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In The Spotlight: Kiki

Finland’s finest, Kiki, returns to the production scene with the release of his long-awaited second album, 'Kaiku.' BIG hype surrounding this long player already; cuts such as ‘Good Voodoo’ have been doing the rounds of late, and the dub version of ‘Immortal’ was slipped into our latest fabric comp by Mr. Von Stroke. As Kiki prepares to take his live show to the masses, dropping into our fabric HQ this Saturday, we caught up with him to find out about the album… Though you're often associated with BPitch's Berlin crew,  'Kaiku' is a reference back to your Finnish roots. Does Finland still provide a large source of inspiration to you? Yes, I hear very often that my music has a certain melancholy and that has definitely something to do with my Finnish roots - the land of dark and long winters and extremities. Also, in the times of the Vikings, the Finn’s were called “the crazy, dancing folk”… What was the initial concept behind the album? It all started to focus on my mind while I was working on a film soundtrack. I was left with some songs that, for the first time, started with a visual idea instead of aiming at the club floors. I was really pleased with the song “No Words Necessary” and me and my label both wanted to build a whole album around the idea. In the end, I really think there is a filmic dramaturgy throughout the whole album.How is the album formed? Is it made up of new tracks or a collection of releases? It’s all new tracks that build along the aforementioned idea. I personally find single collections somewhat boring, though not when it’s a DJ mix album. What kind of tracks should we expect to find on there? Any particular favourites for you? Well, the aforementioned “No Words Necessary” is definitely a favourite, but at the same time, there are so many different vibes and moods that it depends on the situation. On my live shows it’s been “Autumn Leaves” and “Immortal” that rock the most! Your relationship with BPitch Control seems to be very solid - how did that come about? It was really a coincidence! Ellen Allien and I ended up playing back to back at this party after quite a few shots, and got booked as a DJ team to do it again a few times. At one of these gigs I dropped a demo in her record case and a few months later I had my first release in my hand! ‘Good Voodoo’ is set to be a massive release for you - do you  have any other plans for it? It’s the first single from the album with some great remixes to follow by Jay Haze, Chaim, Seth Troxler and Ryan Crosson and Lee Curtiss calling themselves Visionquest. I’m really happy about the early response from fellow DJs! There really seems to be some magic and voodoo around it…you can check the video here: Kiki: Good Voodoo (feat. Chela Simone) How do you approach live performances? I have a very spontaneous approach to my live sets. I will certainly play tracks from the album, but they also always sound slightly different as I’m jammin’ on the stage like I do it in the studio; twisting and turning things around and upside down and mixing them with old and new elements. There are always moments in my sets where I’m thinking, “damn, did someone record this? It’s a new track!” That’s also how my own remix of “Good Voodoo” happened; it’s a live version! Are you looking forward to Saturday? The last time I played live in room one was one the best shows I’ve ever done! It’s THAT sound system! Also, the whole team is just amazing, can’t wait to party with you again ;) Kaiku was released last Friday (29  May) - bag yourself a copy before coming to see him takeover Room Two alongside Andy Weatherall.
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