3kelves & Dylan C. Greene Talk New Label C3DO, San Francisco Disco & Drop Disco Selectors 56
3Kelves and Dylan C. Greene are two artists who have popped up time and time again on the LV radar. San Francisco resident 3Kelves and Netherlands born, and now San Francisco domiciled Dylan Green have been making some wicked disco and house music. It’s music with a real edge which definitely stands out in the endless sea of tracks landing every day. They have chalked up an enviable list of releases together already on stand out labels including True Romance and Kitsune. This is a duo who definitely mean business.
After meeting online during the pandemic the two have become firm friends and the fact that Dylan moved continents so that they can work more closely together says everything that you need to know about their determination for success.
They have just launched a new label, C3DO, along with Indonesian group We Are Neurotic with the first track, Hyperservice, coming from them and it’s a powerhouse of hi energy disco house with a real twist. You can grab it HERE
To celebrate I spoke to 3kelves & Dylan about all things C3DO, San Francisco, We Are Neurotic and lots more, they also put together a brilliant mix for our Disco Selectors Series, check it below and please give it a share over on Soundcloud and help us spread the love x
Hi 3kelves & Dylan thanks for speaking to us today.
Where are you both based and what are you up to today?
[Dylan C. Greene]
So, we’re currently both based in San Francisco. Lucas (3kelves) has been living here for a good while now, but I’ve just moved here from the Netherlands, where I grew up, about 9 months ago. I’ve been visiting Lucas here over the last few years and loved SF. So, after our California Tour last year I just decided to bite the bullet and make the move so we could DJ more frequently and work more closely on music projects. It made launching the label a bit easier, although I’m sure we could have pulled it off either way.
You have been working together for some time now, how did you first meet?
[3kelves]
We actually met online during the pandemic. Disclosure started streaming on Twitch and hosting remix competitions for their Discord community, and we both started participating in them. One week I actually got first place over Dylan with an entry made entirely out of Kazoo and meme sounds, which I still give him shit for. We kind of bonded in the chat due to our love of obscure disco and house, and decided to work on some songs. I think the first idea I sent over to Dylan was a flip of a 70s sample that ended up becoming our track ‘Get Up, Get Out’.
How is the Disco scene in San Francisco right now? What are the big clubs and are there any other artists we should be looking out for?
[Dylan C. Greene]
It’s kind of great right now. I grew up in a smaller city in The Netherlands where it was a lot rarer to see a bigger DJ perform. You’re only option for that was to go to Amsterdam which just wasn’t practical all the time. But San Francisco is such a major city that every artist just has to come through. You’ll have Floating Points the one weekend, Eris Drew the next, Barry Can’t Swim the following one, it’s fantastic. We’re lucky that we get to support those shows here and there, although we are trying to be mindful not to become your ‘average local opener DJs’. There are countless clubs and spots to which is great. 1015 Folsom, Audio SF and The Midway come to mind, and there are also some great up-and-comers playing in SF too. Artists like Tripleset, Demotapes, Baalti, Clearcast and the Vitamin 1K crew are definitely some to look out for.
Please can you choose your favourite track that the other has done?
[3kelves]
Mine is Dylan’s remix of ‘Knock Knock’ by DanDlion. It didn’t get too noticed because of a major flub by the label, another reason you should start your own to be honest, but the track should be noticed more. Every time I play it the ending is supremely ethereal, especially in clubs.
[Dylan C. Greene]
Lucas has recently been putting out some more indie dance stuff on the label Toucan Sounds. He’s also singing on the tracks! The first single Nonsense is one I helped produce and during that session I found out that Lucas has an incredible hidden talent for lyric and topline writing. He can get a full song’s worth of lyrics down in a matter of minutes, all the while keeping them fresh and original sounding. It was kind of shocking, in the best way, the first time I witnessed it.
Please can you tell us a little about your journey to setting up your new label C3DO Recordings?
[3kelves]
Basically, we we’re done constantly selling ourselves to other labels. We have so much good music and we feel like the bureaucracy of dealing with other labels was slowing down our output so much that we wanted a platform to just put out whatever we want whenever we want. We wanted to do it properly though. So, we took our time with the visual look of it and finding a good distributor, etc. We’ve been working developing the label for about year now so it’s great to finally put it out there.
Did you have any inspiration from other favourite labels in mind when you were setting up C3DO?
[Dylan C. Greene]
Definitely a lot of different styles and types of labels influenced us. I really like how Demi Riquisimo handles his label Semi-Delicious, although we aren’t a vinyl label (yet), that very much kickstarted the idea to start an imprint we can consistently put stuff out on. Basement Discos is another one we took inspiration from, mostly about building a playful, unique visual style. As for the musical side of things, we’re not looking to put out your average cookie-cutter dance music. We want things to be a little weird and have every release be a bit different, DFA Records comes to mind as a label that does that very well.
What is the musical ethos of C3DO right now in 2024?
