Top 4 in Download Charts of Week #45

Top 2 in Download Charts of Week #44

Top 5 in Best Rated Releases of Week #43

In an electronic music world crowded with epigones and copycats, the greatest compliment for an artist is to say he has developed an unmistakable sound of his own.

Sascha Ring a.k.a. Apparat is one of the few artists fully deserving of such praise. Blending advanced electronic sound design with ever-inventive grooves and the harmonic repertoire of pop music, Apparat simply sounds like now one else out there. Whether on his solo albums or his acclaimed collaborations with Ellen Allien and Modeselektor, his musical handwriting is always instantly recognisable.

To translate Apparat's sonic universe into a DJ mix, conveying his unique approach through the work of other artists, is therefore not an easy task, but one that Sascha Ring manages with aplomb on his edition of !K7's DJ-KiCKS series. His own exclusive track 'Circles' starts out the selection, setting the tone with looped guitars, melancholic lyrics and drifting tones.

What follows is an impeccably narrated one-hour journey through contemporary electronic music, contrasting favourites like Joy Orbison's 'The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow' and Thom Yorke's 'Harrowdown Hill' with minimalistic ambient by Oval and Tim Hecker, experimental dubstep by Cosmin TRG and Autechre (taking on Scorn's 'Falling'), and pop electronica by Telefon Tel Aviv and Luke Abbott.

The complete digital edition of Apparat's DJ KiCKS comes with 16 of the single tracks, the full 68-minute mix, as well as the addition of a two-part video interview with Apparat, filmed at the former listening post on Berlin's Teufelsberg. Unmissable album.