Jennifer Cardini: Feeling Strange

This understated and unexpectedly commercial little mix of songs from Jennifer Cardini, the French DJ, provides a bit of variety in Kompakt’s catalogue this year. With shorter song lengths and a varied mix structure, Feeling Strange feels almost more like a mixtape than a fluid DJ mix. Among all the super-long, super-smooth minimalism, this can be refreshing. At a few places throughout the otherwise confluent mix, the sound drops away almost completely, as if Cardini has switched machines or returned to her work after a short break. What this does more than anything (it’s really not much of a hiccup to casually switch directions from vintage-flavoured deep house to electro) is to inject something of the DJ’s personality into the session. And this is probably the most memorable part of listening to this disc. Sure, there are some awesome tracks. A pair in the middle — Johnny D’s “Manipulation”, with its bent guitar lick, and Khan’s “On the Run”, all smooth German sophistication — is particularly strong. There’s too much of an idiosyncratic structure to describe each fleeting impression. Suffice to say, Feeling Strange gives plenty to return to, and feels like a particularly apt souvenir of Cardini’s current style.