CALL TO WORSHIP

KEYS N KRATES

Midnite Mass Following a steady stream of singles and EPs over the last couple of years, Toronto trio Keys N Krates hit the ground running in 2016 with another short-form release on Steve Aoki’s bells-and-whistles label Dim Mak. Though the imprint itself deals mostly with hyper-commercial dance releases, KNK have always managed to keep a big toe underground, while still drawing in the masses. Thankfully, Midnite Mass maintains that same practice. “U Already Know” boasts a jungle rhythm beneath squeaky vocals and big wonky horns, while “Nothing But Space” nudges Aqui’s soulful vocals into the fray before dropping its mammoth bass. Leading the pack, however, is the massive “Save Me,” a track that was constructed from spare a cappellas that UK singer Katy B contributed. Midnite Mass is another example of KNK’s ability to craft songs that sound so vast on your headphones that they basically ensure your attendance at their next show, just to hear them fleshed out on stage. The EP also serves a gentle reminder that this kind of arena-EDM doesn’t have to be all substanceless womp. (Dim Mak, dimmak.com)

DO YOU GUYS SEE YOURSELVES AS PINNED TO ANY ONE GENRE?

Turntablist Greg Dawson: No, definitely not. It probably works to our disadvantage sometimes, because I feel like a lot of press is constantly trying to categorize stuff. Even if they’re forward-thinking, they’re still trying to put things in boxes. It’s kinda tough to put us in a box. I mean, we’ll do a record with Katy B and it’ll have a drum & bass intro and then the drop is synths and the drums are rap. We’ll take one of our beats and we’ll put a rapper over it and to us that all makes sense, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense to a music reviewer, and we love that, to be honest.

THE LINES ARE PRETTY BLURRED THESE DAYS ANYWAY.

I think the lines have always been blurred. Forget about rap producers, but hip-hop DJs have always cut up rock records, they’ve always cut up Led Zeppelin records, they’ve always cut up Kraftwerk. Detroit techno is an amalgamation of people in the ghetto listening to a mix of Kraftwerk and soul music. The best kind of music is always trying to blur the lines. DARYL KEATING