A while ago, a friend of mine recommended I check out a Dutch producer named Eeelke Kleijn. After a few memory lapses on how to actually spell the man’s name, I picked up my first track with him attached to it- a collaboration with Nick Hogendoorn called ”King Pong.” Soon enough, I was hooked, downloading his label’s, Outside the Box, podcasts and catching his promo mixes via his website.
Months later I still find myself enamored with Kleijn’s unique take on music as his mixes, even individual tracks, continue to push boundaries and blur genres. So I figured it was time to talk to him- see what made him tick- get some answers on his unique productions and perspectives before this rising star became larger than life… and folks- this guys is the real deal.
After emailing back and forth with EK for a few weeks, I sent him some questions and was really impressed by the time and thought he put into answering them. If you want to take as close a glimpse as you are going to get into the mind of one of the new, electronic music pioneers-
please, meet EELKE KLEIJN.
- I’ve read some biographies and general information on your career and they all say that you started your love affair with technology at an early age with web design. What was it that pushed you to combine music with your technological skills?
I’m not sure if there was really one thing you can pinpoint out, but I’ve always had a sort of feel for technology. I took up music production when it was already becoming PC centered with the earliest versions of Cubase. I never really was one of those guys that worked with an analog sequencer and tons of hardware, though I use hardware in my studio and really still see the advantages of it. My interest in computers in general really helped me a lot in the beginning, for one I was able to build my own audio workstation and solve any problems I ran into. But it’s still a great deal of help nowadays, my current website was written in PHP & MySQL and whenever I feel like it’s missing something I just take a day or so, write some new code and add new functionality to the site. It’s easy to keep everything under control. Although I’m slowly taking my hands off of it now, if you insist of doing everything yourself it gets harder and harder to find the time to make music.
- How would you describe your music making process?
Throughout the years I’ve found out it’s a more emotional process than I thought at first. For one, whenever I feel bad I just can’t write something good. I know there are artists that write their best stuff when they are feeling down, but not me. I really need to feel good to write good music. Basically I just sit in the studio and start working on some beats or a catchy lead hook or so. I record one part, maybe write a second or third part and just keep adding from there. Sometimes you go back and change a part because of what you add later. It always takes me more than a day to write something, most of my songs take about a week I think. I get bored easily as well, more often than not I throw away a part 2 days later because I heard it too often. Although usually when you write something that makes you go ‘wow!’, the basic is there in a day. But it still needs tons of work to really get it to sound the way I want it to.
- What direction do you see music taking with the advancements in media-based technology, especially in the live setting?
I think the focus on live music will continue to grow like it has over the past few years. For instance, I’m also taking my dj set to the next level at the moment. I’ve been getting into Traktor lately. I’m still playing with CD’s right now but as soon as I feel comfortable enough with Traktor I will go for the 4 deck setup. It just offers loads and loads of new possibilities to remix and edit tracks on the fly, I’m really amazed by the stuff I can pull off just quickly with my laptop & controller only.
- Which active musicans/producers do you feel are the most influential on your music? Which on music as a whole?
It’s hard to name just a few, there are so many that I listen to and I can get inspired by almost everything. I have these periods where I listen to a certain type of music for a while, and draw a lot of inspiration from it. This can be rock, hip hop, house or even classical music. Listening to different styles really gets me in the mood to produce something in that genre, though I try to give my own touch to everything. For instance, if I’ve been listening to a lot of Jazzanova I will definitely produce something funky when I get back in the studio. But while working on that it often turns into something else because you just try to follow the ideas you get while producing. But to return to the question, I think acts that really influenced me over the years are Jean Michel Jarre, Coldplay, Massive Attack, Enya, Junkie XL, Lemon8, Hernan Cattaneo. And many, many more, too much to name.
- After having worked hard to put out a number of tracks since 2003, what was it like to gain recognition from Global Underground so much so that they helped you put out your first full length album, “Naturally Artificial?”
It’s been one my highlights so far I think! I was thrilled to have GU work with me on the album. After having appeared on 2 of their CDs early 2007, I sent them some music I was working on for an album. They were really enthusiastic and signed it a couple of weeks later. It’s done a lot for my career, since it was released in late 2007 I really saw my gig schedule take off, playing in 2 or 3 different countries each month.
- I’ve read in a number of places that you like to keep mixing up genres and styles to keep yourself interested in the music that you are making- are there any genres that you have yet to explore that you would like to?
Yeah definitely, I don’t want to focus my vision on dance music only, there’s so much quality music out there that doesn’t stick to the 4/4 beats. Lately I’ve been writing more music for movie shorts and adds, I’ve actually just finished some hip hop groove for a new commercial. This is something that I really want to keep on doing, it really keeps things interesting when working on different genres. I wouldn’t mind doing something more poppy either. I won’t say top 40 right away, but if one day I write a track that I could push towards the pop charts.. As long as it’s quality though, I’d never want to enter the charts with a David Guetta like dance/pop production.
- You’ve done a number of collaborations with other artists- if you could choose one person to do an EP with, who would it be?
Definitely Junkie XL! One of the best all round producers and fellow Dutchman 
- What does 2009 hold in store for Eelke Kleijn? Will we get a chance to see you in the United States?
There’s a couple of interesting things happening this year. I will be attending the WMC so you can definitely find me in the states . I’m not yet sure if I can stick longer and visit other places as well, we’re still working on that. I’m also working on a new album. I would say by now I am only about 33% done but I’m really putting heavy work into it at the moment. Hopefully it will be finished this year. Then there’s a couple of new tracks and remixes coming up on labels like Manual, Ready Mix and Armada. I’ve got a tight schedule for my own label (Outside the Box Music) as well, with upcoming releases by Logiztik Sounds & Kally, Terry Grant, Stefanowitz & Satoshi Fumi.
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Again- make sure to check out Eelke Kleijn’s website and his Autum Promo Mix (download link).
I’d like to thank EK again for this thoughtful answers and I sincerely hope you all check out his promo mix. It’s pretty appropriate for the weather out there today, really, so snuggle up next to the fire and enjoy these tones.
I’ll be back soon with a podcast of my own to start getting you all pumped up for PHOBIA, which is only a couple of weeks away.
Stay warm-
bcos
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Sweet article, can’t wait to see him live!