Sitting down with Atwood Journal from his countryside residence in England, singer, producer, and now DJ Elderbrook tells us concerning the life he’s lived and the thrilling new journey he’s on.

Stream: “Chill Mixes” – Elderbrook

Okaynown for his highly effective on-stage voice and masterful sampling of distinctive sounds into his productions, Elderbrook has been leveling up his artistry for his whole profession.

Incorporating a plethora of various genres, kinds, tempos, and collaborations right into a storied profession has garnered Elderbrook a Grammy Nomination for his hit music, “Cola” with fellow producer Camelphat.

Alexander Kotz, the person behind the identify Elderbrook, began his profession experimenting with a wide range of genres like soul and gospel, hip-hop, acoustic folks, indie rock and extra. His willingness to adapt to new genres and incorporate dwell instrumentals like guitar, drums, and piano, together with shaping his voice to suit the vibe of the particular music is what makes Kotz such a dynamic artist.

“I’ve tried all several types of music, and it simply so occurred that the digital one sort of simply caught. I acquired into digital music by making hip hop beats and like reaching out to native rappers to see in the event that they’d collaborate.”

Kotz tells Atwood about one specific style that he loves that was a little bit of a shock.

“I’m secretly tremendous into pop nation, like high 40 nation, so Jordan Davis and stuff like that. I can’t actually keep in mind the names, I at all times simply placed on playlists. However yeah, that’s my secret love… Like everybody else, I take heed to every part from hip hop to peaceable piano music, however yeah, what persons are shocked at is my love of high 40 nation.”

This drive for creation has led to world headlining excursions, together with current stops at Bonnaroo and Coachella. Kotz shares about his ideas on the completely different settings he’s performed at, from small golf equipment in Ibiza to world pageant levels.

“I assume that they’re actually good in several methods. Festivals will be wonderful while you’ve acquired an enormous stage, and everybody reveals up. But in addition, festivals will be actually tough when you will have the large stage and no person reveals up which you realize, prefer it occurs,” he chuckled. “So yeah, it’s wonderful to be outdoors and like everybody’s tenting and everybody’s getting tousled or no matter, and that’s enjoyable. However just like the smaller golf equipment, and it additionally is dependent upon the town as nicely, the smaller golf equipment will be tremendous enjoyable when it’s actually sweaty and you then simply play for an additional hour simply because the vibe is there. So yeah, they’ve their completely different perks.”

Kotz is famend amongst the edm circles for being a gifted multi-instrumental musician and producer. Lately, nonetheless, he has a newfound love for DJing.

“I’ll be doing it for a yr now. I’ve been doing the identical reveals, however now I’d go and do a DJ set afterwards, or it means I can play in Vegas and Ibiza and stuff like that. And so yeah, it’s simply an additional enjoyable little factor I can do. And a pleasant excuse to you realize, go to Vegas, or go to Ibiza,” he chuckled.

When requested about his favourite metropolis to check out his DJ abilities, Kotz explains, “I feel crowd sensible, and I at all times say this, however it’s Poland, Warsaw particularly. There’s only a completely different sort of power over there. You realize, in Jap Europe, everybody simply sort of goes a little bit bit extra loopy.”

One of many largest developments on this planet of EDM is back-to-back units, and as a brand new DJ, Kotz advised us about his first back-to-back expertise with fellow DJ Hayden James.

“So, we did that at Coachella this yr. I had a set, and he was already there similar to hanging out. So, I mentioned, ‘Hey, you bought your USB?’ He did have his USB. So yeah, we went back-to-back on the stage the place folks do cool stuff, which I forgot what it was referred to as.”

He was referring to the notorious “Do Lab” of Coachella, the place folks do, the truth is, showcase some fairly cool stuff at.

“So, we did that for an hour, hour and a half and that was enjoyable. That was the primary time I ever went back-to-back DJing with somebody, which was, I wouldn’t say scary, however as a result of I’m pretty new to DJing I used to be sort of like you realize, planning my units a bit. So, to have another person actually like throwing it off and attempting to determine it out, however that sort of made me suppose and it gave me extra confidence. I assumed, ‘yeah, I’m actually like a correct DJ now.’ So now I’m probably not planning, I’m simply sort of vibing it out, which is good… You don’t should do any vocal warmups. You possibly can have a few drinks. It’s simply fairly enjoyable.”

His not too long ago launched album, Little Love, is an ode to a brand new chapter within the gifted singer’s life.

Kotz had develop into a brand new father and needed to discover the distinctive relationship between father and little one. The album is retrospective and real, whereas coping with honest attributes of fatherhood. There’s a magic in with the ability to produce high-tempo, dance-centric songs set to such a private and significant subject.

“Yeah, so since my first album, I grew to become a father, twice. So, I’ve acquired two youngsters. And that’s the place the identify ‘Little Love’ comes from. You realize, they’re little, they’re youngsters. So yeah, I assume it’s all about what meaning for me and sort of like introspectively trying extra at greater image stuff like specializing in you realize, simply greater image stuff within the songs.”

Following up on his household, Kotz says he tries to convey them together with him every time he can.

“Nicely, the oldest one is 2 and a half so she’s simply approach too younger to remain up late sufficient. However all of us went to Coachella collectively, for instance. She noticed me play Coachella on the large display screen, which was a cool factor… I imply, once more, it was too sizzling for the infants as a result of it’s in the midst of the desert, however it was actually good. They acquired to see me on stage which is very nice. We really went on tour as a complete household, we had like a crew bus, however we additionally had a household bus as we did the entire of the US. For a month and a half we had two infants on a tour bus which was fairly wonderful. It was fairly tough, however it was additionally wonderful.”

Talking on the one “Speak It Over,” from the brand new album, Kotz tells us about his collaborator on the music, Brazilian DJ Classic Tradition, and what it was like making the hit file.

“It was really a very very long time in the past. Lukas, of Classic Tradition, reached out as a result of we’ve been speaking about some stuff earlier than. He was really the person who advised me to start out DJing once I performed Lollapalooza.”

Chuckling about their healthful interplay, “We bumped into one another, it was the primary time we correctly met, and he mentioned you must DJ and I used to be like, ‘okay, I’ll.’ However anyway, we saved on chatting. And, yeah, he despatched me some stuff and this one sort of felt prefer it was the precise one, it’s one thing that I might write to. After which we simply did it forwards and backwards, as a result of clearly we’re each touring a lot. We despatched it forwards and backwards on WhatsApp till it sounded good after which we went in and actually completed it. However yeah, I’m certain I’ll work with him once more sooner or later.”

Elderbrook tells us a little bit about considered one of his newest initiatives, which comes within the type of a brand new single titled “Good Life.”

“’Good Life’ is me and somebody referred to as Jake, who I labored lots on my first album with, he’s a fantastic producer and he’s accomplished so many massive issues. However yeah, it’s similar to an avenue for me to, such as you talked about earlier than, do extra of the ‘indie stuff’ that I got here from. I’ve been doing Elderbook for some time. That’s not going wherever. Nevertheless it’s simply one other avenue to discover some extra cool stuff.”

Elderbrook isn’t going wherever, however Kotz is bound to be always looking out for extra areas to study from, and to stage up his sound. With being a brand new father, and honing his new craft of DJing, there may be plenty of pleasure sooner or later from Kotz and his fixed inventive and private evolution.

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