KRAAK N SMAAK

Things have been exploding for you lately, hitting the #1 spot on iTunesHolland and even getting picked up by the infamous Perez Hilton blog in the States. How does it feel with everything suddenly going crazy?

It's really great to notice that we can still move upwards in terms of appeal; apparentlywe have tapped into something we weren't aware of! It's very funny to noticethat you're being played on daytime radio here in Holland and having a ‘hitsingle' and being picked up - by sheer concidence - by Perez Hilton, whodeclared us to be the next big thing. Of course we'll have to see about that,but it really helps building your international profile and opening up new possibilities.

Your name has drawn a lot of attention. Who came up with the name and does it mean anything?

Sigh... Not again! It's a Dutch proverb and translates in English as‘Crunchy & Tasty', so no reference to drugs or whatever. One of us used it as the name for his then small dj firm and when we sent around demos to the UK, it came up when Jalapeno records wanted to sign us and needed a name for the first release. So actually it's their fault! The funny thing is that we didn't even thought about the fact that Kraak & Smaak, if pronounced in English, would get a whole other meaning!

But seriously, it got us lots of attention, which is nice...

A major part of your performance is you live act and not just DJ gigs.What do you enjoy about presenting your music in a live fashion?

It's just a totally different ballgame than dj-ing. Everything is live,there is much more interaction involved with the audience, the whole dynamic ofa live set is different from a dj set, etc. We feel that it can really takeyour music to another level and to a new and broader audience and make adifference. The ability to perform your music with a whole band is somethingthat is still not that common among dance producers; often it is not more thansomewhat static laptop act, so it gives you an advantage over other similaracts. It's also fun that you are able to do both dj and live sets; when we cometo think of it we sort of have the best of both worlds this way! However, wetake both sides of the K&S coin really serious and can learn from the twoto make them both stronger. 

With the new album coming out have you got any new additions planned forthe live show?

We've been busy reworking the liveset the last couple of gigs: more new, deeper and clubby tracks and less ‘partyfunk' ones, and that seems to work out well. The show still has the freneticenergy that seems to be our trademark. We're also more ambitious about usingmore electronics, keyboards, etc. on stage and pay more attention the wholevisualisation of the show.

Your playing festivals in the UK, US, Spain, Germany, Austria, Romania and Belguim,Holland...(the list goes on) over the summer. Which one are you particularlylooking forward to?

We just did Glastonbury last weekend, which was the festival we were most excitedabout. It's not often that a Dutch act plays there, so we were very proud beingable to play there. We're finally playing at this year's Lowlands festival inthe Netherlands too and playing at Hungary's Sziget again is also great - ithas the same atmosphere as Glastonbury.

What's your most memorable festival experience?

Well...the Glastonbury gig provided us with perfect ammo for a renewed top 3 list ofrock n roll stories: we rented a coach to bring us to the festival and all wentwell until the bus's rear axle broke when we were only about a hundred kilometresaway from the festival. It took us six hours to get alternative transportationand we only made it just in time to play... It was the most memorable touringexperience since we got sent back to Holland at US customs because we didn'thave a visa!

Perez Hilton described your music has described your music as Amy Winehouse meets Moby. I assume this reference is due to there being a lot of soul in your music, what are some of your influences for forming the sound for Kraak & Smaak?

That is so hard to say exactly,other people also always mention the fact that it is so difficult to pin down ‘beingK&S'... We do have a tendency, but not explicitly sought after, to make tracks that are somewhere on the edge of underground and mainstream in terms of not only wanting to make a good club tune that goes well with the dj's but also memorable as a song withthe right vocals or choruses. Up until now they have often been quite soulful,funky, that's true, but at the moment we're trying to expand on vocal styles aswell. The Moby reference is interesting as he also seems to merge more or less underground music with a sort of ‘poppyness' (well, at least sometimes, ahum...). Other related acts that spring to mind now are Massive Attack and GrooveArmada. And of course we should have asked Amy before she got famous....

Also, if we compare the first and second album, with the first album - Boogie Angst - we we're much more into the‘organic' sound, a reflection of our upbeat funky breakbeat in our dj sets at that time. In retrospect, Plastic People feels like a more mature and balancedalbum. It's just that we just developed our sound further, more electronic anddeeper. In general though, for our sound we pick up everything we like, which can be older jazz and funk records, 80s electronica, new wave and disco butalso modern minimal techno or dubstep. Would be interesting to know already howthe next album will be like!

Who do you admire in today's music scene?

If we would have to mention twothat have been on our mind lately, they would be Soulwax because of theirenormous, mouthwatering arsenal of vintage synths in their studio, and A-Skillzbecause of his mind-blowing remix of ‘Squeeze Me'; it's an instant classic!

Finally, Can you give us a run down of what tunes are big in your box right now?

One track that always does the trick is KW Griff's version of ‘ Respect' (in the Mooqee& Russ Cuban edit). Besides that one we regularly spin Quantic's ‘PanamaCity' (on Tru Thoughts), the Prins Thomas Diskomiks of Force of Nature's ‘Tothe Brain' (on Mule Musiq), but also more electronic stuff like various mixes of Booka Shade's ‘Charlotte' and the beautiful Serge Santiago remix of Hercules& Love Affair's ‘Blind'. We're also seriously digging the new remixes of Plastic People, the nextK&S single of course. Our favorites at the moment are the All Good FunkAlliance and Deetron remixes.