and Campos.[1] The duo expanded on the musical template of the UKdubstep scene, releasing early EPsMaybes andSketch on Glass to critical praise the following year. Their debut albumCrooks & Lovers in 2010 received further acclaim and was listed as one of the defining albums of the decade byDJ Mag.[2]
The duo signed withWarp Records in 2012, and released their second albumCold Spring Fault Less Youth the following year, third albumLove What Survives in September 2017,[3] and a double album,MK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning, in November 2022.[4] Drummer Marc Pell and keyboardist Andrea Balency-Béarn joined as live members in 2016, becoming full members in 2023 ahead of the band's fourth album,The Sunset Violent. Mount Kimbie has collaborated with artists such asJames Blake,King Krule, andMicachu.
Kai Campos is originally fromCornwall, whileDom Maker is fromChichester.[5] They met atSouthbank University in London, where Campos was attending university for the second time and Maker was studying film.[6] They started making music together at a home studio inPeckham.
Arguably responsible for inspiring the term "post-dubstep",[7] the duo released a series of acclaimed early EPs, includingMaybes andSketch on Glass, that expanded beyond the dubstep sound.[8] The band's debut album, titledCrooks & Lovers, was released on 19 June 2010 in the UK to critical acclaim.[9] At the end of 2010,Crooks & Lovers was included in over thirty 'Best of 2010' lists, includingNME,Mixmag,Resident Advisor,Pitchfork,Drowned in Sound. NME listed them at number 22 in their 30 Artists For 2011.[10] In 2010, Mount Kimbie toured the UK, Europe and America. They were also involved in the festival circuit playing atThe Great Escape Festival, Stag & Dagger festival,Glade Festival,Field Day Festival andBestival amongst others. The duo were then invited to perform atGilles Peterson'sWorldwide Awards event in February 2011.[11]
In March and April 2011, they embarked on a US tour which included performances atSXSW andCoachella. They also toured in Australia in March, selling out all six of their performances,[12] with Australia's The Vine saying of their Melbourne performance, "They flesh out skeletal elements of tracks with alternative instrumentation, or accentuate features with subtle additions or substitutions. In this way much of the material aired tonight is invigoratingly bolstered, altered or augmented in some way. It makes for a stimulating performance."[13] However, regarding a live realisation ofCrooks & Lovers in Glasgow in early 2011,The Guardian said that "presenting such short tunes as standalone pieces when they might function better threaded together gives the set a disjointed feel".[14]
The pair are closely linked to singer-songwriter and producerJames Blake. He has collaborated with them live[15] and lent his skills to the remixing ofMaybes which features on the Mount Kimbie EPRemixes Part 1, released 12 April 2010,[16] as well as contributing elements toCrooks & Lovers.[15] They've also featured on hisBBC Radio 1 residency.[17] Mount Kimbie have since produced remixes forKelis,The Big Pink,Foals,The xx,Andreya Triana,Nia Archives,DIIV,Untold andFlume.[18]
Mount Kimbie signed toWarp Records in June 2012. The group toured North America that year withSquarepusher. Tony Kus joined the duo as their live drummer from October 2012 to 2015. Since 2016, Marc Pell ofMicachu and the Shapes and Andrea Balency-Béarn have joined Mount Kimbie's live show on drums and keyboards.[19] They released their second albumCold Spring Fault Less Youth in 2013. Mount Kimbie performed a full tour across the US and Europe in late 2013 to tie in with the launch of the album.[20]
Throughout September 2015, Mount Kimbie hosted a weekly residency every Tuesday onLondon-based online radio station,NTS Radio. The shows included guests such as James Blake,William Basinski andKing Krule.[21] In July 2016, Mount Kimbie announced they would be taking a break from recording and be heading out on the road. Playing a small number of European shows includingPitchfork Music Festival.[22]
In 2016,Chance the Rapper sampledAdriatic from their 2010 debut album on his mixtapeColoring Book on the trackJuke Jam featuringJustin Bieber andTowkio.[23]
A second 'transatlantic' NTS residency took place across April and May 2017, broadcasting out of both London andLos Angeles, and once again featuring guests including James Blake, King Krule,Actress andWarpaint.[24] On 3 April 2017, Mount Kimbie released a new track,We Go Home Together on Warp Records, featuring long time collaborator James Blake.[25] This was followed by another new track,Marilyn, featuringMicachu. The track was accompanied by a music video by fashion photographer Mark Lebon, featuring Lebon's sons, Tyrone and Frank, both of whom have previously collaborated with Mount Kimbie.[26]
On 12 July 2017, Mount Kimbie announced that they would be releasing their third album,Love What Survives, on 8 September 2017. Alongside this they released a new track,Blue Train Lines, featuring King Krule.
