DJ/Producer duo Drunken Kong dropped by to chat about landing on Drumcode, Tokyo’s techno scene, married life, and more!
Drunken Kong has been hard at work cultivating their techno career both within their hometown Tokyo residency at WOMB as well as performances at ADE, Eden Ibiza, and Berlin’s Love Parade. In addition, their ability to move the masses with billowing basslines and mesmerizing melodies has earned them a spot on renowned tastemaking brands like Tronic, Terminal M, Stil Vor Talent, and Octopus Recordings. This weekend, the couple made another dream come to fruition with the release of I Want To See – their official Drumcode debut!
It’s easy to understand why Drumcode would be foaming at the mouth to pick up this vivacious package of beats. Opening with “It’s Then,” the feet immediately respond to the lightning bolt details that strike from the speakers. Moreso, the haunting vocal expression enhances the dark atmosphere, taunting the listener into complete submission. Once the rave-ready mindset is attained, the duo pulls techno enthusiasts even deeper into the underground with the title track. “I Want To See” stings with spinetingling vocals, rattling tones, and an undulating top-end that’ll quickly eradicate your equilibrium.
If you’re not already obsessed at the halfway mark, then expect “That’s It” to kick you over the fence. The featured vocal drips with classic vibes, and the breakbeats breakdown drives the concept home. Of course, you can’t have a true Drunken Kong experience without a spicy bassline to push the party into madness, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Now at the doorstep of the final offering, “Need It” makes its point loud and clear. After saturating your cells with its pounding vibrations and euphoric vocal detail, you’ll feel the unwavering “need” to add this track to your collection!
Now that we’ve wet the pallet, it’s time to dig in for yourself. While you’re exploring the soundwaves and grabbing your copy on your favorite music platform, read on for our chat with Drunken Kong. They touch on everything from their experience as a married couple in the industry to Tokyo’s techno scene and all the details surrounding their brand-new EP! So kick back, turn the volume up, and get to know the humans behind the music!
Stream Drunken Kong – I Want To See on Spotify:
Hello Drunken Kong, thank you for taking time to chat! First things first, you’ve been crushing the scene as a duo for over a decade and I’m curious to know how you balance out the workload. Do you each have your own expertise, or do you blend tasks equally?
D. Singh: Thanks so much for having us today, and thank you for your kind words. We have separate tasks since we can’t spend too much time together in the studio. Raising a child, we need to balance things out. I spend more time in the studio to come up with ideas and loops, and my partner Kyoko listens to it and gives her input to decide what to work on, and then she advises and gives feedback at certain points of the actual layout. Then on the mixdown, a similar process where I would do the basic mixdown once, and then we both sit down and make final adjustments to make it the best sounding we can.
After years of working together, this has been the best workflow for us, and living together obviously makes this easier.
Ultimately, your working relationship turned into a full-blown marriage. What are some unique ways that your career has strengthened your marriage, and was there ever a time in which it brought forth challenges?
D: Well, one thing we both often laugh about is that we don’t have any kind of arguments as a married couple. I guess it’s because we often share ideas and discuss things while making a track. Outside of the studio, we’re both super relaxed and just enjoy the time off. The challenge was when our daughter was born. Balancing artist life and parenting was definitely a new learning phase for us. We’re still working on this but getting better!
What advice would you give to other couples who are thinking about going into the music industry together?
D: I think it’s very important, not just as a couple but working together as a duo, to have the same motivation level. If this is different, it can lead to problems as time goes on. It also helps when you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so that you both know when to lead in different situations. Sharing and reminding each other`s vision is also something we feel is important.
Can you open up about Tokyo’s techno scene? What makes it unique? In addition, what are some of the similarities and differences when comparing it to the US scene?
D: Tokyo`s scene is great. There are many parties and many venues of different sizes. You’ll find something going on any day of the week. I think in general, many aspects are similar to the US scene. It’s about building a community, which makes the scene more interesting, and in general, people are getting more into underground music, which is great. I guess one difference would be that alcohol is served 24 hours here, so you can basically drink any time, hahaha.
You hold a residency at Tokyo’s legendary club, WOMB. Can you describe the impact this residency has had on your career and offer insight on some of your most memorable nights there?
D: We have our resident party named, Intention. This definitely helped us grow here in Japan. It also gave us the experience to try different things. We recently did an all-night-long set for the first time. This was something that opened a whole new door of possibilities for us. We’ve had endless memorable moments at Womb, but definitely, the energy at our resident party is just something else! Great energy and happy vibes!
Moving onto studio work, a major congratulations on your Drumcode debut! Talk to us about how Drumcode has inspired you throughout the years and how this signing came to fruition.
D: Drumcode has always been an inspiration for us, so we are very happy to be able to release an EP. Before even starting our Drunken Kong project, we went to a Drumcode party in London, and it was something we could never forget. It has always been a label that we wanted to release one day. As for the release, it all happened from a demo we sent to Adam Beyer at the end of last year. From there, we heard him play it on his radio show, Drumcode Radio, and things started to move from there.
Can you talk to us about the journey you went on surrounding I Want To See, from the original vision to the final product?
D: We were inspired by this EP when we came across a few vocal samples which we really liked. We knew that we wanted to make tracks that made the vocal stand out along with our favorite kind of groove to keep the energy. We tried to keep things simple but with impact.
Dig into the story (or lack thereof) behind the vocal offerings. Did you have a specific message you wanted to relay or did you purposefully choose lyrics that would add a dose of mystery to the package?
D: We didn’t think that far at the time we came across the vocals. The first thing for us was that the vocal`s tone and vibe fit the mood of what we were trying to create. Then, of course, we will listen to the lyrics to make sure it makes sense to what we are creating.
Which was the most challenging track to produce on the EP and why?
D: All tracks came out smoothly but we would say the third track, “That’s It,” was the most challenging out of the four. We originally had a synth melody part, but we created a second version removing this melody and adding elements to give it a more warehouse vibe. We are very happy with the second version, and we have been playing this a lot in our sets.
Each of the tracks on the EP has its own special vibe so I’d like to play a little game… Place each track next to the event they would match best with and describe why you would make that choice:
Major Festival – “It`s Then.” We feel the groove and vocals fit well for festival vibes.
Peak Hour Club – “I Want To See.” We feel the energy is quite driving on this track, and we’ve played it a lot during peak hour times in different venues.
Afterparty – “Need It.” The vocals make the mood of the track mysterious, which we feel would work well at afterparties.
Open Air Day Party– “That’s It.” We feel the happy, positive vibes on this track really match the open-air daytime vibe.
Again, thank you so much for your time, and congratulations on your Drumcode debut!
D: Thank you so much! :)
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