Interview: Kraak & Smaak

 

Soundspace

So who is Kraak & Smaak?

Kraak & Smaak

Kraak & Smaak is Oscar de Jong, Wim Plug and Mark Kneppers, three Dutch natives producing music, running a label, DJ’ing and peforming with a full live band.

 

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Soundspace

Your latest ‘All I Want Is You’ is set to come out this month, can you talk about the inspiration behind the track and how it came to be?

Kraak & Smaak

Often ideas starts with simple loops in our studio: beats, bass and a melody. From thereon – if we are looking for a song, we start looking for a vocalist that may fit. In this way, over the years, we got hold of Ben Westbeech, Lee Fields, Romanthony, Stee Downes, Sam Duckworth, etc. etc. Just by having a good think and listening to the music we like.

In this case however we stumbled upon Mark Hole, saw him performing in London and was blown away immediately by his voice. We had this disco-ish instrumental that sounded perfect for him, and so we hooked up in our studio in Leiden. He then came up with great lyrics immediately (which is not always the case, as a good vocalist may not always be a good songwriter), and having that in place, we were able to finish it into this final version.

 

 

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Soundspace

And your remix for Royksopp?

Kraak & Smaak

When we say yes to a remix we always need to feel we can bend it towards our sound and although our sound can be quite diverse, from breakbeat to disco to a much more electronic downbeat vibe, we immediately knew that we could do something with this. It also helps that a track has a strong vocal, and Royksopp’s tracks are always perfect in that regard.

We actually first came up with a clubby, disco-driven demo, but after having let it simmered a bit on our stereos we decided to go for a long stretched-out electronic version after all. Turned out quite nice, eh?

 

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Soundspace

We hear you’re currently working on a new Kraak & Smaak album, care to give details?

Kraak & Smaak

Yes, and we already have quite a few tracks ready, but above all we want to focus on singles for now. either club or radio. We want to take a bit of a different approach: not waiting until the album is finished before releasing new material again, as for one thing you stay in the picture on a more regular basis, plus with an album, it often feels too long a wait before anything drops.

By that time we are already fed up with it and are already moving on to the next thing, which annoys us. It could also very well be that the coming album is going to be a much more rounded-off, atmospheric, downbeat affair, and won’t be focused on a mix of singles and album tracks.

 

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Soundspace

You launched Boogie Angst this year, why did you feel Kraak & Smaak needed their own label, and what sounds can we expect to hear on Boogie Angst in the future?

Kraak & Smaak

As K&S I guess we have a strong brand name and are sort of internationally well-known, have a good network, etc. At the same time, we are not that fresh new kid on the block act anymore, so why not look around for other acts we like and provide them with the platform we built and had for the last ten years?

There are many talented artists around we like, but who won’t necessarily get presented to a bigger audience. Because that’s the other side of the coin of the internet and digital revolution: everybody has the freedom to post music yet it has become much harder to stick out as well. So you still need labels (maybe even more so). Besides, it’s great fun to discover new music and having your own label is a logical step in our whole development in the music industry.

We don’t really want to pin ourselves down regarding the style of the label’s music in the future, but for now the vibe is, besides ourselves, mostly (indie) electronic and beats, with Moods as our first major signing. There’s more coming really quickly though!

 

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Soundspace

Three tracks you can’t get enough of?

Kraak & Smaak

As far as Kraak & Smaak tracks and reworks go I’d say our remix for Chromatics’ ‘Kill for Love’, off our latest album the original of ‘How We Gonna Stop the Time’, featuring Stee Downes; and Psychemagik’s remix of ‘Built for Love’, with Romanthony on vocal duty.

Both original and this remix seem to have been quite overlooked at the time, we think they are absolutely great. Such a pity he died so unexpected and young; we would have loved to work much more often with him.

 

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Soundspace

Tell us something we shouldn’t know about you?

Kraak & Smaak

We once featured in a major Dutch kids chocolate milk commercial.

 

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Soundspace

What is the coolest thing in your house?

Kraak & Smaak

A couple of hundred year old stairway with worn down oak steps, or our in-house pet rabbit. It’s hard to choose.

 

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Soundspace

Can you reveal any plans you may have for the future?

Kraak & Smaak

No major changes or plans but hoping to develop the label further, signing and releasing cool new acts and so forth, plus continuing our K&S quest with new material and DJ’ing and playing live all over the world as much as possible for years to come.

 

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