The Untz Logo
Favorite This

Snakehips & FKJ

What:

When: -

Where: 1015 Folsom (1015 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA)

Minimum Age: 21+

Type: Outdoor - Club

Web Site: Click Here

Genres: Electronica

Tickets Buy Tickets
DJ DIALS & 1015 FOLSOM PRESENT

SNAKEHIPS
FKJ (LIVE DEBUT)
+ MUCH MORE TBA!

Friday May 22nd | 10PM - 3AM | 21+

Tickets: https://snakehips-theuntz.eventbrite.com/

SNAKEHIPS

Since forming only 18 months ago, Snakehips have made their name with Hype Machine chart-topping remixes for Banks, The Weeknd, Bondax and Wild Belle, which between them have notched up more than 30 million plays on Soundcloud and YouTube. Last May, the mysterious production duo built on their early acclaim with On & On, a Radio 1-championed debut single that set out their signature sound, a sensual up-to-date take on old school R&B and hip hop.

In time to usher in another summer and ahead of appearances at major festivals across the UK and abroad, Snakehips are ready to release their glorious, second single, Days With U, featuring Disclosure and Rudimental vocalist Sinead Harnett. With the vibe of long, hot, hazy days coursing through its veins, Days With U sounds both retro and fresh and as dreamily laid-back as it is dancefloor-friendly. Driven as much by melody as by hip hop beats and shimmering synths, it’s a song about heartbreak that, somehow, sounds resolutely life-affirming.

With a debut album well underway and due out early next year, Snakehips have decided it’s time to reveal themselves as 24 year old Londoners Oliver Lee and James Carter. Despite a shared home city, the pair met on separate business trips to Hong Kong, where they bonded over shared musical interests. They shared a flight to L.A., began talking music and booked a studio in which to work on a track. It went so well that within days of returning to London they nudged their laptops together and Snakehips was born.

The pair’s first release was a remix of Chicago band Wild Belle’s It’s Too Late; their next a remix of Gold by electronic duo Bondax. Both used only the original vocal, topped the Hype Machine chart and revealed Snakehips’ love of ‘90s hip hop, disco and vintage soul.

The reaction to their own music, however, was in a different league. The steamy, sultry, lushly-produced On & On, featuring up-and-coming, Australian singer George Maple, sent blogs in to a frenzy, reached the Top 10 of the iTunes electronic charts on both sides of the Atlantic and caught the attention of Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Mistajam and Monki, for whom Snakehips recorded a guest mix. Like Days With U, On & On was a song about heartbreak that sounded like summer. Or as Ollie outs it: “It’s about a bloke George was in love with who didn’t love her back.” On & On’s soulful blend of retro and modern became Snakehips’ trademark.

“We love the vibe of 90s music – Hi-Tek, Pete Rock, that golden era of R&B with singers like Aaliyah and SWV,” says James. “We’re suckers for anything with cool soul samples and old drum beats. But we’re also influenced by living in London. We borrow from the past to make music for the future.”

Last year, Snakehips heard the Banks’ song Warm Water and loved it so much they contacted Banks, asking to remix it. She sent the acapella, they added funky disco music, had another blog hit on their hands and were rewarded by being asked to rework The Weeknd’s Wanderlust. After The Weeknd tweeted his praise for their version, it received a million and a half plays in less than a month.

In between official singles, Snakehips have put out a handful of sample-based tracks, among them the Annie Mac-premiered Make It and Miss U Always, a love song posted for fans on Valentine’s Day. They sold out a tour of Australia, shows across the UK and were in demand to play clubs and festivals everywhere from Paris, Vienna, Warsaw and Berlin to the Netherlands. The pair’s debut London date, this May, at Village Underground, sold out so quickly a second show had to be added.

Most of 2014 so far has been spent working on their as-yet-untitled debut album, which will be preceded by a third single, Falling, featuring Meleka. All releases are on Snakehips’ own label Hoffman West, named after a fictional character Ollie created to get in to clubs for free.

“Put the name Hoffman West, plus five, on a guest list and no one asks questions when you get to the door,” he explains. “There’s something about that name that sounds so important that you’re always ushered straight in.”

It’s a busy summer ahead for Snakehips with appearances lined up at festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Love Saves The Day as well as European jaunts at Outlook in Croatia and Pitch in Amsterdam. With a debut album also in the pipeline, there’s certainly a lot more of exciting things in store from the London based production duo.

FKJ

An accomplished artist and rising star of the Parisian electronic scene, FKJ, also known as French Kiwi Juice, is one of the flag bearers of the New French House musical genre. A native of Tours, but now based in Paris, FKJ is a leading talent and one of the most emblematic artists of the Roche Musique team that he joined in 2012 via his long-time friend Jean Janin, a.k.a. Cézaire, artist and founder of the successful Parisian record label.

Trained as a sound engineer for the cinema, while at the same time being a self-taught musician, French Kiwi Juice started with a first EP, ‘The Twins’, released by Roche Musique at the end of 2012. Then followed the single ‘Lying Together’, acclaimed by the blogosphere, and a second EP ‘Time For A Change’ (Roche Musique, July 2013), which was unanimously praised by music critics (Ofive, Trax Mag, The Sound You Need, Earmilk, Indie Shuffle…). Thanks to millions of plays and views on different media, songs such as ‘So Much To Me’ or ‘Instant Need’ have already become classics of the French house genre.

With incredibly groovy loops, classy hip-hop rhythms, gloriously funky basslines and richly colorful synth sounds, FKJ’s music stands up to comparison with the masters of the genre. Now established as one of the major artists of the French musical scene, French Kiwi Juice’s stage reputation has soared thanks to his inspiring and original DJ Sets, but above all thanks to the driving rhythms and and dazzling improvisation that characterise his Live Sets. Apart from the quality of his musical selection when DJing, FKJ, known as Vincent Fenton to his friends, is also an eternal source of pure creativity. This young man, just 24 years old, is a multi-instrumentalist who is permanently in search of the perfect chord.

The artist, who has signed with the leading Parisian booking agency ‘Uni-T’ enjoys an international audience. He returned from an Asian Tour in May 2014, and has often performed alongside successful artists whose auras go far beyond European borders.

His eagerly awaited latest EP ‘Take Off’ (Roche Musique) came out on July 21st 2014 and will no doubt make the artist one of the revelations of the year.