New Zealand funk/nu disco artist La Felix has shared his new single “My Kinda Love,” featuring the silky smooth vocals of Rynjae. The track is an easy-drinking, loungey pop single fit for a backyard sunset happy hour on the West Coast. It focuses on the euphoria of falling for someone…the excitement of the thrill of the ‘Romeo & Juliet’ phase.
“It’s a song about meeting that perfect girl,” says La Felix. “Spontaneous and unexpected love on a vacation, somewhere sunny with a nice beach.”
Unlike most millennials, music was not readily available to him on the internet, instead Felix was a “crate digger.” He discovered his music by sifting through his mother’s huge vinyl collection. Records ranging from the Jazz and Blues eras, to the Classical, Baroque, and Romantic periods captivated his creativity. Felix attributes his genre melding melody writing to the diversity he found in those crates. La Felix now finds his inspiration from artists such as Oliver Nelson, Louis The Child, and Cosmo’s Midnight.
Tell us about the genesis of La Felix. How did you get to where you are now?
I first dabbled with music production in high school. Back then when everyone was into Electro I was deeply in love with the French House scene with Daft Punk and Justice. Once I heard D.A.N.C.E and Harder Better Faster Stronger I knew I wasn’t getting out. I was under that French House Disco spell and I was in it for good.
I had to figure out how they made their baselines, how Daft Punk made their vocoders sound so fat clear and more importantly how they manipulated samples to create a completely new song.
It was like when hip hop producers would grab a funk/ breakbeat track and loop the best exciting part to make an instrumental. Except with Justice and Daft Punk, the original samples became a palette or starting point for a completely new song. It was a much more complicated process as they would add their own elements alongside the sample to create something completely new.
So the whole La Felix project was just me figuring out how the French producers did what they did. But afterwards I just kept going because I really loved the process. Making music made me happy.
What’s a musical guilty pleasure of yours?
Hmm…Probably Sigala. Even though its super Pop’y and commercial I just love his crystal clean production as well as the happy energy he brings.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
These days Im totally obsessed with Darius and FKJ. Darius is an absolute magician with sound design. Every element is introduced with purpose and perfection. The way he can bring in elements and evoke certain feelings…. Its insane. With FKJ its more like listening to a modern day Mozart. He’s a modern day savant and he’s always such a pleasure to listen to.
Favorite activity to blow off some steam?
Golf Golf and Golf. There’s nothing quite like smacking 200 balls on a stressful day.
Tell us about My Kinda Love and how it came about.
I used to flat with a bunch of musicians and one of my flatmates had a jazz musician friend who loved Nu Disco but couldn’t really produce. I thought it would be cool to team up and use his jazzy influences into my Nudisco style. After finishing off the arrangement I got my other friend Danny to write a Topline to it. We had to go through a few renditions but it came out really great.
Its definitely one of my favourite tracks
What are some things you do to deal with anxiety and creative blocks?
With anxiety I usually have a deep breathing exercise which brings me back down to normal. People underestimate the power of breathing.
With creative blocks, I don’t really get it. I think if you just open up your DAW and try to make music from scratch, you’re always going to come up short.
I never run out of inspiration because I can take inspiration from places other than music; adverts, movies, games, art etc. I don’t have enough time to explore all the inspiration I get from the world so I don’t really get creative blocks.
What is the most embarrassing memory and most proud moment of your career so far ?
I’d say my first few releases make me cringe. But that’s a good thing I suppose because it shows progress, but still…. a little embarrassing.
My proudest moment would probably be getting my first million streams. That’s always a nice milestone.
Also, getting my first sync deal for Netflix was really nice.
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
“One day or Day One, you decide”
Where do you think the music and entertainment industry is headed after this past year?
The crazy thing about the music industry is, once you think you’ve figured it out, it changes again. Its always progressing and changing and the only way to keep up is to adapt with it. I think indie artists will do even better as time goes on. I think people are starting to figure out other ways of making money in the industry whether its through paid subscriptions or Twitch Streams and I frankly have no idea but I’m excited to find out how the music industry evolves in the next few years.
