The more I learn about talented DJs and listen to their music, the more I respect them. Kraak & Smaak in its infancy was a DJ firm in the early nineties. Now, in 2007 they are a bona fide powerhouse Electronica group that has spread its infectious grooves across several continents.

The three core members Mark Kneppers, Wim Plug, and Oscar de Jong are friends that share the same expansive tastes and ideas in music. Above all, they seem to connect on the notion that an artist should remain open to use, bend, and manipulate genres to create his own music as he so chooses. To be confined to one genre or style is an anathema for these Disciples of Breakbeats.

One can surmise that one impetus for their broad approach to music is their years of DJing - or in the case of Oscar who is not a DJ, involvement in and around the DJ culture. Owning 60,000 plus albums between them, Mark and Wim have found it easy to communicate with Oscar, who from his studies as a keyboardist at a European conservatory, is able to translate their ideas for compositions and make them work in the traditional sense. It’s a good marriage.

Since seeing Kraak & Smaak a few months ago and taking in more of their music, it’s obvious that Kraak & Smaak take their art seriously. As DJs and producers, they thoroughly educate themselves to spin many different types of music to a broad range of demos. As musicians and composers, they take you on a cultural, musical journey. The result has you frolicking barefoot through the Garden of Aural Delights that includes Breakbeat, House, Latin House, Salsa Jazz, Big Beat and New School Funk on their full-length debut ‘Boogie Angst’. Get the CD and give your ears a taste and your feet a treat.

Let Kraak & Smaak seduce you through their love of the dance floor. They communicate through dance music’s myriad styles because dance music is pure; it’s the truth because it doesn’t lie. Sit back and let them tell you why.

Ooops, did I just rhyme?

Oh, my…

Cazembe (LA2DAY) – How did you guys get together?

Oscar (Kraak & Smaak) – Mark and Wim have known each other for a long time – almost 20 years. They DJ’d together a lot. About four years ago I met them and we hooked up.

Mark (Kraak & Smaak) – I had just moved out of a studio with some people that I had been playing with. I met Oscar and he said that he had a studio, and then Wim and we all hooked up. It was a cool coincidence.

Cazembe – What year was this?

Mark – 2003 or so.

Cazembe – Who came up with the name Kraak & Smaak?

Wim (Kraak & Smaak) – It was the name of my DJ firm. I used to have the name as a header when I would send our demos around to record companies. I already had a couple names when we hooked up with Jalapeno Records, but when they saw the name they liked it and wanted to use it. We said sure and didn’t even have to think about it.

Cazembe – And does it mean anything?

Oscar – Yes, it’s an expression that means “crunchy and tasty” or “popping” after the first bite, but it’s used in the negative sense. If something is not happening, or is not popping you would say ‘…it has no kraak & smaak”.

Cazembe – Got it. I like that. Aside from Oscar, you have established yourselves as DJs in your own right, but when you record for the album, do you bring in other musicians to play the instruments?

Oscar – No.

Cazembe – So, you play and record them all yourselves?

Mark – Yes.

Cazembe - I’ve noticed that there is a lot of soul in your music, what are some of your influences for forming the sound for Kraak & Smaak?

Mark – It’s a wide range… from Jazz, Funk, Soul, a lot of Breakbeats, Hip-Hop…

Oscar – These guys [Mark & Wim] are DJs and between the two of them they have over 60,000 records.

Cazembe – Are you serious!? That many? Really 60,000?

Laughter

Oscar – It’s crazy…

Wim – Since the time we started DJing we’ve been collecting all types of music… Black music, White music…

Mark – Yellow music, Purple music…

Laughter

Cazembe – In terms of American Black music, Soul music, what were some of the first things that you heard that really struck you?

Oscar – For me it was P-Funk.

Wim – For me it was Hip-Hop and the sampling. When I first heard it I was like, “Wow. Where did this come from?”

Mark – For me it was Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy…

Oscar – Yeah, when I was twelve it was like Public Enemy, Public Enemy, Public Enemy…

Mark – Yeah… it was also Al Green, Gil Scott-Heron, Bill Withers…

Cazembe – Bill Withers, alright… Did you find that what you guys liked was different than what other people were listening to at the time in Holland, or was everyone into that as well?

Wim – Everyone was sort of into Trance music at the time.

Mark – That’s right. Trance and Rock. But, we also had a lot of friends around us that were listening to the same thing.

Wim – When we started producing we realized that we had an open book and could put all of this stuff out.

Mark – Because we all had similar interests we all educated ourselves in much the same way. We started out with New Wave, then experimental things, then Electro, House, Acid Jazz, Hip Hop, Drum & Bass, Techno, Breakbeat… Breakbeat is the thing that comes up the most in our music I think.

Oscar – Yup.

Cazembe – Did Industrial music influence you at all?

Wim – Front 242?

Cazembe – Exactly. Ministry… Skinny Puppy…

Mark – Yeah! Coil… Psychic TV…

Oscar – Yeah, we’re all on the same page with that.

Cazembe – Who do you admire in today’s music scene?

Wim – Madlib.

Cazembe – Madlib! Yes!

Mark – Henrik Schwarz...

Cazembe – You know, I was just telling Marlon that your ‘No Sun In the Sky’ remix by Henrik Schwarz is incredible. Henrik Schwarz is ridiculous. I’m a huge fan.

Oscar – We admire him as well…

Mark – We also listen to Booka Shade, Trentemoller, also… the electronic stuff… we love it.

Cazembe – What do you all think of Björk?

Mark – Good.

Cazembe – What would you say is the philosophy behind your music?

Oscar – The Breakbeats are there, but underneath it’s about having fun and we are sure to always have humor.

