Das Kope’s latest track is soaked in reverb-drenched vocals, hypnotic guitar grooves that loop like a mantra and hazy electronics-perfect for getting lost in. Read our discussion below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
Grainy. Hazy. Kaleidoscopic.
‘A waltz about 21st-century anxiety’. Tell us a few things about We Must Be Out Of Our Minds. What is the main idea behind it?
I think the idea behind the song is alienation. Technology seems to be luring us all into a solitary waltz. Or maybe I’m just spending too much time alone in the studio. One day after reading too much news online, I came up with the riff for ‘We Must Be Out of Our Minds’. It’s in 3/4. I remember thinking it sounded like a bizarre waltz.
You’re not only a musician but also a visual artist who creates animated visuals for your music. How does your visual artistry inform your songwriting and production process, and vice versa? Do you see these two creative outlets as intrinsically linked?
I’m a visual person. The way I go about producing a track is not too different from the way I’d design a poster or something. I also like to create animated visual loops, like GIFs. Sometimes I find myself almost hypnotized by them, and I’ll start playing a chord progression on my guitar or mess around with a drum machine. I’ve come up with many songs doing that.
Artists and people that have influenced you?
So many, but here are some: Lennon, Bowie, Warhol, Giorgio Moroder, Stereolab, Air, Tim Maia, Astrud Gilberto, Terry Gilliam, François Hardy, Durutti Column, ESG, Broadcast…
What is the story behind your name and its link to the kaleidoscope?
Some years back, I started doing lots of ‘kaleidoscopic’ sonic experiments, combing different genres like disco, French pop, post-punk, psychedelic, bossa nova, trip hop…. I kept thinking of that word, ‘Kaleidoscope’. One day I bought a real kaleidoscope. It was the type that you point at a subject and it creates patterns from it. So I decided to write the word ‘Kaleidoscope’ on a piece of paper, and then look at it with the kaleidoscope. Eventually I saw ‘das kope’.
In which state of mind do you imagine people might listen to your music?
A psychedelic one.
Favorite Black Mirror episode?
Now I’m gonna have to re watch all of them. LOL. One that comes to mind is ‘Be Right Back’ from an earlier season. But, actually, I’ll choose one from the current season ‘Common People’, the one about subscriptions. Messed up.
What’s next for you?
I have lots of surprises for 2025. Stay tuned.
Thank you!
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