Odd Soul Sounds kicks off with a new single from Keys N Krates featuring Afrique Like Me and 96 Vibe.
Back in 2022, Keys N Krates — the Toronto based trio of Greg Dawson, Adam Tune, and Matisse — launched an event series called Odd Soul with the goal of curating an “ecosystem for dance music that feels soulful and often outside of the box.” Since then, they’ve developed and expanded that concept across North America, holding events in places like Mexico City, Toronto, New York and soon Los Angeles.
With the success they’ve seen, the trio wanted to bring that same ethos into something that could also embody the atmosphere of their music. Odd Soul Sounds is exactly that. It doesn’t matter whether the track is influenced by house, disco, soul, or hip-hop. What started as a home for some of the edits they had been playing in shows has now become a place for their favorite music — both their own, and that of their favorite artists.
Kicking off the label is their new single, “RUAFREAK” featuring Afrique Like Me and 96 Vibe, an Afro house-inspired dancefloor groover that sets the tone for what’s to come. To give fans an even better idea, the trio sat down with us to talk about what they’ve been working on, the new label, their launch party in LA on June 27, and of course, the new single.
Check out the music video “RUAFREAK” featuring Afrique Like Me and 96 Vibe below. Listen to it on your favorite streaming platforms, and let us know what you think on social media!
You’ve been throwing the Odd Soul parties for the last three years. How did those events help you create the label?
The label has really acted as a real life mood board for the kind of music we want to release, so that’s been super helpful and illuminating. Nothing tells the truth quite like a DJ set and seeing how we and the crowd respond and feel in the moment. It’s really clarified to us what we want to hear and present to people. The focus of the label becomes a lot easier when we ask the question to ourselves, “Would we run this song at our party?”
What makes both Odd Soul events and now the record label unique? How is the label staying true to the ethos of the events?
Our party is focused around dance music with soul: a lot of house-adjacent stuff, whether it be tribal/Afro stuff, jacking house stuff, UKG stuff, or R&B and rap-influenced stuff. Vocal records, but also clubby, instrumental stuff get played. It just has to embody a kind of soul to us that we know when we hear. This stuff all exists sparsely, but not really to our tastes all in one place, so it made sense to create the context for it. Odd Soul Sounds is as informed by pop music as it is underground stuff, and we make zero apologies for that.
Your new single, RUAFREAK, features Afrique Like Me and 96 Vibe. What made this record special enough to release side by side wirh the label’s launch?
RUAFREAK really nails merging the underground and sassy pop vibes in one tune. It’s super fun but hits you right in the chest, pulling no punches with peak-time energy. It’s also a true collaboration between a lot of great people who are super talented and spirited and know what they’re doing in the dance music landscape. 96 Vibe is an Afro and tribal house wiz, and Afrique Like Me are rock star curators who are super talented in the studio. The vocal also comes from Anowa of Afrique Like Me, so that makes it extra special. We recorded her voice right into an iPhone as a reference and never replaced it.
You’ve gone from a live show to one that’s DJ only. What makes this format special? Has that changed how you make music? Do you think you’d try to bring the live show back in this new format?
DJing has really allowed us to rediscover who we are at this time in our lives as producers, through forcing us to make tons of music and constantly test and refine it in front of crowds. Odd Soul the party really started as an incubator for new demos (both original songs and remixes) of ours and a place to play it next to music we already loved and see how it held up.
This constant feedback loop isn’t really possible with a live show. When we wanted to put new music into our live show, it was a minimum of a week of rehearsals for just a few minutes of music, and then it would usually still need to be re-rehearsed and re-worked to fix whatever wasn’t working. We are now just relentlessly making new ideas, testing them, refining them or heartlessly throwing them in the trash bin if they don’t feel right.
It’s the ultimate liberation. We talk about maybe bringing the live show back one day. It would be so fun to do with all this four-on-the-floor stuff we have been making and releasing now, but honestly, we are just having too much fun DJing and being producers and curators right now.
We’ve also really tried to make the party inclusive of all cultures and kinds of people. This music all started as Black and queer music, so honoring that not only sonically but with our lineups and the peeps we try to attract to our parties is just as important to us. It’s not a party and space exclusively for white tech house frat bros, who can often dominate house music rooms. We want this place to be for everyone, especially the cultures responsible for its swag in the first place. That just feels like a no-brainer to us.
What qualities are you looking for when it comes to Old Soul Sounds? Do you plan on signing other artists, or is this purely for your own releases?
It will be a total mix of whatever feels right. We definitely want to release other artists’ songs or projects if it feels right, and it’s definitely an outlet for us to self-release and collaborate. We want to collaborate with and release not just other producers’ music but also that of vocalists we dig. So yes, all of the above.
June 27 is the first Odd Soul party on the West Coast, and it’s in LA. Are you planning anything special?
I think we are just really excited to start it from scratch there in a small setting and give it to LA in a purely uncompromising form.
Keys N Krates has had quite a journey. How has your style evolved, and how has modern dance culture affected it?
Gradually getting into four-on-the-floor grooves and tribal rhythms led us to house and house-adjacent stuff over the past few years. It started making more poppy, slower stuff, like the “Take It Off” record we did with Bibi Bourelly. We kind of organically sped up over time. We then wanted to hang out there and just got lost in it and excited about all the stuff we could do with house and different kinds of grooves. Modern dance has definitely made us want to have a bag for faster records, like 130-135 stuff. We like really groovy stuff by nature, so it’s been an acclimation in finding a way to do it that feels right to us.
What upcoming Odd Soul Sounds releases or projects are you most excited to share next? Anything you can share with us about what’s next for Keys N Krates?
“RUAFREAK” is next! Let’s go!
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