Jeff Kaale (22) classifies himself as versatile and experimental. Kenya, Nairobi-born Jeff Kaale has been working on his craft since 2015 from the starting age of 17. He found his original style from the boom bap lofi period on SoundCloud and worked his way up to getting his music recognized by big YouTubers such as Casey Neistat.
On April 10, Jeff Kaale released his newest single “See“. We had the chance to chat with the up-and-coming producer. Read on!
Tell us about your beginning as an artist How did everything start? What got you hooked on producing music?
I started my music career as an artist by really having an obsession of drum pads and sampling. I first found out about sampling through YouTube tutorials and other similar artists. But obviously back then I didn‘t have enough money to purchase a drum pad. So I just went ahead and keybinded random samples onto my old beat up macbook keyboard and that’s where it all started.
With thousands of new tracks being released every day – and decreasing attention span of users due to the sheer amount of content online – it is becoming essential for up-and-coming artists to stand out. What are your thoughts (and strategies) on that matter?
To be 100 % focused on developing as musician and have a clear vision about my online media presence. I still take it as a huge privilege to be able to present myself online. I would have never been able to do this 15 years ago. Yes, you can say that nowadays it is a competitive environment but still it’s mostly about your own journey.
You’ve been collaborating with vlogger phenomenon Casey Neistat. How did that happen?
Well it all started when he said he was going to upload a video every single day, then he tweeted that he needed some music for his videos. I then said to myself why not? I quickly sent him an email and he basically started to put all my songs into his daily videos, so I also made them basically on a daily bases and became very consistent with it.
You did release an album in 2019 – “Pollen”. What do you like about the album format – especially in a time when everybody seems to focus on single releases?
The album speaks for itself. It sort of grows on you over time the longer you listen to it, thats what my intentions were. And we had planned this way before with my collaborator Pryces (talented artist). We started with sending each other ideas every week until we came up with something and we didn’t want to limit ourselves by putting a label on what we actually do.
Give us a sneak peek in your producton process. How does a Jeff Kaale track come to life?
I usually start with two glasses of water and an apple before I do anything it just helps me think better. I then flip through Spotfiy and SoundCloud and analyse most of my favourite music, that helps me really pick up. After that I mainly start with the bass, because that usually structures the entre song. Then drums and then finally a choice of my own chords.
If you could only work with 3 plugins from now on, which ones would you pick and why?
I would pick Serum, Trillian & Keyscape. Serum because you can literally make anything you want, Trillian has very many good sounding bass sounds especially the acoustic bass and then fnally Keyscape, I feel for Keyscape the sky is the limit. Reason being you have such a variety of sounds that you’ll never get bored of.
What’s next for Jeff Kaale? Please tease us with upcoming releases, collaboratons, live shows etc.
So far I can tell that I’m definitely still gonna release instrumental music and beats, but at the same time after the single “Please You” I just released another single called „See“ a day ago. It manages to create calming soundcape of synths and acoustic guitar, all backed up by a Hip-Hop beat residues of my older stuff. Me and the singer Malik Elijah wanted to come up with something more positive about love this time and the importance to always be yourself even when you share your life with other person. So yeah this is the first time i’m actually releasing songs with vocalists/singers. All I have to say is just stay tuned and get ready.
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