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Life after Demolition: kajis

Thursday, 01 November 2018
The winner of the event on how he plans to build on his success after the closing panel of ADE Sound Lab 2018.

The 23rd edition of the legendary Demolition panel, helmed as always by DJ Dave Clarke, was won by wildcard pick kajis, a.k.a. producer Sami Huttunen from Finland, for the trance tune 'Omega'. This was the first time ever that a wildcard pick has taken the coveted first prize at Demolition.

The panel of judges featured Radio 1’s B. Traits, Joseph Capriati, Sander van Doorn and Capital Radio’s Coco Cole, all of whom chose the track as being the best of a what all agreed was a vintage year. The lucky winner walked away with a Native Instruments Maschine Mikro MK3, an Ableton Live 10 Suite, a Pioneer DJ DJS 1000, a Soundcloud Pro subscription and a pass for ADE 2019.

“The confidence boost was huge after the win,” Huttunen said. “I am sure every artist goes through second thoughts about their music when it's being made, so hearing such good feedback from professionals like Sander Van Doorn meant a lot. I also had a couple of interviews, but mainly I have just been soaking it all up, and enjoying the overall good vibes that the whole ADE week and this event gave me.”

He has plenty of new music lined up: “2019 will start with a bang! The plan is to get most of it out, and it is just a matter of finding the right time, possibly working with a label to schedule them correctly. Sometimes this takes more time than what we artists would like, but it is what it is. Also, I generally prefer releasing stuff myself so that I have complete control over release schedules, the cover art etc, so this is also something I will surely be doing in the near future,” he added.

Runner-up 'Do It' by Talkback Heads is described by producer Paulo Saraiva as a mix of melodic techno with tech house elements. “On my EP One Way on M5 records, the sound of the melody you hear is coming from my Fender Stratocaster, as I was playing a riff on my guitar and built the entire track around it, later adding some effects such as reverb, echo, and delay,” Saraiva said. “I like to experiment with sounds and mix several styles, and having a few guitars, a drum machine and a drum kit definitely helps in the creative process. As for Do It, the main idea behind the sound was to use stabbing, percussive synths for the main melody, and then I worked around shaping the bass sound, added a hint of distortion to create a more present and howling bass line that emphasises the sensation of talk back with the Synth. This makes the track a bit darker than my usual work, perhaps a fusion between tech and deep house.”

Kajis - Omega

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