Kandy Dishes About DJ Shout Outs & Going Pop [Interview]

April 29, 2016 -

Derek Kademian

Ever since the dawn of Soundcloud, it has been used as an integral way that DJs of every tier are able to find the latest "fire" or "lit" track from an unknown producer that'll make their fans go bonkers for their sets. Finding that track can prove to be a tedious task, but once they find it, the usually compensate playing it, by giving a shout out to the up and comer, giving them props for doing making something amazing.  Although it gives these producers great exposure, it can be daunting for them because they're plagued with the constant uncertainty of, "is this when I'll blow up?"

Having had releases through Mad Decent, Brooklyn Fire, Ones to Watch (Mixmash), Thrive Music and more, NYC artist Kandy has been picking up speed over the past year which has lead him to slowly becoming a household name. I had the pleasure of catching up with him, where he spoke about how his tracks have been making some serious rounds between everyone from Laidback Luke to David Guetta, who although he is eternally grateful for these legends for putting him on, he questions his abilities day in and day out due to the fleeting nature of making the hype last. Another on going internal conflict for him is deciding what sound he wants to pursue. Having has two sounds one being along the lines of jungle terror and one more towards bass house, he doesn't want to limit himself but at the same time wants to create a recognizable sound.

DB: You're latest track, "Non Stop," is pretty awesome, can you give us a bit of background on how it came about?

Kandy: Well, I've always been really into the whole dubstep thing even before I started making music. I would always try to make it but could never get it right! One day something just clicked with what i was working on & it just started to flow from there! I knew the track would need vocals to give it life & The Ragga Twins fit perfectly. I'm really proud of this one because I challenged myself & did something I've never done before!

DB: What are your thoughts on Thrive Music?

Kandy: I think Thrive is a dope label to put music out on. Lots of passionate people over there & currently killing it with releases!

Kandy-TPA-Twitch-YourEDM-Thrive-Music

DB: Last time we spoke, we were talking about top tier DJs putting on rising talent during performances. David Guetta, Laidback Luke and several others have been taking an interest in your work. Do you think that having them put you on leaves a lasting impact, is it something you can actually use to your advantage and has it worked?

Kandy: It has helped out a lot, just by listening to podcasts you hear your name and it helps because then they go look up Kandy and check out my work. I get feedback but after it's been done so many times you wonder when's the next thing going to happen. It's happened so many times and I'm still sitting in my room making music. I'm so thankful for it because these are guys that I look up to all the time. as far as DJs putting  I get very frustrated because i see people who aren't making great music in my opinion just because of the people they get picked up by they're all over the place and their music doesn't even show for it. It's frustrating when you're getting all this support and there's people who aren't getting any support but they just got picked up by the right person and they're traveling around the world, you sit there and think, "what am i doing wrong, how much more do i have to do?" and that's something that really frustrates me.

DB: Skrillex plays a certain up and coming producer's stuff all the time and everyones like who are they? Why aren't they using it to their advantage? Like Jauz, he's someone that uses it to his advantage. He was one of those artists who has been getting played out in everyone's sets, it makes you wonder how these people are moving so fast.

Kandy: You have to be consistent with putting out new music after something like that happens. You have to jump on it. If someone like Skrillex is playing your stuff you need to keep making music because people are constantly searching your name after that. If you're not putting out music and people see your page and they see nothing on it.

DB: Diplo and the Mad Decent crew were playing out his, "Holla Back," remix like crazy. And it would have been smart for him to put up some new music to follow it up with. you need to keep momentum going, it's the key.

Kandy: If you have it, you have to keep rolling with it. People are just always come out with new music, there's always going to be someone who one ups you. Another thing, everyone is constantly looking for a fresh sound, especially now because the scene is super saturated even more so than it was last year.

DB: For instance this year we heard artists using the woodblock nonstop because Jack U featured it heavily on their album, causing every producer under the sun to say, "Woodblock! I'm going to use the woodblock!" and then it spirals out of control and now we have a million remixes of Rhinna that has woodblock.

Kandy: If I hear one more remix of "Bitch Better Have My Money" I'm going to scream! Haha.

DB: Exactly, that's also why I appreciated your remix of, "Without Me," you brought back a song that everyone loved instead of digging into whatever hip hop track was trending that week.

Kandy: The reason I do that is because I used to listen to all that stuff, it's important to me. It's enjoyable to remake these tracks because your bringing one of favorite songs back into relevancy, like Kyle Huges', "Holla Back," remix, it's fire, you can tell it came it from the heart.

Kandy-TPA-YourEDM-Live_Twitch

DB: Changing gears. You have two completely different sounds, bass house and then jungle terror/electro, is it difficult for you to decide what you want your end-goal sound to be?

Kandy: I know this sounds cliche, but I don't want to have one genre of music and be pigeon holed into one thing but I'm not doing it purposefully. If I have pop music material to work with, I'll work on and if I like the finished product, I'll put it out not really paying attention to genres. I'm a really big fan of dubstep and now that it's being pushed forward through bass house, I can make it, i can't make dub step and I wish I could.

DB: Short term, Long term goals?

Kandy: Honestly I'm really interested in pop. it's something that I really enjoy and it's hard when you're coming from this style of music but you still have that taste because everything in EDM is crossing over to pop music. Even just the sounds like bass sounds are in some of the most known pop music right now.

DB: Major Lazer and Jack U had the songs of the summer, enough said.

Kandy: It's slowly moving over to pop music and it's something that I have a strong interest in. I like the way it's put together. I'm not that much of a 'put yourself out there' kind of person' I don't like that. with pop music, you make a track, you're always in the studio, you put everything together and then millions of people hear it and I like that, that's what I want. I also hope that's what happens with the stuff I'm working on now with the jungle terror and bass house, I want as many people as possible to hear it. I don't want to put myself out there through DJing because it's not what I'm truly passionate about. I'm a producer at heart I was always a nerd, even when I was a kid.

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