Keljet is the indie-disco collaboration between Koen Mestrum and Teun Pranger. Since as early as 2010, the Nijmegen based Dutchmen have been flooding the blogosphere with their remixes and original productions. Harvesting support by many dj’s and producers such as Kygo, The Knocks, Oliver Heldens, Goldroom and Zimmer.
Their official collaborations involve AVAN LAVA, X Ambassadors and Falcon Punch. Plus, offical remixes for The Knocks, Don Diablo and Noosa. This comes alongside a neverending list of bootleg remixes on Franz Ferdinand, The Temper Trap, Hoodie Allen, Calvin Harris, Coldplay and many many more.
In 2012, Keljet achieved a new milestones with an official remix Don Diablo’s “Silent Shadow” on Columbia Records, a guest appearance on Kiss FM and features on Ministry Of Sound Radio.
With Teun having a background as a Dj, Koen is the musical counterpart playing live guitar in their dj-sets. Their sound is best described as “creating some kind of tropical fusion between mainstream sounds and laid back, tropical disco. ” (- Binary Blog) and “transforming pop/indie songs into the most awesome disco bangers” (- Chubby Beavers)
As a Keljet credo goes “We want to make you smile and dance to our music.”
FS: In the past couple of years, you guys have become an industry name in the realm of Nu Disco, garnering support from artists, such as The Knocks, Goldroom, and more. Where does your inspiration come from?_
KJ: We love the sound of Nu-Disco but are also inspired by pop artists and some house DJ’s and producers. We’re always searching for the right balance between something that works on a dance floor and something that’s more like a radio friendly, chilled out vibe.
We have a Spotify inspiration playlist were we both add tracks we love, ranging from old disco records to 90’s house music.
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FS: So, if you weren’t producing nu disco, where do you think your talents would lie in music – Electro? House? Techno?
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KJ: Teun is the DJ of Keljet, his roots are more in house music so he would probably be making a bit darker sounds. Koen played guitar in a couple of rock bands before Keljet was started so the guitar would play a bigger part.
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FS: With the huge influx of producers in genres, like Trap, Dubstep, Big Room House, and Progressive House, where does that leave Nu Disco?
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KJ: Nu-Disco is kind of a niche genre, but with the rise of Deep House, we think Nu-Disco will profit. People are looking for more laidback vibes and are open to more feel good music. A lot of other genres have evolved into epic-banger-bam-bam music, the louder the better.
We think Nu-Disco will get bigger and bigger the next couple of months.
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FS: In your opinion, which artists are absolutely smashing the music scene right now? And why?
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KJ: It’s insane to see how Kygo gained so much following in such short time. We play some of his tracks when we play a little slower DJ set. We’re almost always playing some tracks by the Magician, the Alexanders (Yuksek & Alex Metric) and Plastic Plates as well. They work the dancefloor in a really good way.
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FS: So, what do you guys have in store for the rest of the year? More productions, collaborations, shows? We’d love to know.
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KJ: We’re working on three new originals at the moment, we’re not sure if we want to put them out as singles with a couple of remixes or combine them into a small EP. Teun always wants to put things out there as soon as they’re done, Koen is better at making a decent plan for a release haha.
We’ll just have to see how long it takes to get all tracks done. We just released our remix for Matvey Emerson on Indiana Tones and have a new remix coming up for a Swedish singer that should be out soon.
At the end of the year, we have a new remix coming out on a special remix album for a cool artist, but we can’t tell you anything about that yet.
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FS: Lastly, if you could say one thing to aspiring producers, what would it be?
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KJ: Be original, try to develop your own style. You can learn a lot on the technical side from other producers, but try to find your own sound. Watch all stuff by FutureMusicMagazine on YouTube haha. Some producers do stuff in a really crazy way, but it’s inspiring to see how other people work.
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Say thanks to Keljet and listen to their latest tracks here:
KELJET
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