Donkong may not be a household name just yet, but this is one innovative bass duo who you can bet are about to blow up the scene with their unique brand of moombahton/dance-hall madness.
Taking influences from a wide range of genres and never ones to shy away from showcasing an experimental edge, Donkong are a duo whose music is as forward-thinking as it is dance-floor ready.
After the release of their brand new “No Boy” EP dropping on RNFR Recordings this month, we grab the Germany-based producers for a quick chat.
T.H.E – Congratulations on the new music, guys! It’s sounding great. How does it feel to finally be releasing your “No Boy” EP on RNFR Recordings?
THOMAS – It feels like giving birth, exactly like giving birth and as two guys we can absolutely tell how it feels to give birth. It doesn’t hurt as much as everybody says, but in the end we all have to cry. That’s the nature of life. We’re very happy indeed and RNFR did a great job pulling it out of our …
JOE – … back catalog.
T.H.E – How would you describe the sound from this EP? You’re gaining a reputation for your interesting combination of moombahton, dance-hall, experimental bass and more.
JOE – I guess we’re known to experiment with different tempos and styles and these two tracks are something we haven’t done before. Still they are very close to what we’re aiming for in general: A mixture of electronic and urban music with as much bass as needed – a lot. We hope people enjoy the approach.
T.H.E – Tell us a bit about the collaborations on the EP. How did you come to work with the artists featuring on the tracks?
THOMAS – Feral was sort of an online date. She worked with friends of us called Symbiz. That’s how we heard of her the first time. Lexie is also featured on the Smash Hifi Album, which we co-produced. After playing her some beats during one of the legendary BBQs of Marten Hørger, we ended up working together. Zorro is a very good friend and studio mate. He’s seriously underrated.
T.H.E – If you could work with any artist, who would it be and why?
THOMAS –
Foreign Beggars – incredible performance on every song
Tyler, The Creator – want to see if he’s arty or scary, or both.
Noisia – I know you shouldn’t get close to the sun, but let me dream for once!
JOE – I have a huge crush on Dua Lipa.. Scared To Be Lonely with Martin Garrix is one of my favorite tracks of this year so far.
Other than that, definately Sevdaliza, Vince Staples and Post Malone. Great musicians with a clear vision of their art.
T.H.E – Can we expect to hear more Donkong goodness this year?
THOMAS – You definitely can. We have a lot in the pipeline and right now we’re working on many collaborations with friends – such as Marten Hørger, Voicians, Musemesis, London Nebel. We are trying to get the next single on the way ever since “No Boy” EP is out.
T.H.E – Where can we catch you playing out the new tunes this summer?
JOE – If you’re in Europe you should check out Splash! Festival. We’ll enter the Crispy Crust Stage on Sunday with Karol Tip, yunis and others.
T.H.E – Finally, can you each tell us an interesting fact about your musical career?
JOE – As I started out producing Hip Hop about 10 years ago I had no idea what all these buttons and parameters in a DAW do. Then I discovered Plug-Ins with implemented “Random“ buttons. These buttons randomly change every parameter in the Plug-In. Sometimes I spent around 15 minutes just pressing the random button until it sounded good.
This is how I made my first Dubstep Growl Sounds in “Massive“.
I think even today to me making music sometimes feels like a random button. You just play around until you stumble over an element you like.
T.H.E – Thanks guys!
Purchase the EP, here.
