Keylontix – Ripples “let the whole thing play out and wash over you as the beautiful audio exploration that it is”
This release is about as dreamy as EDM gets without losing any of its creativity or edge. It’s a beautiful track that progresses in a peaceful yet effective way, always keeping you interested, always maintaining the easy going ambience that allows for pure escapism when listening.
The great thing about this particular recording is that it echoes the idea of ripples with every moment that passes. There’s a smoothness to the synth layout of the backdrop, a sort of ocean of sound behind what is otherwise a pretty solid selection of riffs and samples. So you get a decent amount of melody, you get progression, structurally speaking, and the music beautifully erupts into these new sections that act as choruses or hooks. You find yourself swept along by the emerging moments, and it’s all really thoughtfully crafted so nothing is there simply to provide a change or a break from the norm. It’s as if the story is unfolding before you, without a need for lyricism.
Not only has the music been powerfully crafted but the production is pretty flawless throughout. With every step of the evolution of the soundscape the mix has been just slightly adjusted so as to reflect the change in mood or the new ‘scene’, as it were. You can follow these moments along intently, and there’s nothing out of place, nothing that lacks strength or electricity. Similarly, you can simply let the whole thing play out and wash over you as the beautiful audio exploration that it is. You can rely on it to do what all great music does; change your mood, change your moment, make you feel better. It’s a massively impressive piece of music with a great selection of sounds and a fascinating instrumental storyline to truly lose yourself within.
By Rebecca Cullen
Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing
Exclusive Interview with Keylontix
Keylontix is an Instrumental Electronic duo from Toronto founded in 2013. We’re inspired by groups like Tycho, Four Tet, Air, Radiohead/Thom Yorke, Aphex Twins, Gorillaz, Ratatat, and Daft Punk. We have a huge passion for music being used as a tool to reflect and heal, and want to keep producing music for our audience as a means to get through the annoying things in life.
Our EP is being released on July 2017 EP release titled “Tiny Giants in Space”, available for FREE DOWNLOAD on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
I am attaching all of the songs so that you can properly hype the album, as I want users to be excited by the release and check out the promo track, Ripples, in that respect.
Our goal is to continue to make music that can open up soundscapes to people, make them hear something familiar without ever hearing that particular sound before.
We have a kickstarter that’s being used to raise funds for marketing and promotion of our material, as well as covering distribution costs to keep our music free. http://kck.st/2sUrz4q
Here is out Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Keylontix/
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Keylontix: Keylontix started in 2013 as a passion project. The two members of the group, Aaron and Nick, met each other while working at a retail store at a college campus, and after a few electro-jams it was clear to see we worked well together. Both of us grew up in just outside of Toronto. The decision to become an artist was personal to both of us, for different reasons. Aaron has been playing music since three years old and has been composing songs his entire life, some of which come to life on this record. Nick on the other hand has a passion for production, and after playing in a few decently exposed bands eventually decided to focus on this project. The two of us really compliment each other, together we’re able to write some pretty nifty stuff!
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Keylontix: In all honesty, we’re new ourselves so it’s hard to say anything definitively, but some things that have given us recent success would be reaching out to repost networks, working with promotional companies, accessing distribution networks, and of course, engaging in person-to-person interactions, which help produce actual fans. These are all part of an important portfolio when it comes to promoting your sound.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Keylontix: Keylontix does not perform live at this time – we are a studio group and probably will be for quite some time. We’re also perfect in every way and don’t make mistakes, and we certainly don’t think our first EP from 2013 was a mistake. That was a joke, our first EP sucks, and you’ll never find it.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Keylontix: We don’t tour, but last time we were in the studio we saw the biggest June hailstorm we’ve ever seen and seeing as how we were stoned at the time, this kept us distracted for at least 10 minutes. This being said, we named our song after it so I guess it worked out.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Keylontix: We’d love to have more hardware, but the price for most of those toys is out of reach. Right now we use a Dave Smith Prophet 12 synth and an Electron Analog RYTM drum machine. We also use Ableton as our DAW and our favourite go-to- is the Lounge Lizard VST by AAS.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Keylontix: Since we’re really new, reaching out to everyone and anyone is the most important thing. We also have to make sure those interactions are positive in order to build more relationships with people. The music industry is vicious, and allies are few and far between – we’re grateful that there are people out there willing to give us a chance, like Exposed Vocals. Some of the things we do include face-to-face/person-to-person marketing by approaching various online groups and communities, We also invest in promotional campaigns that help get more exposure to our music. At this stage, we’re still figuring out what works best.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Keylontix: Oh my, well definitely Radiohead/Thom Yorke, that guy is just something else. We’re inspired by groups like Tycho, Four Tet, Air, Aphex Twin, Gorillaz, and a couple others like Bonobo and Gorgon City, so performing with any of them would be a darn pleasure. In terms of where, we’re not too picky about that. Keylontix is the type of gig that you can play in a lounge, even though we think it’s headphone music, so the location isn’t too important, as long as there are people there to enjoy the music. How about Fiji? Let’s say Fiji.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Keylontix: Keylontix has an EP coming up for release on July 21st 2017, which will be available to stream on Spotify, as well as available for free download on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
At this time we’re working on bonus material for our fans. Anyone that contributes $25 or more to our Kickstarter gets an early release of this bonus track (which in my opinion, is a stunningly beautiful track). Everyone else will get it a couple months later during our scheduled release. We’ve also started working on our next EP, which should come out some time in 2018.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Keylontix: Tough question, music is life. Both of us have day-jobs, so thankfully we wouldn’t starve. Regardless, musicians feed off of likes and new Soundcloud followers, right? Attention is our sustenance.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?
Keylontix: More tracks, more material, and probably another EP set for sometime in 2018. Also, expect us to blow up because we’re not leaving. You might as well hop on the trend-train now, and be a fan before it’s cool.
Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?
Keylontix: First and foremost, a huge thank you to our family and friends. We literally would not be conducting this interview without the combined support of everyone. We also want to thank various individuals who contributed to our project by giving detailed feedback, and these would include our friends Ethan and Matt.
Ethan is actually working on a project called Sister Strange, which is this amazing group of people making some of the greatest combination of Jazz, Soul, and Punk that I’ve ever heard. Check them out if you’re looking for something new and amazing to listen to.
Aside from that, shoutouts to our music teachers, our religious preachers, and the wonderful creatures who love our music. Also, we’re not religious, but we do like wordplay.
