Kédu Carlö, a young NZ electronic music production and songwriting team, release the afro house-influenced new single “Sabi Sabi“.
Using a fusion of euphoric, club-ready Afro and Cuban-laced rhythms, the duo’s production of the 120 BPM house track “Sabi Sabi” demonstrates their prowess at navigating intricate beats and vocal hooks. The lyrics, “na, you sabi oh, sabi sabi”, Nigerian pidgin for “you’re a know it all” play with the raw and expressive nature of the track and Nigerian Igbo roots of the duo’s vocalist and producer Jess Penson.
The lyrics loosely translates to ‘you’re a know it all. Jess’ parents called her sabi sabi while growing up, so when we were in the mood to write a diss track, it felt like the perfect lyrics. There’s definitely a running theme of us telling people to step off on our upcoming album – Kédu Carlö
Carly Gill, a drummer and percussionist, goes into more detail on the songwriting and production of the tune.
It started out as a demo buried in Jess’s folder of beats that I found. It was this punchy arpeggiated melody over a bongo loop, and I tell you, it was a prominent vibe. I first fleshed it out with a healthy dose of syncopated afro-cuban inspired percussion patterns focusing on organic/acoustic tones, then we recorded 30+ layers of the chant. Ngozi (Jess’s Mum) and our friends Rachel and Molly can be heard alongside Jess’s voice. All were meticulously processed and crafted. After that we chopped them up and rearranged them to create variety across sections. – Carly Gill
To give the track a raw, primal feel, the duo combined a reversed hi-hat with automated redux and a plethora of syncopated percussive layers while maintaining organic/acoustic tones. A powerful dramatic climax is added by layering, panning, and some overdriven reverb-drenched snares with various tones.
I used big echoed crashes to exaggerate section changes, we also made heavy use of huge serial filtered free-time echos and overdriven reverb set up as buses which contribute immensely to the impactfulness and full sound of the track. Parallel compression, saturation and resonators were used to magnify the sound and give it a well-rounded warmth – Kédu Carlö
The new cut is the first taste from the duo’s debut album and follows on the recent release of ‘Let’s Get To It’ music video, in which Kédu Carlö took us into the dark underbelly of a strip club capturing NZ hustle life, last summer’s playful 90’s rave and acid house influenced cut ‘Coochie’, and their ‘Alien Fempire’ EP, out on EMK, the electronic music platform launched by Kartel Music Group. Listen to the “Alien Fempire” EP here.
While the duo’s punchy, attitude-filled future-facing club sound was perfectly displayed in “Alien Fempire,” “Sabi Sabi” is the ideal driving tune to tease a sample of what is to come from Kédu Carlö upcoming releases.
About the artist: Kédu Carlö
Electronic producers, multi-instrumentalists, and songwriters Jess Penson and Carly Gill from New Zealand go by the name Kédu Carlö. The duo, consisting of Carly on drums and percussion and Jess on vocals and synths, creates complex electronic music with influences from Chicago house, acid, techno, electro, and breaks. Their constantly evolving live set-up features an array of gear – from analogue synths to drum machines and sequencers, acoustic drums, Ableton, and CDJs – the two long term friends have already made a name for themselves with their Ableton Live production tutorials publications such as Attack Magazine. Their melodic experimentation and irreverent lyricism have solidly established them as one of the most sought-after live electronic music acts after punching into the NZ scene as tastemakers and one-to-watch creatives.
You can listen to Kédu Carlö’s brand-new song, “Sabi Sabi,” right now.
