KEENO

Keeno talks albums, achieving big at a young age and his ones to watch for this year ahead of his appearance at Hospitality’s Croatian festival debut

Last year you released your third album on Med School ‘All The Shimmering Things’. How would you describe your progress?

Quick – I’m already piling up dubs…I’ve been collaborating a lot lately which has really boosted creativity levels.

Having accomplished all of this under your belt at just 24, what have been the Highlights in your career so far and were there any challenges you had to face?

The biggest challenge has been with myself. I work hard and I have made real progress but when you spend much of your time working alone, it becomes difficult to separate “alias” from “self” (at least in my experience). My life experiences are my inspiration – they drive those creative connections and get those synapses firing. On top of that, being sat down (either travelling or writing) a lot as a DJ/producer is not conducive to good spine health! It’s a matter of bad habits accumulating over time so it’s has taken twice as long to undo those postural/behavioural habits that kept me inside so much. Overall, my productivity has increased as the time spent writing/working is now focused and fun as opposed to tiresome and long. I’ve found the better I get at looking after myself, the faster my ideas develop. Some highlights for me have been playing b2b with Etherwood on the mainstage at Brixton Academy, playing in South Korea (!), releasing 100 tunes in 6 years and having each of my LPs go in for vinyl repress.

There are so many drum and bass artists out there at the moment, whose music inspired you into producing and who would you say to look out for in 2018?

There are too many artists to list but really, the music of Bristol is rubbing off on me the most lately. Here, the producers are using the classic jungle breaks and updating them so they sound super crisp yet groovy. It’s adding musicality back into the mix – something which I felt ebbed a few years back in the scene. Also, I’ve been listening to more Jazz lately which is making me itch to learn more harmony techniques.

On that note, your heading to the Croatian debut of Hospitality On The Beach in July, what can we expect to hear from you out there?

Hopefully, almost an hour of entirely new material/VIPs…

Who are you most looking forward to seeing perform ‘On The Beach’?

Calibre b2b dBridge, Whiney & Inja, LAOS, S.P.Y Jungle Set… the list goes on.

With 2018 in full swing, what are you most excited about, and is there anything new to know about?

At the moment, I’m at the point where writing music is priority number one. I just have the desire to create new music so I’m not going to ignore it. There’s a lot of plans I’d like to share with you but I’ll have to wait until the timing is right. In the mean time, you can always tune into my “Bristol Mix Sessions” if you’re itching for new music from me.

Hospitality on the Beach 12-15 July in The Garden Tisno