From beginnings as experimental electronic musician, in recent years Neo’s tracks have been featured in club sets and radio shows by the likes of Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond, Darude and others. In addition to solo productions, his work is heard in numerous collaborations and remixes, which have made him a regular name on playlists of EDM DJs.
SUM : Hello Neo , thanks for taking the time to talk with us, How’s been 2013 so far for your career ?
Neo: Hi, thanks, it’s been fairly busy and productive year. My new EP is released soon and I’m working on new tracks, remixes and collaborations.
SUM: Tell us how “Neo Kekkonen” came to be?
Neo: I started out many years ago making electronic music for a small audience in a local web community. In 2008 I started sending demos to labels, and track by track it took off from there.
SUM: How would you define the style of “Neo Kekkonen”, who/what are your musical influences?
Neo: My EDM tracks to date are mostly trance of some kind, but I’m interested in exploring other directions too. Each genre has its own subculture and perspective on music. It’s fascinating to look through different lenses, so to speak.
As for influences, they vary from videogame soundtracks to metal, industrial, all kinds of electronic music, pop, and even classical. Hypnotic trance subgenres of 90s and early 00s have a special place among my influences, as they originally introduced me to the trance sound.
SUM: Please describe shortly the creative process of your remix for Weela’s “Departure” , what inspires you and what tools you use Software/Hardware to make this remix a reality.
Neo: Usually with remixes I start by selecting melody or chord progression that becomes the main theme of my version, and fill out the rest intuitively. This was also the case with “Departure”, the original had plenty of elements to choose from and I proceeded by developing the composition into more mellow trance style. Parts of original reminded me of some 90s tracks, and I ended up adding retro influences to outro and intro sections of my remix.
My main tools are Ableton Live and NI Komplete with some extra synths and effects. I try to synthesize as many sounds as possible by starting from basic waves, avoiding samples and presets made by others. That can take a lot of time per track if I haven’t already made the sounds I need in some other project.
My inspiration for EDM tracks comes from what is going on in the scene at the moment, combined with what I like from the past. There is a huge number of talented artists in the scene, each week I hear something new and interesting.
SUM: So far what you think has been the highlight of your career?
Neo: Having my tracks played by DJs whose sets I listened to as a kid.
SUM: How does the future looks for “Neo Kekkonen” within the next 2 years
Neo: I’m constantly learning new things, like improving synthesis skills and doing transcription exercises with music that I find interesting. So my main aim is to keep making music and apply new skills as they develop. Time will tell where it leads :)
SUM: What is your take on this digital world we are living in? and what is your take on music piracy?
Neo: It’s great that in digital stores you can buy almost any track in existence, and for those who cannot afford to buy, music is available on Soundcloud, Youtube and others. A positive recent development is that artist societies and record companies have made deals with streaming services, so artists could be paid for streams and views.
As for piracy (for example, sites that offer music for free and get advertising income without paying artists for exploitation of their work), it does real harm to labels and artists if people choose to use those sites. Luckily, now that legal alternatives are convenient and commonplace, listeners have started to prefer them.
SUM: If you had the opportunity to collaborate with one artist of EDM, who would it be and why?
Neo: BT, on some kind of experimental listening piece. It would be interesting to see what kind of sound painting would come out of that collaboration.
SUM: What would be a piece of advice that has helped you in your career?
Neo: Keep working even if it feels difficult. In practice it’s not always possible nor sensible to follow that advice 100%, but more often that not, “no pain, no gain” holds true.
SUM: What is next from you on Straight Up! Music / Exalted Tunes?, will our fans see original productions from you as well as more remixes?
Neo: There’s a new remix on the way right now, other than that, always in motion is the future ;)
Neo Kekkonen, is quite a brilliant artist, with so much potential and stardom material, we really hope to see more material coming from him.
Fortunately, he has given us a 1-Hour mix full of Neo Kekkonen’s hits only for us to measure the scope of his talent! :)
You can stream such mix here or download it from this link. :) See you around!
