New Zealand’s bass scene is bursting at the seams with talent. One artist who’s at the top of our list of producers to look out for is Troy Kete. We recently premiered his collabs ‘AXIS’ and ‘Do U Want 2 Be U,’ and he continues to impress with every release. In addition to his most recent work, he’s been a staple in the scene for a few years working with heavy-hitters like QUIX, Montel2099, 8eR$ and more. Consistency and determination is leading Troy Kete to become one of New Zealand’s hottest exports. With that in mind, we decided to link up with Troy for an exclusive guest mix and interview. The mix is 30 minutes of brash bass goodness. He weaves together a multitude of genres while keeping things heavy throughout. Listen to the mix and be sure to grab the free download. The tracklist and interview are below.
How long have you been in New Zealand? Did you grow up there?
I was born in Auckland, New Zealand and have lived here ever since. It’s a beautiful country and we have some of the friendliest people in the world.
It wasn’t until I was maybe 17 when I first heard trap music and decided I wanted to start producing again and making ‘bass’ music.
How did you get into DJing and producing?
I actually started producing a lot earlier than DJing, but was mainly just making really horrible basshunter type songs and hardstyle stuff. Then I started DJing and took a little break from producing. It wasn’t until I was maybe 17 when I first heard trap music and decided I wanted to start producing again and making ‘bass’ music.
You’ve worked with QUIX on a few collabs. How did you guys first connect? Any chance of another collab in the near future?
Yeah me and Jono go way back. I first heard his music on SoundCoud in 2014 and he had literally 300 or so followers, I was super impressed and honestly, no one was making the stuff he was making back then, so I hit him up on Facebook and asked if he wanted to work on something and he was down so we dropped our 1st collab called ‘1,2’ and from there on it’s history haha!
Jono is super busy and working with some insanely talented and famous producers so I don’t think another collab is anywhere on his to-do list and I’m cool with that! I’m just super proud of how far he has come in such a little time, he’s an absolute inspiration.
You’ve done a ton of collaborations. Do you prefer working with someone else to working alone? Are there advantages to both?
Yeah man, I actually love working on music with other talented people. I think it is definitely important to also have a lot of solo content as well and that’s my focus at the moment. My upcoming EP is a complete solo project so I’m pretty excited about that.
there’s so much talent down here and I think it’s just the beginning.
It seems like New Zealand’s bass scene is ready to explode. Has it been this good for a while or is the swell relatively recent?
The bass scene down here has always been really good, there’s so much talent down here and I think it’s just the beginning. People like LATU, T1R, Dreamer, Harlen Jones & yancey are all killing it!
Most of your music is really heavy and hard-hitting. What draws you to that sound?
It’s just something i’ve always enjoyed making. Although I am planning to make some slower, melodic stuff in the future ;)
What can we expect from you in terms of releases this year?
I have an upcoming collab with 8er$, and also another with SPENDA C so I’m excited about those. And then my EP ‘Agonal’ is in the works as well.
What’s the best SoundCloud comment you’ve ever received?
“This song has my dog steppin to me” gets me everytime haha
Tell us a little bit about the mix.
I wanted to play through a few different genres but it’s mostly just a bunch of my favorite bass tracks at the moment. I’m loving NXSTY’s sound at the moment so I dropped quite a few of his new tracks ;)
I like to always keep it interesting. It sounds pretty lame haha but I want to take listeners on a journey when I play.
It spans a few different genres from trap to house to dubstep. Is this common for you when DJing?
Yeah man I like to always keep it interesting. It sounds pretty lame haha but I want to take listeners on a journey when I play.
Tracklist:
NXSTY – ID
RL GRIME – CORE (TYNAN FLIP)
CHILDISH GAMBINO – THIS IS AMERICA (MATRODA VIP EDIT)
VALENTINO KHAN – PUMP
MATRODA – JUNGLE IN BRAZIL
DABOW – PLAY
BOOMBOX CARTEL – WIDDIT (Ft. QUIX)
WILDLYF – ALARM
EKALI & SLUMBERJACK – HELIOS/I WANNA KNOW (YVNG JALAPENO EDIT)
QUIX & MATRODA – LAMBO (NXSTY REMIX)
MISSY ELLIOT – WORK IT
NXSTY – B R E A K
NXSTY X LOCA – GET IT
NXSTY – T E R R A
BADRAPPER & NXSTY – STOOPID
G-REX – EFFE
LUX – SMASH
LUUPY – DEMONS
DISCLOSURE – YOU & ME (FLUME REMIX)
LIGONE – COMPLETE (R.O REMIX)
