New York troupe Hercules & Love Affair will release a contribution to !K7’s DJ-Kicks series.

Helmed by group leader Andy Butler [above], the CD traces his influences from “proto house, through New York’s golden years in the ’90s, to Chicago jack tracks and modern takes on house music’s halcyon days” [via Pitchfork]. It features an unheard Hercules track, ‘Release Me’, featuring Los Angeles DJ Whitney Fierce on vocals. As well as this, the mix features vocals from his yoga guru, Paramahansa Yogananda.

“I’ve been learning meditation techniques and yoga”, explains Butler. “I wanted to include a spiritual aspect because nightclubs, as silly as they are in some ways, there is a religious experience to it for a lot of people, and that’s the way it was for me when I was young. When I was listening to people like François Kevorkian he would literally take me to another place. I’ve had nights when I’ve danced for hours until I was a mess of sweat at Body & Soul and people would come up to me and ask, What are you on? And I was like, I’m not on anything, I’m just having a spiritual moment. So I wanted a bit of that in the mix.”

This year, DJ-Kicks CDs have already come from Maya Jane Coles, Digitalism and Photek. You can read Hercules & Love Affair’s recent Five Records feature with FACT here.

Tracklist:
01 Mankind: “Don’t Keep Me Waiting”
02 Rhythm Mode:D: “Can You Feel It (Reach to the Top)”
03 Hercules and Love Affair: “Release Me”
04 Fax Yourself: “Strut Your Techno Stuff”
05 Klubb Kidz: “Don’t Want to Hurt You (Skool Flava Dub)”
06 Solution: “Feels So Right”
07 DJ Duke Presents Freedom: “Love Don’t Come Easy (Power Dub)”
08 Cloud 9: “Do You Want Me”
09 Mark Imperial: “The Acieed That Ate New York”
10 In Flagranti: “Magojiro”
11 Haze Factory: “A Bit of Redemption”
12 Fierce Ruling Diva: “Allemaal, Allemaal!”
13 Jump Chico Slamm: “Feel Free”
14 Z.A.M.: “Africa Freedom (Johannesburg Dub Mix)”