Monika & Akuratyde | Te Ahi Top 10

Written by on 12 May 2021

Returning to the number one spot is Monika & Akuratyde with their new song Moment, featuring Christchurch vocalist Laura Hunter. Taken from their recent EP We Breathe, the track is a smooth slice of liquid Drum and Bass.

We caught up with the pair to chat about how the collaboration with Laura came about, their songwriting process, and their recent EP.

Check out the interview below.

You guys are back in the number one spot with a new song, Moment featuring Laura Hunter, whatā€™s that feeling like?

Monika: So sick! Weā€™re honoured that people are digging our sound.

Akuratyde: Yeah, really proud and amazed to be back in the #1 spot already!

How did the collaboration with Laura come about?

M: Laura reached out to people in the Chch DNB community, looking to work on some liquid drum and bass. It didnā€™t take long for us to meet up and get something moving!

Talk to me a little more about how the song came together? Were you all in a writing session or was the collaboration more remote?

A: Iā€™m in the US and Maxwell Monika is in NZ so all of our collaborations are done remotely. We start by sending the other person a short sketch of a tune and kind of talk through our ideas for it.

M: Yeah, itā€™s usually a small idea that balloons by sending the project back and forth. It just happened that I started the idea on this track and Dan Akuratyde beefed it up. We sent the instrumental to Laura and she wrote some sick vocals which we then recorded together at Loho Studios Ferrymead.

How does working with a vocalist change the way you produce a song?

M: You have to leave room for the vocalist to do their thing otherwise you will have lots of clashing parts in the track. Less is more when working with vocalists.

It has quite a liquid drum and bass feel to it, was that something you were trying to create?

M: Most of the time you just follow what youā€™re feeling on the day and what vibe comes naturally.

A: Lauraā€™s vocals definitely added a lot of smoothness to the track. The bassline is pretty gnarly but itā€™s tempered by the more melodic elements in the song.

You released the song through Fokuz Recordings who are based in the Netherlands, how did that come about?

A: Maxwell had worked with them before so when we were putting together our debut Monika & Akuratyde EP, and they seemed like the natural choice.

M: Yeah, we released House On Fire with Fokuz last year, since weā€™d already established that relationship coming into this EP the label were stoked to work with us again!

The track is from your recently released EP We Breathe, can you tell me a bit more about the project as a whole?

M: This was a chance for us to show a heavier and more experimental side to our sound.

A: Absolutely. Iā€™m really happy with the amount of range weā€™re showing on this EP.

You can check out Moment below.

The Te Ahi Top 10 is our weekly chart as voted by YOU, our audience! Presented live every Thursday 3 ā€“ 4pm on RDU 98.5FM. 

To vote for the Te Ahi Top 10 simply download the RDUnited app and click the like icon for a track you love when itā€™s played on air. The tune with the most likes each week will be crowned the winner! Simple as that.


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