Contributing Writer
Hey KØNDE (SNS), how is all with you and how has your summer been?
I’m really good, thanks. It’s been a pretty intense summer, but in a good way. A lot of time in the studio, a lot of music, working on the label and preparing the next releases. I feel like I’m at a point where everything is starting to come together, both with my own project and with Sorry Not Sorry.
Your new single “Put It To Work” is a pretty direct title. What does “putting it to work” mean to you right now, in the studio, in your career, and outside of music?
For me, “Put It To Work” is about action. You can have ideas, plans and ambition, but at some point you have to stop talking and put everything into motion. That’s how I’m approaching the studio and my career right now: working consistently, making decisions and pushing things forward. And outside of music, I think it’s exactly the same. If you want something to happen, you have to put the work in.
There’s something very physical about the title. When you made this track, were you thinking about a particular kind of dancefloor reaction?
Definitely bodies moving. I wasn’t really thinking about a big hands-in-the-air moment. I wanted that feeling where the groove takes control of the dancefloor and people start moving almost without thinking about it. That’s what I love about Tech House: when the drums, bass and groove lock together properly, you don’t need to force the reaction. The body understands it before the mind does.
What was the first element of the track that made you think, “Okay, this one has something”?
The groove. For me, everything starts there. Once I had the drums and bass working together, I immediately felt there was something special in it. Then the vocal gave the track its identity and attitude. From that point, it became more about knowing what not to add than adding more elements.
How important is attitude to your music?
For me, it’s essential. You can have perfect production, great drums, a huge bassline and technically everything can be right, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the record has personality. It needs attitude. There has to be something that makes you recognise it, remember it or feel something from it. I’d rather have something slightly raw with character than something technically perfect that says nothing.
There’s a fine line between a track being hypnotic and becoming repetitive. How do you keep a groove evolving without losing the simplicity that makes it work?
Small changes. I don’t think you need to introduce something completely new every 16 bars to keep people interested. Sometimes a small percussion change, removing something for a few bars, playing with the vocal or creating a little tension is enough. The challenge is keeping the groove alive without destroying the reason it worked in the first place. Simplicity is very important to me.
Imagine you could hear “Put It To Work” for the first time again, but only once, on a huge sound system at 4am. Where would you want that moment to happen?
Ibiza, without question. 4am, a proper club, a serious sound system and a dancefloor completely locked into the track. Ibiza has been a very important part of my musical life, so for me that would be the perfect place.
You’re also running your own label, Sorry Not Sorry Records. What’s the ethos right now for the label?
Sorry Not Sorry is about releasing music we genuinely believe in. We don’t want to follow every trend or release something just because a certain sound happens to be working at that moment. We’re looking for groove, personality and quality.
Tech House is at the centre of what we do, with influences from Minimal, Deep Tech and House, but the most important thing is that every record has character. We’ve always said that we make music for smart ears, and for people who really listen to music and appreciate the details.
I want to reach a point where someone hears a track and understands why it belongs on Sorry Not Sorry before they even see the name of the label.
Do you have plans for label events and merch further down the line?
Absolutely. Sorry Not Sorry was never intended to exist only as a place to release music. The idea is to build a complete identity around the label. Events are definitely part of that vision, especially in Ibiza, and merch is something we want to develop as well. But I don’t want to rush it. When we do something, it has to make sense and it has to feel genuinely SNS.
What’s something people might misunderstand about your sound if they only heard one or two of your records?
Maybe that they can define my sound too quickly. Tech House is my foundation, but I listen to and take inspiration from a lot of different music. I like Minimal and Deep Tech, House, Afro influences and older music as well. For me, it’s more about groove, personality and what the music makes me feel than staying inside one specific box.
What are you currently chasing that you haven’t quite managed to capture in a track yet?
That record that feels completely simple but at the same time is impossible to ignore. A lot of the tracks I admire most sound obvious after you hear them, almost like they were always supposed to exist, but achieving that kind of simplicity is incredibly difficult. I’m always chasing that combination of groove, personality and one idea that people remember immediately.
What’s next for both you and the label for the rest of the year?
Right now, the main focus is “Put It To Work”, and after that there’s already a lot of new music on the way. I’ve been working on several new records and collaborations while at the same time building the next phase of Sorry Not Sorry.
The goal for the rest of the year is simple: keep releasing strong music, keep growing the label naturally and continue developing the KØNDE (SNS) sound. This is really just the beginning.
KØNDE (SNS) “Put It To Work” is coming out on Sorry Not Sorry Records
Order it here
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