Love What Survives featured contributions from King Krule, James Blake, Micachu and Andrea Balency-Béarn. The album received strongly positive reviews upon release;DIY gave the album a 4/5 review, describing it as "the most affecting work to date by some stretch",[27] andMixmag called the album "searingly brilliant" and rated it 8/10.[28]Pitchfork rated the album 8.4/10, selecting it as their "Best New Music",[29] as well ranking the album at 34th in their 50 Best Albums of 2017 list.[30]
Mount Kimbie toured extensively across the world in 2017 and 2018 to support the album, including festival appearances at Pitchfork Music Festival,Primavera Sound,Field Day andElectric Picnic.[31]
On 9 August 2018, Mount Kimbie's compilation release as part of theDJ-Kicks series was announced, featuring an original production by the duo titledSouthgate.[32] In 2019 they released a four-track live recording of the Warp NTS live session.[33] In the same year they were commissioned byAdidas Originals to produce music for a new campaign.[34]
On 15 September 2020,Slowthai, James Blake and Mount Kimbie released their collaborative single titledFeel Away[35] which appeared on Slowthai's UK number one album,Tyron.[36]
In July 2021, Mount Kimbie announced the release of two tracks that were part of theLove What Survives recording sessions, but did not make it onto the album. On 28 July 2021, the tracks titledBlack Stone andBlue Liquid were released on limited edition vinyl and made available to download via their website until 30 July.[37] An accompanying music video was made forBlack Stone, directed by Peter Eason Daniels.[38]
In November 2021, Maker received a Grammy nomination forBest Dance/Electronic Recording for his co-production on James Blake's trackBefore.[39]
In September 2022 the duo released two double-sided singles, each with tracks produced by an individual member. Dom Maker released the tracksA Deities Encore, featuringLiv.e, andIn Your Eyes, featuring frequent collaborator Slowthai alongside label mate,Danny Brown. Campos released two techno-infused tracks,Q andQuartz. Each were understood to feature on Mount Kimbie's forthcoming fourth album.[40] Soon after, Maker released the non-album trackLocked In featuringMaxo Kream andPa Salieu.[41]
The album, titledMK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning, was officially announced the day afterLocked In was released. Rather than a straight collaboration, as on previous records, the album consists of two halves: one created by the now Los Angeles-based Maker, and the other the London-based Campos. It was released onWarp Records in November 2022.[40] In July 2023, a deluxe version of the album,City Planning (Deluxe), was released featuring numerous remixes.[42]
Coinciding with the singleDumb Guitar in November 2023, a statement confirmed the official inclusion of Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell as part of Mount Kimbie.[43] In February 2024, the now four-piece announced their next album,The Sunset Violent, would be released on 5 April 2024, along with the second single titledFishbrain. The group also went on tour in support of the record.[44]
On 20 June 2025, Mount Kimbie released alive album,The Sunset Violent (Live in Heidelberg). It features live performances of tracks from bothLove What Survives andThe Sunset Violent and was recorded at Metropolink Festival inHeidelberg, Germany.[45]
Mount Kimbie's early work drew from the contemporary UKdubstep scene while expanding beyond its typical scope.The Guardian described the pair as "leading an exploratory breakaway from bass-heavy dubstep towards a lighter, hazier style ofelectronica rich with drowsy ambience and chopped-upfound sounds."[14] According toResident Advisor, in their work "dubstep is unraveled and reassembled from its brawny rhythms upward, connecting the dots betweenmusique concrète, R&B, hip-hop,drone and the midnightgospel sounds ofBurial."[46] In 2009,Pitchfork described their music as making use of "sped-up vocalsamples, little tunnels of ambience, unimposingsynth patches, and syncopated percussion that sounds like someone putting away the silverware," clarifying that "their rhythms are still dubstep in DNA-- deftly syncopated, slightly off-center, ambiguously danceable-- but most of what they lay on top of the beat sounds like it's being dragged out from places dubstep usually doesn't go:R&B,post-rock,IDM".[47]
The duo usefield recordings to form major elements of their music. "It’s amazing what you can pick up with a field microphone. I mean, you might just hear someone riding around but when you slow it down it’s almost like there’s a beat to it. And then just taking little pockets of that rhythm and stretching it out. A lot of what we do is about experimenting with different little bits of tone that you don’t necessarily hear on the first listen... and then trying to make songs out of them."[48]
In 2018Kai Campos curated a techno-drivenDJ-Kicks mix and has been DJing consistently ever since, including a b2b tour withActress and headline sets at Printworks and Fabric.[49]Dominic Maker moved to Los Angeles and has produced for artists such asJay-Z,Slowthai andJames Blake.[50]
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