SAAND
What started out as a school project is now one of the greatest and most respectable media sources for electronic music — Deep House Amsterdam. Kimou initially began DHA as a SoundCloud channel for him and his mates to spread the music they love; but with consistency and determination, in a mere 4 years Kimou and company have solidified Deep House Amsterdam as a major player in the industry. It’s a truly inspiring story to watch unfold. Kimou is undoubtedly a superhero in the MI4L Book of Love! We’re pleased to host an exclusive mix from Kimou and proud to add him to the Hometown Heroes roster. Enjoy, Lovers!
Hometown Heroes: Kimou from Amsterdam
* CLICK HERE if you do not see the SoundCloud player.
Connect with Kimou:
SoundCloud
Facebook
Interview with Kimou:
How did you get mixed up in this crazy world of electronic music?
After I got an injury from playing football, which didn’t allow me to play anymore, I had to find another hobby. After visiting Sonar in 2011 I knew I wanted to do something in music. I started dj’ing with a friend of mine and got more and more involved in it. That resulted in the start of Deep House Amsterdam and when I had to start a company for a school project I started thinking about DHA more as a business and with all the positive feedback I really started to love it and it grew very quickly. I was also very inspired by you guys actually, really dig what you guys have put up and you see the love and care that goes into it all!
What is it about electronic music that has been putting it at the forefront of mainstream as of late?
Back in the days it was only the radio you had to listen to music if you weren’t old enough to discover it by yourself by going to parties. Also your parents played a part in this, but it was basically what they and the radio let you listen to. Nowadays the discovery process to find music is a lot easier with the internet around and all platforms popping up. This speeds up the process in your musical journey to finding your sound. I started off to listen to trance and electro house(yes also the electro house that I now really don’t like). But the process led me to the music I love today, and that is the beauty of it. Because of this I think EDM is an in-betweenprocess for a lot of people. For this reason you see that the rise of quality electronic music is appreciated by a much wider audience nowadays. This goes hand in hand with a commercial scene that arises around it.
Can you tell us a little about Deep House Amsterdam and what’s your message behind it?
It started out 3 years ago just as a Soundcloud channel where we uploaded mixes from ourselves and friends. Just music that we liked and from artists we supported. It got picked up and started growing quickly. Later the rest followed what actually made DHA an online music magazine. I think it worked as we uploaded consistently and there was a clear line in our musical vision. We do make a sidestep every once in a while, but I think that’s good. Also we feel the need of educating people with showing people where it is all coming from. For this reason we will start our legends series soon, with a few of the artists that made this all possible. What I enjoy most to see, is how many people from all over the world listen to our channel. We literally have followers from every country in the world, and that makes me proud. Music doesn’t judge and brings people together. If we can help a bit in that process then that is what we do this for.
Who is one artist you have not put out a podcast from yet that you would love to?
We have a few on our shortlist that we really like to showcase, but apart from the big names like Maceo Plex, Solomun, Jamie Jones and Dixon we’d really like Gerd Janson, DJ Harvey and The Black Madonna to do one as well. There are plenty more on our list, and they’ll hopefully follow soon enough to do one for us 🙂
Besides “Deep House” what other genres and music do you vibe on?
I actually enjoy a lot of different genres, from jazz to rock, to pop, to classical and hip-hop. Even trance, but only the quality trance from back in the days. I grew up on trance actually. My dad used to blast out old CD’s from Sensation, when the music was still good.. It’s just about my mood and how unique the sound is for every genre. Within all of these genres their is quality music and shit music. You have to pick up those pearls just like we are trying to do with DHA.
Favorite tune at the moment?
That has to be ‘Lord of The Isles – Greane‘. There is so much energy in that track. The melody and different elements make this an epic mayhem track. But my favorite closing track is ‘LCD Soundsystem – You Wanted A Hit (Gabe Bootleg)’. When I played that track at BAUM in Colombia the people lost it. Never experienced something like that.
What can we expect from you and DHA in the coming year?
We are working on a lot of things at the moment. We just launched in Ibiza and more cities will be added over the next few months. The interest for ‘deep house’ grows in all different parts of the world as we notice that by our global difference in visitors. But what you can also expect is us hosting stages and events all over the world. We can already say that we’ll hit the west coast of the USA soon, so keep an eye open for that!
Can you tell us a little about this mix?
I went for a melodic touch in this one with tracks from Roman Flugel, Lauer, Seb Wildblood, Prins Thomas and Kasper Bjorke. A lot is still to come out, so something to look out for if you dig it! I’m really happy with the result and think it resulted in a nice trip. Hope you guys enjoy it just as much 🙂