Dukwa

As the moon uses it power on Earth’s seas, Dukwa has been making waves on our planet for a decade now. Secreting his love for machines, classic house and raw experimentation into his musical processes, everything he creates and manipulates is a palpable mirrored image of the producer he has become. His sonic beginnings in beautiful Florence predominantly came as part of the Life’S Track project with long term and much-admired producer Herva. Within their shared visions they aligned via musicality and creativity, releasing a handful of innovative EPs and two albums. These fundamental experiences helped lay the foundation for Dukwa’s conception, the love for keys, sampling and hardware blossomed into a new creature – combining class and grit flawlessly whether in production or live on the fly in a club setting. 

The Dukwa persona came to fruition in 2011, but the inaugural release arrived in 2014 courtesy of his old friends at Bosconi. They put out ‘Tools Part1’, a house and disco amalgamation of jacking tools inherent to his deep-rooted musical genesis. Blinkered and focused, he set forth creating tracks borne from the depths of his musical soul, bringing his style to the attention of esteemed UK labels Don’t Be Afraid and Numbers who both gave him a place to rest his tireless motives. His ‘Shattered In A Thousand Pieces’ EP got widespread reps from the places it needed, especially the head-turning ‘Thoughts (feat Mar G)’ which even made it as far as featuring on a standout BBC Documentary entitled ‘Can You Feel It – How Dance Music Conquered the World’. The squelchy bassline, shuffling percussion and haunting vocal cut proved instantly recognisable but effortlessly original. The EP received well-deserved love and considerable airtime amongst high-calibre DJs, which in turn increased Dukwa’s drive tenfold. 

Next move on his chessboard was creating a label, Dukwa Music. The 2 EPs ‘ Straight To You’ and ‘Wire’ go straight to the core of all that he loves. Chock full of pumping percussion, acutely euphoric keys and a disco/rave aesthetic combination, you see there simply is no curvature to his charted progression. His diagonal evolution nurtures all manner of original genre and rebirths them. Growing as a human and sonic creator, his educational insistence in understanding the methods to his madness have only made him more desirable and insistent. 

His unbounded pragmatism courses through the latest release on mysterious new Glasgow Label ‘TDSR’, entitled ‘Tears Like Stones’. He reinterpreted his off the cuff writing approach and spat out an unrestricted influence laden beast of a new variety, channelling glistening arpeggios, vintage Detroit house and authentic electro. The standout track ‘My Journey into Eternity’ was championed by Queen Annie Mac who even likened the alluringly frenetic keys and agile percussion to the stylings of Motor City legend Rolando. 

Through continually developing his sound and character, Dukwa’s music increasingly mesmerises and startles; always boiling down to his meticulous, well-oiled productive regime of hardware, sampling and editing. His quintessence is always abundantly apparent – raw, punchy and inimitable.