Dinner withDJ Kozeis delightful.
Then he laughs at my face as two beers arrive.
Its the first time Ive seen you smile, he says.
Daniel Zerbst*
Im sure its not true, as hes been amusing company all afternoon.
During the six hours I spend with him, I find this to be true.
Write 10 years, he says.
And write in Florida, Japan, Australia.
you might make up stuff.
The truth behind the musical process is often boring.
Swedish star Robyn credited Kozes 2014 track XTC as the inspiration behind her last album.
Pick Up is so good, instances of DJs playing it at various events have become semi-famous.
Then the beat drops and the room erupts, dancers throwing their hands in the air with abandon.
If you watch at home, youll face an internal struggle between cheering and bursting into tears.
While in Fischmob, he started calling himself DJ Koze, which most English-speaking listeners pronounce Cozy.
Now in his fifties, Koze is approaching an age when people might rightly describe him as avuncular.
I accepted and began to unwrap one, but he stopped me.
No, no, he said, that one is really hardcore.
Start with this one.
It stops me craving something to eat or drink.
It is less a Nazi joke, he says, more a word joke, just a wordplay.
The following year Fascher competed at the DMC final at Wembley Arena in London and did the same trick.
This was my idea, says Koze.
Four days after our conversation, Germans go to the polls.
The AfD make unprecedented gains, becoming the second-biggest party in the country.
Its, like,alarming.
I think you dont say you lose until you lose.
Its the same in BJJ.
You dont tap until youre forced to.
This is one of many references Koze has made to Brazilian jujitsu, his most treasured pastime.
than in the music scene.
Did I really say that?
Koze says, snickering.
For me he has a magic voice.
It just hits me.
He met Albarn at Coachella in 2022.
After dinner, I pause the recording and we head out in search of more liquor.
I ask DJ Koze: Is he OK?
Ambitious, he says, eyes twinkling.
Im not OK. Im trying to look at this mess and sort it out, finally.
Is it his job to sort out this mess?
To sort out my mess?
So he doesnt feel at peace with himself?
To the outside I pretend to, but I think its difficult times for me.
Conversation drifts from politics to music to sport to comedy.
He enjoys Hannah Gadsby, old Louis CK.
After more drinks, we walk the streets.
It also happens to be Hamburgs roughest neighborhood.
The scene recalls nothing so much as De Niros sultry narration inTaxi Driver.
He pauses outside his building, as if to consider inviting me in.
In the February sun I creep around the place like a kid in a zuckerfrei sweet shop.
Its somehow political also.
Do it, reader.
Listen five, 10, 100 times.
Listen as Koze speaks to you in the universal, unknowable language of chords and keys and rhythm.
Listen closely enough, and you might just hear it listening back.
