Are you ready to party? Because Juan Kidd is heading to town to serve up some amazing tribal tech house, the likes of which currently has all of Europe’s underground throwing their arms up in the air. He’s known for his spectacular smash hit single, Now You’re Gone, but is about to cement himself further into the Australian psyche with his appearance on One Love’s Smash Your Stereo compilation. He chatted with OUTinPerth about making the perfect tune.
How do you describe your sound?
The sound I have is basically just house music, but it’s got elements of tech with a little bit of vocals on the side. But it’s not too vocally. It’s in between underground and more accessible dance music. It has a lot of tribal drums and tech beats but it still uses a bit of vocal every now and then.
Is it the ‘sound of now’?
It’s definitely a sound that’s coming through at the moment. I think a lot of people have gotten bored of the tech-house sounds and they’re wanting something with a bit more energy in the clubs. Especially in Ibiza it seems to be the way the sound is going now.
What makes a good bootleg dance track?
I think it’s a matter of finding the right thing to sample and not something that’s been done a million times before. It’s something which, for me, has to rock the underground but also possibly crossover to your slightly more accessible DJs. The end product needs to have a lot of dynamics and be uplifting and it needs to have a bit of soul to it. It can still be underground and tribal but it’s gotta have a bit of funk to it. And then it’s got to be something that, when I play it, I know it’s gonna make people thrown their hands in the air and go crazy.
Juan Kidd will appear at Limelight in Perth on July 3. One Love’s Smash Your Stereo is released through EMI on July 10.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
