LuckyMe meets Grizzly in a new collaboration.
Atlanta’s Druture and Toronto’s Ango have come together as LYK (“Let You Know”) to search for the intersection of regional rap, K-pop and electro-house, crafting big, brash hybrids that are more than just “trap EDM.”
Their debut offering, the free LEAK EP, contains four such tracks — all rough-edged bass, dive-bombing Godzilla vs. Mothra synths and hypnotic melodies.
The EP is available to stream below, for download on their website and for purchase on iTunes. We caught up with the duo about their origins, their approach and what’s next for LYK. Also, check out their candy-exploding video for ‘See What I Can Do’ (which Ango directed).
How’d you guys first connect?
Ango: Drew and our friend JG had Watch the Throne tickets, but Drew’s Canadian visa expired and he had to go back to the states, so I ended up getting his ticket. That started a long virtual friendship of sharing music and talking about comics and movies and geek shit. Then I did a remix for his Grizzly 12″ and it was fun and easy so we talked about teaming up on some production for a couple of rappers we were working with, but our influences were broader than just rap and it felt like some of the material could stand alone, so we decided to put the LYK stamp on it and release some records ourselves.
Druture: I knew of Andrew from the local scene and we had mutual friends in Jacques Greene, Seb Diamond and a bunch of other cats. I really looked up to him as a musician, especially after seeing some of his live stuff, and hearing the stuff from the year he went to RBMA. His LuckyMe 12” was a huge inspiration to me at the time. So we were always acquaintances, but it wasn’t until the unfortunate missing of Watch The Throne that we struck up a friendship that’s been going for years now.
How does your approach to LYK differ from your solo work?
Ango: The Ango stuff is more of an insular, emotional process, but our relationship is fueled by a lot of big colorful rap records and K-Pop and electro and visceral fun. It’s a decided effort for me to try and do something that doesn’t take itself so seriously.
Druture: Ango has a much better ear for melodies than I do, generally I build things from the drums up, and spend a lot of time focused on the groove of things. These tracks are a lot more of a “see what works” approach where there’s no set formula — it’s just a real experiment taking all of the things we love about synth-soaked regional rap, K-Pop, that excitement from the initial electro wave a few years back, and the neon side of the internet.
“Our relationship is fueled by big colorful rap records, K-Pop, electro and visceral fun.”Ango
That song you produced for Tommy Genesis is excellent – what other artists are you looking to work with?
Ango: We’d love to do more stuff with Tommy Genesis or Awful Records. We did a remix for a CL track and would love to do something original with her. I have a record I’ve been producing for about a year that’s really exciting to us that we can’t wait to share. I’m still doing a bunch of vocals myself and learning from other producers like Christian Andersen (Graze, XI, Crushfield), Take (Sweatson Klank), Mischa “Book” Chillak, Machinedrum, Prison Garde. Jason Voltaire collaborated with me on the LYK artwork.
Druture: I’ve been hearing great stuff from Awful Records for a minute now, being down here in Atlanta. We’re definitely working with a few cool names from Chicago, that we can’t speak on yet, but if you look at some past Druture projects you could make a few educated guesses. We’re open to working with any artist with talent, especially those that have an exciting energy that they bring to the table — something out of left-field is always a cool challenge.
We’re about halfway through the year – what are you each most looking forward to, outside of music?
Ango: I’m opening a studio in Toronto this week, a process which has been all-encompassing over the past six months, and I’m looking forward to sharing all the stuff we’re doing out here. Other than that, Kanye, Star Wars, Turbo Kid, Crushfield, Koreless’ record, Jacques Greene’s plans, Prison Garde’s record that I worked on with him last summer, anything/everything from the JETS boys and Ultramajic, Rose & Son’s second location.
Druture: I’ve been working on a bunch of scripting and pitching for comic books, a medium which Andrew and I both have a love for, and in a way our music has a bit of that visceral kick infused in it, if even subconsciously. I’m currently working on a series for American Gothic Press. They’re a new publishing imprint under Famous Monsters of Filmland, a magazine that inspired guys like JJ Abrams, Guillermo Del Torro, George Lucas, Spielberg and many others to go into film.
Music-wise I get so caught up in the mixtape circuit that I forget to look at the horizon, but Yeezus season is approaching, and I can’t wait to hear what comes out of that camp next — it will kind of bring Andrew and my relationship full circle too, as we’ll get to geek out over a new Kanye record.
