Under 1k Spotlight & Interview: Da'Kha -

It’s only right we take it international after 4th of July weekend here in America, so I am glad to present our spotlight on Da’Kha from Paris, France. Pierre Moreau is the man behind the project and I am soo psyched to share Pierre’s music because it is truly something else. I came across Da’kha a few weeks ago and was floored by the sounds and dark grunge aesthetic Pierre creates in his music. I first heard his track Fahat which puts Migos vocals over one of the grittiest basslines you will hear. Pierre labels his music as Modern Junk or Thrash on Soundcloud. I think it’s a great description of his sound as it reminded me of one of my favorite bands, Nirvana’s, chaotic grunge sound the first time I listened to some of his tracks such as Duz. Instead of guitar riffs, Grohls drums, and Kurts vocals colliding against each other, it’s a chaos of rolling dissonant bass along with hip-hop and trap influences colliding in a deliciously saucy electronic bass form. It was no surprise but I still didn’t expect to hear Pierre’s first real contact with music was Nirvana which sent him to dive into it. Da’kha has a few releases on the talented Ignite Recordings, and I am positive we will be hearing the name Da’Kha much more in the future. We jumped over a language barrier to chat about Pierre’s Nirvana beginnings, how he creates his distinctive Modern Junk music, and what’s ahead for the project. Check out my favorite tracks as well and give Da’Kha a well-deserved follow!

Where are you from, and how did your musical journey begin?

I live in France, in the countryside near Paris since I was a child. My first real contact with music was on a little hi-fi in my sister’s room, I heard Nirvana for the first time, and it made me dive completely into music. I started to learn guitar, then a little bit of bass and drum. In the meantime, I was exposed to a lot of hip-hop in my environment. I began to listen to Electronic music in early 2010 just before the rise of Dubstep. I started to produce around the same time first as a hobby but I quickly became really passionate about it. At the time I was really into violent Electronic music and it still shows now. Then I discovered trap music and I really went into hip-hop.

Tell me about the Da-kha project, its origins and the Modern Junk sound.

Well at first I was trying to make every genre I listened to; dubstep, electro, drum N bass, hip-hop, It was pretty messy. I slowly found my style and decide to focus on specific aesthetics, but I’m still working on it! I’ve been organizing trap parties since 2013 so I think it influenced me a lot. I’ve always liked gritty textures, dissonances, and that kind of stuff, and it’s an obvious part of my style. Also, I’m way more excited when I make something new when I’m discovering stuff that I haven’t heard before. I think being an artist is selfish in the way that you create stuff for yourself, you want it to exist so you have no choice but to make it. Today I would describe Da’Kha as a bass-oriented mixture of hip-hop, trap, and a lot of electronic influences. I can’t be precise and it changes with time but I think the internet era has blurred the boundaries between styles so now many people create their own genre by mixing influences.

Let’s get into how you create Modern Junk without giving away too many secrets. What DAW do you use and do you have a certain goto format when you sit down and create? Any tips for beginners wanting to sit down and learn a DAW?

For the technical aspect, I work with Ableton, and I mostly use the intern effects and synths. I used to work a lot with Operator and now I use Wavetable because it allows you to create very complex sounds from scratch. I don’t use so many plug-ins, I prefer to really explore a few and push them to their limits. Currently, I use a lot of Trash 2 from Izotope. Now, for the « approach », I don’t really have routines, it can start from anything: a rhythm idea, a melody, an acapella. Then I build the track around this idea. I don’t know where I’m going when I open up my software. As I said, I love to create new sounds so I experiment a lot with synthesis, and more recently with recordings of my own, but I really like to use samples; they already contain a vibe. And I think this is an important part of my music I love the human voice so much, I can put it everywhere. It’s something magical and speaks directly to me. For tips I can say a few things: Rules are not absolutes, but they’re not useless either; find a balance between what can help you and what can hold you back. Trust yourself, you are your first fan, your first listener, make the music that pleases you. Enjoy your own music, be honest, in my opinion, honesty is one of the most important traits in creation.

How Has COVID impacted you and how are things where you are now?

I’m very lucky I don’t live in town and I have a lot of space here. So yeah, I’ve lost some opportunities along with my shows being canceled, but it didn’t change my lifestyle I’ve always been reclusive. So I’ve worked a lot on my music and challenged myself to try new things and take new paths in creating.

Any fellow upcoming producers we should know about?

My favorite part where I can shout out my brothers and sisters! First one, I’ve learned music with Dazo L’oizeau and he’s still one of the most talented musicians I know. An old friend and a master of vibes known as Nin:o. I’ve also been collaborating with Roxas recently, he really pushes the limits of sound design. Speaking of sound design, lofi bass style check out Aspecc. And in a very different style a bit more violent Pietre The Demiurge. Go check them out!