Marking his first single of the year, KULI has joined forces with LeVant and Kollberg to unveil one of the most exciting dance collaborations we’ve heard this year, combining pop-leaning vocals with top-notch production on “Day & Night.” A tune as perfect for the radio, as it is for the festival stages, “Day & Night” is out via KULI’s very own label, Futurized Recordings, and is filled with exciting moments all throughout, starting off with energetic grooves before exploding into a hard-hitting yet melodic drop.
“When I got the drop from LeVant and Kollberg, I knew immediately I had to do something funky with this track,” says KULI. “The result is better than expected, when I sent the track to my producer friends, everybody was so impressed by the breaks following up the festival drops. This is one of my best tracks to date!”
A multi-talented producer, designer, and entrepreneur, KULI is working hard to overcome his battle with deafness, having established himself as a visionary within the scene. Inspired by Armin Van Buuren, he fell in love with music production and has managed to sign his songs to labels such as Universal Music Group and Hardwell’s Revealed Recordings, as well as amass millions of collective streams on digital platforms.
We had the opportunity to speak a little bit more about the release with Kuli! This is what he told us:
Hey KULI! Talk to us a bit about the creation behind “Day & Night.” How did it come about and what does the song mean to you.
LeVant and Kollberg had a drop idea lying around. As my speciality is making funky music, they asked me to make a funky break with their drop idea. I started to work with my co-producer Dusan on the break idea. After a lot of Zoom calls, Dusan and I made an arrangement where I added my stuff to the first drop to catch people off guard. After this, LeVant & Kollberg and Dusan & I had a lot of sessions to glue the parts together and finished this.
The song means a lot to me because I want to do different things than usual Future Bounce and the result became superb. The reply from the audience was astonishing, people loved the breaks and the drops. So it means a lot to me that my try to go in a different direction is being appreciated by the audience. For example, I quote a fan: ‘Yo the break of the new KULI LeVant and Kollberg track is suuuuper sick, makes it feel like a full song so much more than normal future bounce tracks. It’s missing in most tracks these days tbh’. This kind of reactions makes me way more motivated to continue what I am doing.
We know you like to collaborate with a lot of different people. What has been your favorite collaboration so far and why?
It’s the most fun thing to do, doing collaborations. Because you are building a big family with these collaborators. For example, with Debris and LeVant I have built a true friendship with. Especially with Debris, who has helped me a lot with musical stuff and management. He is a true friend to me, we have a lot of fun together while making music and I think that’s the most important thing, while making music.
What’s your inspiration behind making music? Do you have any specific things you do when being hit with writer’s block?
Lately I have been doing multiple genres of music. So I think my biggest inspiration might be Martin Garrix. What he has accomplished is insane. With different genres, he is still being able to stay relevant. That makes him my biggest inspiration. When I have a writersblock, which is rare, I do other stuff, like working for Futurized or my graphic design agency Studio Pete, to do different things.
How did you decide to launch Futurized Records? What’s the biggest challenge in being a label owner?
Futurized actually flowed out of my friendship with Debris. I really like ‘Future Room’, the genre Debris & Jonth and Rudelies have founded. It’s a hybrid between Big Room and Future Bounce. Nowadays, it’s a hybrid between festival music and Future Bounce. I got an offer to own Futurized, I took the chance immediately, as I have owned Exposed, Loca before and love to own a label and push the other talents and build a bridge for them to top tier labels. The biggest challenge was actually in COVID-period to stay relevant with festival music as more radio-friendly music was upcoming. But we stayed true to our sound, and now we see, it’s paying off with a lot of big talents signed to Futurized!
We know you have been battling with deafness. if you feel comfortable talking about it, how do you experience that as a producer and someone who works in the music industry?
First, I want to say, I feel 100% comfortable talking about being deaf. It’s a part of who I am, and I want to amplify that. It makes me unique compared to the other artists. I see this as an opportunity to be blessed that I can make a difference and show that I am able to make music. Because I am using it positively, I get also a lot of positive feedback in return. The biggest challenge is that I have to use a co-producer, but I don’t make a secret out of it, because I need an extra two pairs of ears to finalize these tracks. But in the end, it’s all about having fun and being happy in what I am doing, and that is unfortunately something I have been struggling with throughout the years. But now, without limiting myself in the genres, I really have fun with producing.
As both an artist and a label owner, you have a diverse set of experiences. What is your most favorite and least favorite thing about the music industry?
My favorite thing in the music industry, is the community I am surrounded by. It’s amazing to see how supportive people can be to each other. The least favorite thing is that you actually have to pay to be big as a musician and your success is dependent on Spotify and / or numbers, in the meanwhile it should be about the music.
What are your plans for the rest of 2022? Anything your fans should get excited about?
I am going to Serbia, at the end of May to do a writerscamp with Dusan, that is where I am most excited for. Also, I have music ready for upcoming months after working a full year on the music. You can expect a lot of funky stuff in different genres / styles. Also, I am excited for Futurized’s forthcoming releases in the summer and possible plans for label touring with the artists!
Where do you see yourself and your career in 5 years?
It’s really hard question haha, honestly because there happened a lot of things in past year, for example, my hearing issue is degenerative, which caused a big loss of hearing last year. I want to live day by day and have fun, with what’s going on now. But the biggest dream is to have a collaboration with Martin Garrix, like combining my funk style with his signature sound. Touring around the world is also on my shortlist. At least and not to forget, I would love to have a family with few kids and a healthy life and be happy and do what I love, day by day and enjoy the life!