Kyle Hall

Kyle Hall is a persistently creative producer of emotive underground dance music, and consequently he’s impossible to categorize, his output freely moving from techno to house and pulling from styles as varied as ghettotech, broken beat, and dubstep. Hall wasn’t even hallway through his teens when he gained the support of fellow Detroit native Omar-S, who released his first track, the scrambled and primitive “Plastik-Ambash” (2007). Within a few years, Hall’s discography had expanded significantly with outlets including his own Wild Oats label, Mike Grant’s Moods & Grooves, and revered U.K. imprints Hyperdub and Warp. Hall has released two albums, The Boat Party (2013) and From Joy (2015), amid dozens of singles and EPs pressed on 7″ and 12″. He’s also a frequent collaborator, most often with Steven Julien (aka Funkineven) for the Crown EP (2023), among other 12” releases.
Born as Detroit’s second wave of techno was thriving with the likes of Blake Baxter, Carl Craig, and Underground Resistance, Hall started DJ’ing and making music at the age of 11. He made important early connections with Raybone Jones, Rick Wilhite, and Mike Huckaby, learning from the latter how to use a modular software music studio. Hall debuted on Omar-S’ FXHE label in 2007 with the single-sided 12” “Plastik-Ambash.” The next year, he launched Wild Oats and appeared on Moods & Grooves with a pair of EPs that were considerably more melodic and grooving yet far from easy listening. Over 2009 and 2010, Hall fielded a slew of remix assignments from elder and contemporary Detroiters and young U.K.- and New York-based acts, teaming with local heavyweights Alton Miller and Amp Fiddler for “When the Morning Comes” and also remixing tracks for Hyperdub’s Darkstar (“Aidy’s Girl Is a Computer”) and Warp’s the Hundred in the Hands (“Dressed in Dresden”). During the same period, Hyperdub and Third Ear Recordings became Hall’s first U.K.-based labels to host his productions, respectively issuing “Kaychunk” and Must See EP.
Meanwhile, Hall continued to find the process of releasing his music through other labels to be too slow. The Wild Oats catalog grew steadily, sometimes with offerings from contemporaries such as Jay Daniel and K15. The label expanded more in 2013 with Hall’s first album. The Boat Party, a disparate double record credited to the producer’s oft-used nickname KMFH, appealed to house heads and jit dancers alike. Hall kept Wild Oats active for the next several years, occasionally going against the grain with the 7” format, and in 2015, he released his organic and more fluid second album, the triple-vinyl set From Joy. He also released material through Hyperdub and Detroit Underground. Hall’s second self-operated label, Forget the Clock, started in 2019. Eight 12” EPs were offered by Forget the Clock by the time Hall and Steven Julien released the Crown EP on the latter’s Apron imprint. ~ Andy Kellman