DJ Koze
From a Flensburg hip-hop kid to the producer behind “Pick Up”: the aliases, labels and albums of DJ Koze, founder of Pampa Records.
- German DJ and producer Stefan Kozalla, born in Flensburg in 1972 and based in Hamburg.
- Runs Pampa Records, home of his albums Amygdala (2013) and Knock Knock (2018).
- “Pick Up” (2018) topped Mixmag’s list of the best tracks of the year.
DJ Koze makes house music that rarely sounds like anyone else’s: soul samples slowed to a crawl, unexpected singers, jokes hidden in the arrangement. Stefan Kozalla started out in hip-hop, passed through Kompakt and built his own label, Pampa Records, into one of the most respected names in German electronic music.
Hip-hop roots in Flensburg and Hamburg
Kozalla was born in 1972 in Flensburg, near the Danish border. As a teenager he loved synth acts such as Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and in the early 1990s he rapped and DJed for local hip-hop groups. In 1991 he finished second in the German DMC DJ Championship. Two years later he moved to Hamburg and co-founded the hip-hop group Fischmob, which lasted about five years.
Aliases and Kompakt
Koze has always worked under several names. As Adolf Noise he made experimental, eccentric records, including the 2001 single “Deine Reime sind Schweine”, a satire of battle rap. As Monaco Schranze he released techno maxis on Kompakt from 2003. With Cosmic DJ and Erobique he formed International Pony, which released We Love Music (2002) and Mit Dir sind wir vier (2006).
His first album as DJ Koze, Kosi Comes Around, came out on Kompakt in 2005 — the Cologne label that is also home to Kölsch.
Pampa Records and two landmark albums
Koze has run Pampa Records since 2009. Amygdala (2013) was his first album to enter the official German and Swiss charts and won the Echo critics’ award in 2014. In 2015 he mixed volume 50 of Studio !K7’s DJ-Kicks series and released the single “XTC”.
Knock Knock, recorded in Spain and released on 4 May 2018, carried him far beyond the club world. Róisín Murphy, José González, Kurt Wagner, Speech and Sophia Kennedy all sing on it, and “Bonfire” samples Bon Iver. The album reached No. 7 in Germany and No. 3 on Pitchfork’s list of the best albums of 2018. Its single “Pick Up”, built on samples of Gladys Knight & the Pips and Melba Moore, came first in Mixmag’s top 50 tracks of 2018.
Producer for others
His remixes include WhoMadeWho’s “Keep Me in My Plane” (2009). After the single “Can’t Replicate” with Róisín Murphy on Ninja Tune, he produced her album Hit Parade (2023), which reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 6 in Germany. In 2024 he released “Pure Love” featuring Damon Albarn, followed by the album Music Can Hear Us on Pampa in 2025.
Koze’s records are slow, warm and full of detail; they suit the first hours or the last ones better than peak time. Start with “Pick Up”, then go back to Amygdala.
FAQ
What is DJ Koze’s real name?
Stefan Kozalla. He was born in 1972 in Flensburg, in northern Germany, and is based in Hamburg.
What does Pick Up by DJ Koze sample?
Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” and Melba Moore’s “Pick Me Up, I’ll Dance”.
Which album did DJ Koze produce for Róisín Murphy?
Hit Parade, released in September 2023. It reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 6 in Germany.