Mark – We are not narrow minded in the way we think about music. We are not purists, not at all. But, we know a lot of styles of music.

Oscar – We keep ourselves open to go into other styles of music. The next CD may be very different.

Cazembe – So, you may go into another direction on your next album?

Oscar – We’ll see. We get together and make something and say if it’s good, it’s good, or if it’s shit, it’s shit.

Mark – Normally we get together about 30 tracks and then compile about twelve from that to use as the album.

Oscar – We sometimes take the songs and use them as DJs to test them out or we put them away for a year and then come back to them to see if they still work. A lot of the songs on the first album had been around for three years.

Mark – On the other hand, there is a difference in composing tracks for a twelve-inch or the dancefloor as opposed to composing for an album. For the dancefloor tracks can be a lot harder. For an album you can go deeper or more downtempo.

Cazembe – How do you guys work? Who lays down the beats, the keyboards?

Oscar – Wim and Mark put together parts of songs through samples and records that they think may work together and they give it to me to work in the studio. We are all three producers, but I’m more of the…

Cazembe – Composer?

Oscar – Yes.

Wim – And then through the process we give each other feedback.

Cazembe – What software do you use?

Oscar – The computer we use is an Atari, with a sampler.

Cazembe – Wow.

Oscar – We don’t really use a lot of software. I’ve heard some software keyboard programs and the real ones sounds ten times better. We use real keyboards… Moog… Oberheim… Clavinet… Rhodes… Hammond… Waldorf… we have a lot of keyboards. They are so different than the software.

Mark – Live we use Clavinet, Rhodes…

Marlon (LA2DAY) – How big is the band?

Oscar – We have a drummer, bass player, Wim and Mark DJ, a female singer…

Cazembe – And you’re on the keyboards?

Oscar – Yup. And the drummer sings while he’s drumming or he comes to the mic.

Cazembe – What is your favorite remix that you’ve done so far?

Oscar – That’s tough. The one for Mark Rae ‘Medicine’.

Cazembe – Another great mix. What are some of the differences that you’ve seen from performing here and in Europe?

Wim – That’s like two different subjects.

Oscar – Well, you’re asking questions about this music. In Holland, unless it’s in the underground scene, they don’t know. We’ve never had an interviewer know about Henrik Schwarz. Also, here the crewmembers are helping us!

Wim – There is also an enthusiasm for this music here that you sometimes don’t find in Europe.

Cazembe – How is your following in Europe? Is it big?

Wim – It’s getting bigger.

Cazembe – What are some of the differences here compared to Europe right now in terms of the music scene?

Wim – Everything is very Minimal and Techno right now – very formulaic. It’s showing up in the House and Electro scenes.

Cazembe – Here in the States there tends to be the perception that Europe is a couple of years ahead in terms of musical progression, expression and vision. Is that the case or is it a myth?

Mark – It does seem like dance music is not so big here in the States. We did a show at one of the clubs here on the West Coast and the promoter never heard of Faithless.

Cazembe – Are you serious?

Mark – He never heard of them.

Marlon – Well, we’ve played your tracks to some people here without saying what it is and the response has been really good. It goes down really well.

Oscar – That’s one good thing about dance music – people never lie. We’ve played new songs that we are trying out in our DJ sets and if after a minute or so people are leaving, the song is not working. People don’t lie; if they can’t dance to it, they can’t dance to it. If you play the same song to your girlfriend in your room and you ask her does she like it she’s not going to say “No”.

Mark – Dance music is pure.

Cazembe – I really like that. That’s the first time I’ve heard dance music explained in that way and it makes sense.

Wim – If it doesn’t work we can always go back to the studio and change things.

Cazembe – Speaking of that, what lies in the future for Kraak & Smaak?

Wim – World domination.

Laughter

Oscar – A remix CD of the mixes we’ve done for other people. More remixes for other people. Working on another CD of our own. In all we did 120 concerts last year.

Wim – Here, it looks like people are more into it and connected. It feels good to have support here after coming from Holland where we have had to work so hard to get it.

Mark – In Europe they tend to be more critical.

Cazembe – What advice can you give for the up and coming electronic musician?

Wim – Develop you own music.

Oscar – Yeah, have your own style and don’t go too much into what’s happening right now. Do what you like.

Mark – We listen to a lot of different stuff, but at the end of the day do your own stuff. Keep on moving.

Keep on moving. Keep progressing. Keep pushing. Since this interview Kraak & Smaak has opened for the group Faithless. Kraak & Smaak have also compiled their remixes of other artists for their album ‘The Remix Sessions’, a double disc and multi-vinyl collection of their top mixes prior to 2007 – a MUST for fans of quality Electronica.

The future is bright for one of the fastest rising stars in Electronica today. And, as they lay down their legacy, one thing is for sure – they’ll do it their way.

That’s the truth.

By Cazembe Abena

Kraak & Smaak

Genre(s): Electronica, Breakbeat, Trip-Hop, New School Funk, House

Members: Mark Kneppers (DJ/Producer), Wim Plug (DJ/Producer), Oscar de Jong (Keyboards/Producer)

Country: Leiden, The Netherlands

Discography

Boogie Angst / Quango Records (US) (2006) and Jalapeno Records (Worldwide) (2006)

Be sure to catch the Kraak & Smaak DJ Tour in LA! (Check back to the LA2DAY Calender for details)

8/5/07 The Standard Hotel (Downtown) 550 S. Flower St. LA 90071 12p – 8pm
8/9/07 Oliver Peoples, 8642 West Sunset Blvd LA 90069 7:30pm – 10pm

See you there!

www.kraaksmaak.com

www.quango.com

Go to the LA2DAY March Kraak & Smaak concert review here.

Go to the LA2DAY Ro Krom interview here.