Ahead of the release the day before Christmas, we had a chat with our Spanish friends EKDK. With their busy schedule doing mixes, remixes, releasing their own work and running a label on top, they managed to make time for another sublime remix. After their remix on Phoenix, EKDK once again take credit for a remix for a North South Project remix.
We took the time to have a short chat with the boys and talk about a day in their lives and routines. Check it our below.
North South Project – Black Shadows (EKDK remix) is available via Beatport, Spotify and other digital outlets.
Connect with EKDK on Spotify | Soudcloud | Facebook | Instagram
When & how did you first get involved with music?
When we were young (David 9 or 10 and Enrique 6 or 7) we enjoyed listening to tapes from our youngest uncle. These tapes were from iconic Spanish clubs from that time such as “Radical”, “Atica”, “Over Drive”… We could listen to them 24/7, even in our sleep! That was our first contact with electronic music, it initiated our curiosity which grew over time taking us to where we are now.
What is your process when you start with a remix?
Usually, we enjoy making a remix where only the original producer recognizes the components from the original track. We don’t like making a remix similar to the original as in that case you might as well listen to the original. A remix must offer something different. As a result, we search for our sound, in such a way that the listener hears it for 10 seconds and immediately realizes its EKDK.
In general, what characterize the musical style of EKDK?
We like raw sounds, without too many effects, and synthesizers that carry a lot of movement. – Collaborations can take on many forms. What role do they play in your approach and what are your preferred ways of engaging with other creatives through, for example, file sharing, jamming or just talking about ideas? We think collaborations are too complicated, we can’t even understand each other inside the duo, imagine with other people! We don’t do collaborations because we believe in order to carry them out both artists must have the same concept and vision of music and that is very difficult to find.
Could you take us through a day in the EKDK life, from a possible morning routine through to your work?
Do you have a fixed schedule? How do music and other aspects of your life feed back into each other – do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly? Enrique: I wake up and take care of my two children, make breakfast and take them to school. Then I go to work, usually until very late, get home for dinner with the family. Then it’s to time to tuck the kids in bed, and I have any leftover energy I proceed to think about music, writing down ideas, or starting off some beat. If its a very creative period I wake up two hours earlier than usual so that I can have time to produce. David: I wake up and take a shower. Then I go to work listening to some podcast I’ve made in the past, looking at what I can improve. Then I spend 8 hours and a half at the office, and then on the way back home, I listen to some more sets. Then I go to the gym for 2 hours, where I listen to the promos we receive at the label, trying to differentiate all the details and deciding whether they fit our catalogue or not. Then its time to go back home, review the emails that have been received and preparing all the social media posts so that it stays up to date.
Thank you!
