Up next on our Introducing series we have a look to the Netherlands. As we really love the sophisticated style of the Footwork producer team "Kretekboyz" we just had to get in touch with them for some insights in their craft.
How did you get into making music, especially in the combination as Kretekboyz?
We grew up in the same city, and we met each other through the local underground music scene. We were both more into DJ’ing at the time, producing was just a side thing for us. It wasn’t until later when we really got to know each other, that we found out that we both share very similar music tastes. This resulted in a very natural established connection between us, and from there on we’ve always kept the connection warm. As time went on, our priorities switched as we both got more invested into producing. Rating each other’s productions highly, we were always joking around about making a footwork inspired alias called Kretekboyz. At the time we were also making fast-paced future type beats individually, and we simply just said why not start this alias thing, so we did and the rest is history.
How would you define your sound?
For us it’s not easy to define our sound since we both get influenced by so many different sounds from all over the world. Our sound is mainly influenced by Footwork/Juke from Chicago, and Jungle from the UK rave scene. We’d say we take elements from all those sounds and try to create our own unique sound with it.
Our approach to Way 2 Sensual was to combine a classic sample with modern day vocals. This way, most people will recognize it immediately, and they also most likely will recognize the acapella, so they’ll have something to sing along to as well. Eventually by sprinkling some Kretekboyz magic on the track, it’s for those reasons we believe it to not only be powerful, but also a great track to be played at club events.
How would you describe your creative process when it comes to making tracks?
When it comes to making tracks, we just look for a sound to spark an idea for a whole track. Other times we can already have an idea in our mind, then we just try to conceptualize that idea. We do keep it around 160 BPM to hold true to our character as Kretekboyz. So either one of us starts a draft and then we bounce the draft over and over so we can add our creativity to it. This will then continue until we’re both happy with how the track’s sounding. Most importantly we always try to have fun with it.
Which artist or sound influences you the most in your work as a creative?
As Kretekboyz we get our inspiration from a lot of different artists. Think about TEKLIFE, TNGHT, Soulection type artists and UK based producers, but also everything in between.
So the next tune Everywhere is really a nostalgic track for us since it’sour first release as ‘’Kretekboyz’’, and also because we sampled a classic Dutch hip-hop anthem called 'Hef - Overal' which we always wanted to flip, because why not? In the intro we introduce the sample and along the way you will hear the sample deconstructed step-by-step by our signature chopping and track layering. Ultimately, the arrangements and certain grooves we used really made that track into something we believe to be sounding great.
Which artist would you like to collaborate with in the future?
We’d like to collaborate with so many artists to be honest.. Coco Bryce, DJ Spinn, DJ Paypal, DJ Clent, TNGHT to name a few.. Also rappers like Baby Keem or ASAP MOB, we think that’ll be super dangerous.
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