Kenton Slash Demon

Pulse podcast number 12 comes from Silas Moldenhawer and Jonas Kenton, the Copenhagen based duo otherwise known as Kenton Slash Demon. Having just released the second part of their EP trilogy entitled Matter, Najaaraq Vestbirk met up with the guys to speak about concept EPs, their big/tiny city and trance music.

On this podcast you're mixing a lot of different sounds, do you also play this varied when your djing? Silas: Well we try not to. [Laughs]
But it definitely depends on the venue, the time and what mood we are in. We aim to keep a red thread thought our sets. But we are two individuals, sometimes we feel like playing a different style to the other one, and then, well... Then we just play something completely different.
Jonas:Sometimes just to push the other one, to see what his next move will be.

You just released the second part of you EP trilogy The Schwarzschild Solution, what is the name about? Silas: It was actually The Emperor Of Antarcrtica, the guy who designed the artwork, who came up with the title. Together we came up ideas for the artwork but he wanted to give trilogy a overall title. 
Jonas: Its just, well it's not supposed to be explained in detail, its about the mood in the music. The three EPs can be put together, and they fit - both soundwise and visually, with cohesive artwork.

(Check out the KSD website below)

When can we expect the final third part? Jonas: In the beginning of the new year, end January, start February-ish. The third one kind of sums up Sun and Matter, which are very different. The last one connects the two. Actually we had the name for the EPs before we had the tracks, so we used the concept of “Sun” as inspiration to produce the track, making a warm and summer like track. Matter is more massive, and the last one is a black hole. Actually the track is not a black hole, but it all ends in one. Until its out, you can try to guess how that will sound.

On Matter you have Malthe Fischer the singer of the danish indie band Oh No Ono on vocals, which made me think about your background. Has is always been electronic music, or have you flirted with other genres? Silas:It's always been electronic music. We started making electronic music, then for shorter periods played around with some other genres, but always came back to square one. Danish pioneer Bjørn Svin made some of the first electronic music we fell in love with. Later we got more and more in to trance and psychedelic, we were crazy about stuff like Infected Mushrooms. I don't know if you can hear it in our music, but we have been into a lot of different sub genres of electronic music.

Do you have a term for the music you make now?  Silas: Its a mix of everything we are inspired by, but the nucleus of our music is house. It's four to the floor, and its made for a dancing. Perhaps one day we will make a totally toned down record, that wouldn't work in a club, but right now the main goal is to make something that works on a dance floor.
Jonas: But at the same time we try to use as many vocals as possible, and make something that is melodic that also makes sense to listen to at home. We try to make songs over DJ tools. That's also why there isn't a long intro and outro like with typical club tracks. We just do what ever suits the song the best, even if it makes it a bit harder to mix. On the other hand we add other club elements, like build up, and repeating themes.

Kenton Slash Demon - Matter from Dark Matters on Vimeo.

You've been releasing on the danish label Tartelet records, how did your relationship with them start? Silas: We were very much in deep with the band, (When Saints Go Machine) working within a band structure, making real pop songs. But we were missing the club scene, the way the scene operates, the straightforwardness there is. And then came this wave of house music that suddenly inspired us massively, and the urge to make house music came over us again. At this time Tartelet was doing some very interesting things, so we sent Khattabi to Frederik (Fredski). and he agreed to release it. Thats how it really started. We knew Frederik from back in the days, and the whole Tartelet crew are our good friends. They are doing some exciting things and they've had the guts to do something different from the beginning.

Speaking of the band, Kenton Slash Demon excised before When Saints Go Machine right? Jonas: Yes, well it existed, given that we had released two records, but I don't think we had found ourselves. We just made some music, because, well thats what you do. But we didn't know what we wanted to do with the project. It wasn't until after we released the Khattabi that we figured out what the plan was. The name Kenton Slash Demon has existed for quite a while, but actually the project feels new for us.
Silas: Like we just started.

How did It start with When Saints Go Machine? Jonas: We were doing these EPs for label from belgium. Me and Silas.

As Kenton Slash Demon? Jonas: Exactly, and pretty fast we got pretty tired of what we were doing at the time. The two EPs we made then represented something we were in to for a short period – this pretty strange stuff. Actually we didn't really want to do it.
Silas: We thought, lets make something totally different. We got a hold of Simon and Nikolaj and then we just held on to each other since then.

Your press material states that you both grew up 'in the tiny big city of Copenhagen.' Do you think that this has had an impact on your sound?  Silas: Nope, I don't really think so. I think our sound is affected by the fact that we have made music for a lot of years. And the fact that we have been involved in a lot of projects. Our music its very processed. Its very contemplative compared to our earlier stuff - which was very immediate. We have decided to release very little material, but spend a lot of time on each pice. Instead of making something for a certain time, we want to make something that we can continue to build on.
Jonas: Hopefully we will be able pull out Sun in three years, and it still being interesting.

You spent the last two weekends playing in Berlin – how did the Germans treat you? Silas: It went very well I think, very cool people there.

Can you feel a difference between the Danish audience and the German? Jonas: Yes I think so. You can feel that there are more people in Germany that are dedicated to the original roots of techno music. The subculture is just a lot bigger down there compared to Copenhagen. It seems like people are more dedicated the the whole world of club music. Its enormously cool.
Silas: There are some really dedicated listeners in Copenhagen, there is just not enough of them. [Laughs] In Berlin the quantity is, well. In Copenhagen there is about one club, perhaps two. I don't even know how many there are in Berlin.

Do you have any future plans that you could enlighten us with? Silas: Of course we have, its not our intention to just make three songs and then disappear. But there is no fun in revealing anything before the last EP is out.

Najaaraq Vestbirk