Today we have a nice treat for you. Keys N Krates have just shared a melodic new song "Flute Loop" featuring Ouici that we have the pleasure of premiering along with an interview catching up with the TSIS favorites touching on writing songs as a trio, their upcoming album & tour, and their recent inspirations among other topics below.The Canadian trio decided to bless us with this new track on Canada's Boxing Day to give fans something during the holidays, and the gift does not disappoint.
With their album Cura on the way, we're very excited to see what they've been working on as this latest tune will surely be stuck in our head for weeks. Taking things in a chill direction, Keys N Krates have chosen a fitting name for this new release as the track is highlighted by an infectious flute loop.
They showcase their strong songwriting abilities with a catchy, bright melody kicking off the track joined by some skittering hi-hats and a vocal sample placed perfectly throughout alongside the worldy sounding flute. The smooth song puts their knack for clean sound design on full display and has us impatiently awaiting their full Cura album when it drops. Check out the interview below and enjoy!
Keys N Krates - Flute Loop (Ft. Ouici) | Free Download
Interview
You apply more live instrumentation to your performance than most in your genre, how does that effect your process in the studio? Do you think about tracks differently than if you were only mixing as a DJ?
Tune: Yeah definitely! When we get into working on song ideas we are constantly brain storming on how to make the records translate live, have live energy and have different cool parts that we can play with extending and reinterpreting for our love show.
There are a lot of duos in electronic music, but not many trios. What is your creative process normally like creating tracks together as a group of 3?
Flo: It can become a bit of a litigation at points but I think one of the things that helped while this making this new project is that we were all honest with ourselves and each other about what ideas or elements or even whole songs we either couldn't live without or we had to see go. The whole thing is a compromise cause it's 3 ppl's record so at a certain point you just let go and trust your partners. I think that was actually a significant breakthrough for us that have really kept things moving in a good way.
What was your inspiration for dropping this song on Canada’s Boxing Day?
Matisse: We get the whole album roll out process and stuff but it's honestly nice and refreshing for us to just give a record to our fans as a free download during the holidays. We come from doing that. We just used to drop stuff on SoundCloud as free downloads and we kinda wanna get back to that spirit of just not giving an F and dropping heat on ppl.
Any specific influences affecting you on this release?
Flo: Ya so many. Jay Dilla's "donuts" album,, Dj Premiere beats influenced he sample chop and lose drum swing we were after... ppl like cashmere cat, and Mura Masa who are pushing the musicality and swaggy production tricks so far forward right now while maintaining a pop catchiness. Ouici who's our friend and one of our fav producers helped out on some some tunes and is featured on "Flute Loop." His soundtracky vibes and textures are so beautiful. We were also listening to a lot of older stuff like Dorothy Ashby who's a sick jazz harpist,, so there's actually a lot of harps on the album. Ouici really influenced us to get into more writing string section parts. He helped us out with some of those and we were constantly studying how he does his strings. There are so many other influences cause we are constantly listening to other ppl's stuff; trying to take cool ideas and make them our own. Overall we wanted this album to have a boom-bap, dusty, sample feel,, but we also wanted to feel current, catchy and beautiful.
As we close out 2017, what was the highlight for Keys N Krates?
Tune: Definitely making our first full length album!
What are you looking forward to most in 2018?
Flo: Releasing this album and going on tour!!!!
It looks like you guys are gearing up for quite the tour early next year? What can fans expect on the ‘Cura Tour’?
Matisse: New music, new vibes, new stage production,, a better more entertaining show,, basically US but elevated. We've stepped up in every aspect and can't wait to share with you guys!