Active as a DJ since the late '90s,
Cinthie
released a few electro-breaks records in the early 2000s before laying low for a while and tending to personal matters. After connecting with Berlin's D.I.Y. party scene, she became re-inspired and took up music full-time, co-founding the
Beste Modus
collective and devoting all her time to DJ'ing and producing music, mainly using analog synthesizers. In the space of several years, she's formed several labels, owns a record store (Elevate Berlin), and released her debut album on
Will Saul
's
Aus Music
(2020's
Skylines - City Lights
). Her first commercially issued mix is the 77th volume of the
DJ-Kicks
series, and it is a delightful, seamless session which never fails to uplift. Fitting 23 tracks into 70 minutes,
seems eager to share a few all-time favorites as well as newer obsessions. None of the individual tracks seem to spend too much time in the mix, yet she never seems in a rush to switch to another record either. Her mixing is remarkably fluid, flowing from piano-driven deep house to swinging garage with ease.
's original contribution, "Organ," arrives early in the mix, and it's a shimmering beauty that helps set the vibe for some of the wilder tracks which arrive later in the mix.
Camion Bazar
's garage track "YLB," significantly pitched down from its original tempo, has sharp, zig-zagging bass and bits of crashing breakbeats, yet
manages to handle it so that it doesn't burst out of line.
pays particular reverence to Chicago house, incorporating tracks by the late, legendary
Paul Johnson
(calling out dancers for essentially giving new names to old dances) and
Boo Williams
. In between those selections are two standout breakbeat-driven tracks,
Ben Hauke
's slightly juke-influenced "Ain't Bad" and
Logic1000
's piano rave belter "I Won't Forget." She saves the most unabashedly disco-loving track,
Chevals
' "Please Don't," almost for last, with
Anna Wall
's acid electro cut "The Storm Ends" serving as an end-of-night comedown. ~ Paul Simpson