Amsterdam duo Dam Swindle bring fifteen years of house music, record digging and dancefloor experience together for their contribution to !K7’s revered DJ-Kicks series.
There are few compilation series in electronic music that carry quite the history of DJ-Kicks. Since its beginnings in the mid-’90s, !K7’s long-running series has provided artists with an opportunity to look beyond the confines of a conventional club set, often revealing as much about the records that shaped them as the music they’re currently playing.
For Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets, better known as Dam Swindle, that opportunity arrives at an interesting point in their career. Fifteen years into their partnership, with their Heist Recordings label recently reaching its 100th release and the pair continuing to play a significant role in Amsterdam’s club culture through RadioRadio, their DJ-Kicks contribution feels particularly well timed.
Across 74 minutes and 23 tracks, Dam Swindle draw together overlooked house records, longstanding favourites, contemporary producers and five new productions of their own. The result is less concerned with demonstrating the depth of their record collections than showing how those records connect to the music they’ve spent the last decade and a half making.
That philosophy becomes apparent in the selections. Osunlade’s “Jus Anuda Groove” sits alongside the Jazz N Groove Deep Mix of Native Rhythms’ “Ya-Hey”, while Kimara Lovelace’s “When Can Our Love Begin (The Shelter Dub)” provides another connection to the deeper, soulful end of US house. Detroit enters through Mr. De’s “All For Granted”, while contemporary selections from musclecars, Harvey Sutherland and S.A.M. bring the story firmly into the present.
There’s also a strong Amsterdam presence. Makèz and Javonntte’s “There’s No Way” appears alongside D Stone’s “Slow Soil”, while Nachtbraker provides the bespoke intro and outro, incorporating fragments taken from Dam Swindle interviews. It’s a subtle way of rooting the compilation in the city and community surrounding the duo rather than treating DJ-Kicks simply as an opportunity to assemble an international collection of records.
The digging mentality behind the selection is perhaps best summed up by Smeets’ description of searching for the “$5 bargains in the bin at your local record store”. It’s an approach that has always been central to the best DJ sets. Familiarity can produce an immediate reaction, but there’s a particular satisfaction in hearing somebody breathe new life into a record that has somehow slipped through the cracks.
The pair’s differing instincts also help shape the journey. Smeets looked towards the eclecticism of Henrik Schwarz’s celebrated 2006 DJ-Kicks, while Dales wanted the mix to remain more firmly connected to the club. That push and pull leaves the finished compilation somewhere between the two, allowing it to wander without losing sight of the dancefloor.
Several selections have been subtly reworked for that purpose. Their edit of Eli Escobar’s “Seein You” moves into Mr. De’s “All For Granted”, while Dam Swindle edits of Native Rhythms and Kimara Lovelace allow older material to sit naturally within the wider sequence.
More importantly, Dam Swindle haven’t restricted themselves to looking backwards. Five new productions were created during the process, selected from around 30 demos written with different moments of the mix in mind. Smeets describes the undertaking as coming close to writing an entire album, and that investment gives their own material a genuine role within the journey rather than reducing it to a handful of exclusives added to the tracklist.
The first of those tracks to emerge is “I Want You”, featuring Melbourne vocalist and musician Allysha Joy, and it’s a charming introduction to the new material.
Built around a light, breezy 4/4 house groove, the track pairs Joy’s tender vocal with a low-slung, chugging bassline, but much of its character comes from the lead keys looping throughout. There’s an easy warmth to the arrangement that feels immediately suited to Dam Swindle, with the vocal given plenty of room to breathe above the groove.
As the track develops, a more acidic lead begins to emerge and gradually takes a more prominent role. Importantly, it’s kept restrained enough to complement rather than overpower the original keyboard motif, adding another shade to the track without disturbing its effortless flow. It’s a subtle piece of arrangement that gives “I Want You” its personality, balancing soulful house warmth with just enough electronic bite underneath.
Within the wider mix, those new productions help connect the different generations of house represented across the tracklist. “Don’t Sweat”, “My My My”, “Keep On” and “Filter Baby” sit amongst records from producers whose approaches have clearly informed Dam Swindle’s own musical language, creating a dialogue between influence and output rather than separating the two.
The closing section moves through D Stone, Harvey Sutherland and S.A.M. before Soundstream’s “Mercury Mood” changes the temperature. Its darker atmosphere, acid touches and heavy claps provide a late shift in mood before Nachtbraker and Dam Swindle bring proceedings to a close.
That gradual movement is important because DJ-Kicks has always been at its most interesting when treated as more than a playlist of desirable records. A great mix should have an internal logic, where changes in tempo, mood and intensity feel earned rather than imposed, and Dam Swindle’s experience behind the decks is evident in the way these different strands are allowed to meet.
There’s plenty here for established followers of the duo, but perhaps the most appealing aspect is the invitation to dig further. Several names will be immediately familiar, others considerably less so, and that’s exactly how a compilation like this should work.
Dam Swindle describe the project as a full-circle moment, connecting where they’ve come from, what they’re doing now and where they’re heading next. After fifteen years together, DJ-Kicks provides an appropriate space for that reflection while still keeping one eye firmly on the dancefloor.
For us, that’s where this instalment succeeds. It doesn’t attempt to define Dam Swindle through their biggest records or fill 74 minutes with obvious house classics. Instead, they’ve opened up the record bag and allowed the connections between their influences, contemporaries and their own productions to tell the story.
Release Date: 20 November 2026, pre order here.
Label: !K7
Format: DJ-Kicks Compilation / Mix