Remix This! An Interview With KeysNKrates

By Liem Vu

KeysNKrates are hardly conventional. In a short but impressive three years since their formation in the summer of 2007, the team of turntablist Jr. Flo, keyboardist Matisse Francois and drummer Adam Tune have toured endlessly to deliver their mantra of delivering a mind-blowing and unforgettable live-remixing experience.

With a sonic soundscape that spans from Hip-Hop to Dance to House genres, they have become musical surgeons, dissecting and reassembling the rhythmic and anthemic tunes that have come to define several genres over the past decade. They have remixed tunes from Talib Kweli, Aaliyah, Jay-Z and Kanye West to the delight of their fans but its only with their Snoop Dog remix on YouTube (which has reached over 18,000 views) that truly reveals the rapidly expanding realm of the live remix.

With a musical marriage of turntablism, live instrumentation, and keyboards, KeysNKrates have bypassed the shadow of mash-up musician Gregg Michael Gillis aka Girl Talk (who has built a lucrative and controversial career of remixing) by not only working in the live remix genre but also laying the groundwork for it.

“[The live remixing scene] still doesn’t exist except for us,” says Jr Flo. “Legitimately, we are the only ones really doing the live remixing…[Girl Talk] and other artists are on [laptops] and I guess you could call that live remixing but our interpretation of live remixing is using actual instruments and incorporating that into live sampling and turntablism. It is a more analog experience where Girl Talk is more of a digital experience.”

For the trio, live-remixing is an opportunity to demonstrate the type of analog musicianship that they see as void within the current music scene.

“It’s great in terms of [the fact that] we stand out a lot but it makes it difficult because we are carving out the blueprint as we go along but it is also a lot of fun,” explains Jr Flo.

In a process that can be equated as a musical playground, the trio usually starts with a sample from Flo whereby they will experiment with layers of keyboard and percussion, eventually leading to a track that may very well transcend genre borders.

“It’s all based on what kind of vibe we’re going to take it, like taking a hip-hop sample and making it Dance or House. It starts with a sample,” Tune describes.

Their first gig mirrored their musical identity, as their first gig in a small sold-out Toronto venue ultimately leading to widespread buzz without any explicit efforts at promotion.

“You know what I think was really cool was going into the first gig [after rehearsing for 6 months],” Tune explains. “To go in there and in the first minute, see that people were digging it and understanding what we were doing, that was really rewarding.”

While taking their craft seriously, they are not one to take themselves too seriously as their professional demure temporarily breaks down into a moment of jovial laughter when asked about a blog entry that was posted following a gig at Wrongbar in Toronto explaining how “playing a show is like living in a dream.”

In the midst of a laughing fit, Jr Flo noted that only Francois would “make a comment like that…and only [he] would remember making it.”

While gigs at venues like Wrongbar with an equally enthusiastic crowd may imply that a band is “making it,” Tune notes that they have yet to plateau let alone stop to reminisce.

“We never look at it like we’re making it. We’re always happy with whatever happened but we’re always trying to get to the next step. We’re not really in the reflective stage yet because we’re trying to progress ourselves musically, gain more fans and [play] bigger stages.”

Recently, the group drove 28 hours from Toronto to Texas to play at SXSW where they played three different shows. As the Mecca for music, Tune noted that it was a unique experience because “most people who come to your shows aren’t necessarily from Texas but they come from all over the place.”

While SXSW may be seen as an opportunity for indie acts to obtain coveted record deals, Matisse explains that the nature of their craft have created a separate sort of musical path that is less about the capital investments and more about being musical Vikings.

“We’re open to [record deals] but it’s not something we’re focusing on right off the bat because what we’re doing doesn’t quite line up as nicely with a label as per se, a more regularly packaged artist. Our focus is getting more and more shows and touring as much as we can and getting out a mixtape. We kind of think those kinds of things will come along as our name comes up and gets bigger. We’ll take it day by day and each thing that comes across our plate.”

“We’re definitely an unconventional act,” Jr Flo adds. “If we do sign something, whether it is a record deal or some weird 360 deal, it’s probably going to be pretty unconventional just because of the nature of what we do.”

The remix/mash-up scene continues to be an underground and at best, a genre with limited commercial success but for KeysNKrates, they are continuing to push the envelope as they are experimenting with original music.

“There’s gonna be some hurdles but we’re ready for it,” says Flo.