5 Minutes With… Nima Khak

Posted by Rob on Feb 24, 2016 in Interviews | 0 comments

 

Swedish producer/DJ Nima Khak has, for years now been delivering a killer sound the techno scene of today. Having also set up his own label ‘Sand’ back in 2014 he has gone on to work with such substantial artists as Jesper Dahlbäck, Cari Lekebusch and now turning to remix the mighty Motormännen. We caught up with Nima to find out a little more behind this recent release as well as a brief history of the talent…

 

Introduce yourself for those who don’t know and tell us how the year has been so far. What’s good, what’s bad?

Nima Khak, Dj and producer based in Stockholm. Well the year has just started, have had a lot of time in the studio, which is a great thing, the weather has been really boring, no proper snow this winter, global warming is bad.

 

What scene and parties and labels and DJs did you get into first in Sweden? Did you start young? Was radio a factor? Maybe it was an older sibling?

I started to go out on raves in and around the Stockholm area in the end of the 90s. Those partys and seeing guys like Cari Lekebusch, Joel Mull, et al. preform more or less regularly had a huge impact on me. I used to listen to a lot of stuff coming out both from the Stockholm labels, like early Drumcode, Hybrid, Inside, Blank, Svek but also a lot of stuff from Johan Bactos labels down in Jönköping like Devils Choice, Mankind etc.

 

What excites you and influences you musically? What are you trying to achieve with your own beats? Are they made for a certain moment in the night?

I get influenced by traveling, meeting new people, interesting conversations, and synths, most of my productions are written to work naturally in my sets, especially the music I release on my own label SAND.

 

Do you always start in the same place with your tunes so bass or synth or percussion or whatever? Are you a hardware of software kind of guy?

No not really. It can be different from track to track.

 

Tell us about the remix you have just done for Lamour records… how did you approach it?

I like the originals, I thought it was an interesting idea and one that got me inspired right away when I heard it.

 

You quite often collaborate – who is that different to working solo? what better and worse, how do you chose who to work with?

I write plenty of music with friends. Together with Jesper Dahlbäck as Swedish Naan Boys, together with my long time friend Nihad Tule and also with Cari Lekebusch to name a few. It’s always an interesting and challenging process.

 

Tell us about your label – what the musical vibe, who do you look to sign, is it all about the music?

SAND is my platform for releasing my own pieces and music that I have written together with friends. It’s a free space for me to use as I see fit, but there is always a dance floor oriented focus.

 

Whats good and bad about running a label in 2016? is it hard work? Do you earn from it?

The only reason for me to run my label is the freedom that comes with it. I decide on all parts and therefor in every aspect the end result is what I truly want to put out. From the selection of the tracks, to the mastring and sound and the artwork. It’s hard work, but very rewarding. Every day that I have run the label have I gotten richer, but not in money, instead in interesting and thoughtful – what i would call real – experiences.

 

What do you like to do outside of music, how do you spend your time and money?

I am a synth entusiast, most of my time if I am not working I try to stay updated on whats new and interesting in the world of synths.

 

What else have you got coming up/are you looking forward to?

I have signed 3-4 solo EPs already this year and then there are a few remixes for friends that will be coming this year. The next piece that is coming out will be a solo EP on Parabel (previews here ) and I am working on the last stages of SAND005 also that should be out before the summer.

 

Nima’s latest remix of ‘Dagslåneräntan’ is available to purchase here.