LAMP Weekly Mix #298 feat. Kill Frenzy (Winners Mix)
We have a really amazing guest this week. Kill Frenzy!! He is making his debut on Danny Howard’s Nothing Else Matters imprint with brand new single "Winners" feat. Kisch which comes with a brilliant remix from Gerd Jansen. The first track on the mix is the original which I have linked here: (soundcloud.com/nothingelsemattersuk/sets/kill-frenzy-winners-feat-kisch). It sets the tone for a mix that is going to light your earbuds on fire. Over the years Kill Frenzy has shown himself to be an absolute genius in the world of booty shaking house and techno. I had this argument with someone while in the car listening to this very mix whether this is house or techno and the answer is who cares. At the end of the day in my experience the best mixes are ones that transcend genres and are impossible to define. Kill Frenzy appears to do this regularly with very little effort. Every set I have heard of his follows this trend and it is always pleasure to see him play. His catalog of music spans many incredible labels such as Turbo, Dirtybird, Relief and so many others that further illustrate his diverse musical ability. There is for sure a story to unfold in this mix so sit back and let yourself get taken away. also make sure to check out our Q & A down below. Enjoy.
PZB: Hello Kill Frenzy! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to put together a mix for us this week. We have been big fans of yours here at LAMP for quite some time and it is a pleasure to have you on the show. What do you have lined up for us this week?
Kill Frenzy: Thanks a lot. I made a mix with some tunes i absolutely love to play and listen to lately. Hope you will like 'em too.
PZB: I want to start off by sharing a new release you just put out on the 13th of September called “Winners”. This is your first release for Danny Howard’s Nothing Else Matters label. It also features a remix from highly respected DJ and producer Gerd Jansen. In addition the amazing vocals of Kisch really make this a timeless classic that takes me back to the break beat era. I had a chance to drop the Gerd Jansen remix out last weekend here in LA and it got the dance floor super lit!
KF: Thanks, glad you like it. It's something very different for me, i've been working on this for a while. I love all kinds of music, and to keep me motivated i need to challenge myself to try new things. Sometimes making music in this industry is more like a commodity to make money or get approval from others, but for me making music goes me such an emotional rush, i'm just trying to do my own thing & not care what people think or expect of me. Very happy that Gerd Jansen agreed to remix it too.
PZB: You are originally from Belgium. What/ Who were some of your earlier musical influences from your youth. Have you lived there your whole life? If you could choose anywhere to live now where would it be assuming you are continuing your career
KF: Yes i grew up in Belgium. i had so many influences growing in my country it was great. We listening to everything from Kraftwerk to hip hop to hardcore, 90’s dance, Italo, techno stuff like Jeff Mills and we when i was 16 guys like 2many DJ’s really opened our ears to so many crazy ideas. If i could choose to live anywhere right now it would be Belgium :)
PZB: I was looking at my music library today and how far back my Kill Frenzy collection goes and found that I have songs from you dating back to late 2010. Thats when I came across a track you produced “Duck Hunt”. Looking further back in your catalog there are a few more years of productions as well. How did you start getting into production and what drew you to techno and House music?
KF: I started trying to make music including techno in 2003 or 2004, i loved guys like DJ Rush and Dave Clarke but at the same time i got into ghetto house and juke music so i naturally tried to make that and that was the first stuff i started releasing. The Duck Hunt track is really the first attempt at changing things up to a slower tempo and setting my sights at the Dirtybird sound. i got obsessed with it. After that i started Djing mostly in that style and i remember people yelling at me to play harder and just hating on me because they knew me for other stuff so i didn’t get any booking for like 2 years until i made Booty Clap and started to get shows again and people started to know me for that.
PZB: Not much longer after I found Duck Hunt you had another one with Mason (who will be joining us in a few weeks) and not much longer after a few labels that I follow religiously, started releasing your music namely Dirtybird records. How did you first get connected with those guys and how instrumental to your overall career would you say releasing with them has been?
KF: Nick Monaco, a friend of mine, had the email address of Claude Vonstroke- i sent over a demo of a track called Booty Clap. i quickly got a response saying he was interested in signing it to a compilation on Dirtybird. That’s how it all started really and i got to do some shows with them and meet everybody. it was a dream come true.
PZB: Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves here because Dirtybird is just one of the many labels that have released your music. The list is massive and contains many of the best labels in House and techno such as Turbo, Pets, W&O Street Tracks, Cr2, Food and several others. Your catalog is quite impressive and the most exciting thing is it feels like you are really just getting started and have so much more to give us in the future. When you sit down to write a track what are some of the criteria that enter your mind. Do you have a plan in mind first or do you just sort of sit down and start tinkering until something you like starts to form?
KF: I like to have some vague idea when starting a new track. i used to sit down and just press buttons and hope something will come out. I think its a great way to learn and practice but it also wastes a lot of time when you don’t have some kind of idea already. My workflow is a bit like making a puzzle. i have a vague idea or inspiration and then i try to figure out how to do it. I use hardware as well but most of the time i go back to Ableton. I’m lazy and if i have to hook up all the outboard gear all the time and sync it all before i can make music the threshold to start is even bigger for me.
PZB: Let’s say you’re working on a new tune and you’ve got the chance to program some remixes for the EP. If you could have your pick and money, time etc were no object who are some of you favorite producers right now that you’d want to have a go at reworking your tracks?
KF: i would have like 100 artists do a version. i’ll just name a few that come to mind: Recondite, Dopplereffekt, Kraftwerk, Randomer, Kink, Rod, Robert Armani, Neon, Donato Dozzy, Fatima Yamaha, DJ Rush, Henning Baer, Peggy Gou
PZB: That is a great list and now Im gonna have to do a little homework ;) Our industry is constantly going through changes, and we as artists are competing for ears with so many others out there. On the flip, listeners are bombarded and overwhelmed with the amount of music out there. How do you try to connect with your audience, and what do you feel helps you stay relevant?
KF: Honestly i don’t understand it and i always ask myself how much percent of effort that you put into you actually get some return from. Obviously it's some but i think maybe we are all overdoing it a bit posting so many times a day. The more time i find myself on social media the less time i spend making music and my mental state suffers from it. This might not be the case for everybody but i am not interested in doing social media as a job. I mostly post on instagram now and then and update my soundcloud.
PZB: Outside of music what other passions and creative outputs do you have? What are some that you’d love to add to your mental vocabulary?
KF: I have too many things i get interested in that i have to limit myself. I get obsessive when i discover something new and then that’s all i want to do. I started to learn how to draw and learn 3D modelling recently. I find it very similar to making music. its something you can’t cheat at, you have to sit down for hours and hours and puzzle away to get better. It also helps me make music in the way that it reminds me to just sit my ass down and not wait for inspiration to strike. Just to practice like your going to the gym. Inspiration will drop in and say hello more often that way.
PZB: Is there anything else coming up in your world that we should know or you want to tell us about that we should be keeping an eye/ ear out for?
KF: I have a release coming out on W&O street tracks soon as well with some straight club tracks i find fun to play in my dj sets.
PZB: Thank you so much for your time and the incredible mix you put together. Please keep us posted on future releases and we would love to see you in Los Angeles soon.
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