Cool Hunting

Baltimore’s Kris Klayton, aka Karizma, displays a broad spectrum of musical directions—from hip-hop to deep tech-y house—on his new full-length R2 Records release, A Mind of Its Own.

Karizma started out as a DJ at the ripe age of 13 in Baltimore, an often-overlooked hotbed of underground club culture. Following a stint on a Bmore radio station playing hip-hop, he and a house DJ colleague, DJ Spen, formed a production team. The duo went on to remix numerous soulful house records as well as more widely known artists like EBTG, Roy Ayers, and Lenny Kravitz.

A Mind of Its Own, however, is a distinctly solo effort consisting of twelve almost completely instrumental tracks (save a few sampled vocal loops) with nods to J Dilla and the Detroit hip-hop sound, Bmore club, afrobeat, classic soul, and more. It’s probably more suited to dancing than dining, but the diversity and maturity of the material make it more listenable than most house music.

Karizma stays close to his DJ roots with a weekly residence at Baltimore’s Sky Lounge and frequent international appearances. Pre-order A Mind of Its Own (out 20 March 2007) from Dusty Grooves, CD Universe or Amazon.

by DJ Scribe