Crooks & Lovers is the first studio album by Mount Kimbie. It was released on Hotflush Recordings on 19 July 2010.[1] It received critical acclaim, and was included in the year end lists of several publications.

Crooks & Lovers
Studio album by
Released19 July 2010 (2010-07-19)
GenrePost-dubstep
Length35:37
LabelHotflush Recordings
ProducerDominic Maker, Kai Campos
Mount Kimbie chronology
Sketch on Glass
(2009)
Crooks & Lovers
(2010)
Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
(2013)

Background

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The duo used a mixture of field recordings, samples and live instrumentation to create the album.[2] Campos stated "we don’t record for a certain purpose, or with a motive, it's more to see what comes out of it... it's never the noises you think are going to work that do, which keeps it interesting."[2] Maker stated of the recording:

It’s been a very gradual process, and we’ve been playing live a lot over the past few months, so it’s been all about taking ideas and working on them between shows… Constructing the live set was really helpful in terms of actually finishing off ideas. We slowly realised that if something sounds good at the time, don’t sit there and overproduce it for weeks and weeks – there’s no need. Doing it live really helps with that."[3]

The first single from Crooks & Lovers was "Mayor / Would Know". It was released on 12" vinyl and digital. The video for "Would Know" was directed by Tyrone Lebon.[4] The Blind Night Errand EP was released on 29 November 2010 on 12" vinyl and digital download. The EP included the song "Before I Move Off" and also includes an alternate version of "William" remixed by Mount Kimbie themselves, alongside a live recording of "Maybes" taken from a set at Berghain in Berlin.[5] The Carbonated EP is the last release derived from material from the Crooks & Lovers album, and includes remixes of the title track by Airhead and Peter Van Hoesen. B-sides include "Baves Chords", produced at the same time as the Maybes EP, and "Flux", written for the Carbonated EP. The video was again directed by Tyrone Lebon.[6]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [8]
Clash8/10[9]
DIY5/10[10]
Drowned in Sound9/10[11]
MusicOMH     [1]
NME8/10[12]
Pitchfork8.0/10[13]
Resident Advisor4.0/5[14]
Uncut     [15]
Vice10/10[16]

The album received positive reviews from critics. AllMusic called it "a near perfect, small wonder of post-dubstep bliss."[17] Vice awarded it 10/10, describing the record as one which "stands out as something genuinely special", and NME placed it at number fifty-six in their top Seventy Albums of 2010.[18] Drowned in Sound described the record as "yet another indefinable beast, one that seems to take real joy in refusing to bow to expectations, and avoids conventional song structures in favour of hazy, dreamlike composition"[3] and "certainly a contender for album of the year"[11] David Stubbs of BBC described Crooks & Lovers as "an album of abrupt changes and paradoxes, at once organic and heavily processed, drowsy and yet with moments of eyes-on-stalks urgency, acoustically sweet and electrically charged. It's akin to gently drifting in and out of consciousness on a bus trip, only to be sporadically jolted back into consciousness."[19] Pitchfork called it "a beautiful, small, and clever album."[13]

By the end of 2010, Crooks & Lovers had been included in over 30 Best of 2010 lists.[citation needed] The album was among the 12 shortlisted for the Neptune Music Prize in 2010,[20] and was also nominated for The Guardian 's 'First Album Award' in the same year.[21] Crooks & Lovers was ranked at number 56 on NME's "Albums of 2010" list.[22]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Tunnelvision"1:50
2."Would Know"3:17
3."Before I Move Off"4:11
4."Blind Night Errand"3:23
5."Adriatic"1:28
6."Carbonated"4:20
7."Ruby"4:05
8."Ode to Bear"4:02
9."Field"3:05
10."Mayor"4:02
11."Between Time"1:54

Personnel

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  • Dominic Maker – songwriting, producer
  • Kai Campos – songwriting, producer
  • Gordon Curtis – design
  • Sam John – mastering
  • Tyrone Lebon – photography

Charts

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Chart (2010) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[23] 88
UK Dance Albums (OCC)[24] 11
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[25] 24

References

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  1. ^ a b Clarke, Jude (19 July 2010). "Mount Kimbie – Crooks And Lovers". MusicOMH. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Mount Kimbie interview: "A dream, going on and on." | Dummy » Features". Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  3. ^ a b Gibb, Rory (14 June 2010). "DiS meets Mount Kimbie / In Depth // Drowned In Sound". Drownedinsound.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Tyrone Lebon | Don't Panic Magazine | Film". Dontpaniconline.com. 2 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Mount Kimbie ready Blind Night Errand EP – FACT magazine: music and art". Factmag.com. 5 October 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  6. ^ "Mount Kimbie's 'Crooks & Lovers' album with the final video 'Carbonated' directed by Tyrone Le Bon". Soundtrackofyourday.com. 15 September 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Crooks And Lovers by Mount Kimbie reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  8. ^ Jeffries, David. "Crooks & Lovers – Mount Kimbie". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  9. ^ Garrard, Steven (14 July 2010). "Mount Kimbie – Crooks and Lovers". Clash. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  10. ^ Tesco, Lucy (19 July 2010). "Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers". DIY. Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  11. ^ a b Truss, Si (15 July 2010). "Album Review: Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Mount Kimbie: Crooks & Lovers". NME. 2010. Confirms bedsit auteurs Dominic Camper and Kai Campos as two of the brightest lights in the night sky.
  13. ^ a b Powell, Mike (23 July 2010). "Mount Kimbie: Crooks & Lovers". Pitchfork. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  14. ^ Miller, Derek (19 July 2010). "Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  15. ^ "Mount Kimbie: Crooks & Lovers". Uncut. 2010. It is both vague and deliciously crisp.
  16. ^ "Mount Kimbie: Crooks & Lovers". Vice. 2010.
  17. ^ Jeffries, David. "Cold Spring Fault Less Youth – Mount Kimbie". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  18. ^ "Albums Of 2010 - 60-56 - In The NME Office - NME.COM - The world's fastest music news service, music videos, interviews, photos and free stuff to win". Nme.Com. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  19. ^ Stubbs, David (2010). "Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers – Review". BBC. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  20. ^ Adams, Sean (23 July 2010). "The Nominees: The Neptune Music Prize 2010 - Vote Now! / Music News // Drowned In Sound". Drownedinsound.com. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  21. ^ Hann, Michael (23 December 2010). "Guardian First Album award: nominations". The Guardian. London.
  22. ^ "Albums Of 2010 - 60-56". NME. 26 November 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  23. ^ "Ultratop.be – Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  24. ^ "Official Dance Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  25. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
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