[Dylan C. Greene]
Playful and different, groovy house and disco music, not afraid to stray away from your typical dance music formulas. That’s what we’re all about.
Your first release is with We Are Neurotic, who are also label partners. What can you tell us about the trio and their single Hyperservice.
[3kelves]
We also met the Neurotic crew in the Disclosure Discord, and started collaborating online with their frontman Jonathan Mono a bunch. He’s an amazingly fast and skilled instrumentalist and can crush any idea we throw at him. ‘Hyperservice’ is listed as collaboration #39 out of hundreds now. It started as a 16-bar loop that I put together and sent over to J to riff on, and before we know it we developed it into this crazy fast disco roller. We Are Neurotic’s drummer Karel William added some live drums and we asked another Indonesian friend Matalino Siraj to lay down a piano solo at the end, which is actually all one-take.
You have opened your label account with a trio from Indonesia, I take it that we can expect the label to be a worldwide affair?
[3kelves]
Absolutely, we actually visited Jakarta last December and got a massive amount of music done. We also got our music placed in some Korean Samsung commercials not too long ago so we are not strangers for doing business in all parts of the world.
What would you say to any artists looking to hook up a release with C3DO?
[Dylan C. Greene]
Keep it fresh and different. And also, don’t take it personal if we turn down your demos, we aren’t really looking to sign other artists at the moment but mostly want to use C3DO as a platform to publish our own work. However, if it’s really freaking amazing, I guess we would be crazy not to sign it.
What are your plans to develop the label in the coming years? Do you see it as just a singles/ EP label or will the also be artist albums?
[Dylan C. Greene]
Getting a steady output of Vinyl releases going would definitely be our next goal once we have settled in to putting stuff out properly digitally. Singles and EPs will be the main focus right now considering streaming and social media nowadays doesn’t really favour albums, but I think once we get more grounded, we will definitely start considering it. We do still love albums as an artform.
What are you both doing on the DJ front right now, do you have any big residencies or tours coming up?
[3kelves]
I’m currently doing 2 shows in Japan and 1 in Korea. Once I get back to the states, we have a really exciting run of b2b shows coming up. Most notably we’re playing the Moustache Bash festival in San Diego alongside Moodymann and Never Dull, after which we’re going to be headed to NYC for two shows, one at Elsewhere with Supertaste and one at Black Flamingo with Dee Diggs.
You have put together a mix for Le Visiteur featuring some of your favourite tracks which in some way inspired the creation of C3DO, what can you tell us about the mix and what are some of the tracks on the mix which really stand out for you.
[Dylan C. Greene]
We tried to make a mix that matches and represents the sonic vibe we are going for with C3DO. Fresh, different, playful and eclectic. You’re getting a bunch of different flavours but none of them are your typical ‘dance track’. For example, the second track ‘Hausmachine Alpha’, by Hade. It’s got all your typical disco edit elements, but it’s got this amazing tongue-and-cheek German vocal and the kick and low-end has been oversaturated so much. It bumps in the best way.
[3kelves]
A few tracks later we mix in Lord Leopard’s Club Saturn. Which is a perfect blend of a classic club track and an indie pop song. It’s so slept on. We’ve played this in multiple sets and it always goes off. Also, a cowbell as lead sound is always a great choice. The track after it is amazing too. It’s Kenlou’s mix of ‘Song For My Brother’ by George Benson, which starts as a classic house track with a swing beat, but what follows is a guitar/vocal scat solo that just goes on forever and gets progressively crazier. We’ve played this one in the club a few times and it really splits the crowd into people going crazy for it vs. people going to get a drink. That’s a good thing, we’re not trying to please everyone.
[Dylan C. Greene]
I think it’s all about have a familiar groovy foundation in a track but making sure there is also a unique element being presented. Another example is Mood II Swing’s remix of ‘Flame’ by Crustation. They take the original’s indie-triphop, almost Bjork-ish vocal, and build this perfectly fitting garage house tune around it. It’s such a rare combo and sets such a moody vibe.
How does the style of mix here compare to how you would approach a live DJ set?
[3kelves]
Well for one this one is performed a bit cleaner. Also, the selections are a bit more tailored for listening to at home or while commuting. On stage, we can go a bit wild behind the decks, we also love to use the filters, a lot. We have certain tracks we know will mess with the audience: creating semi-annoying moments or awkward quiet breakdowns before bringing the whole groove back in. We like to have fun with it and troll the crowd a bit instead of doing your typical: ‘build-up, drop, rinse, repeat.’.
Which other artists DJ mixes do you find yourself coming back to time and again and do you have a favourite that you gravitate towards?
[Dylan C. Greene]
I have many mixes that I keep coming back to, but one that stands out right now is Octo Octa’s Set at Dekmantel 2023. I’m a huge fan of her and Eris Drew’s style of DJing and digging, it’s something I really want to work towards in the future. Completely vinyl only, finding these cheap records from the 90s and early 2000s that have been completely forgotten, but when you play them out, they go completely mental. They really know how to discover old gems and bring them back to life. Also the way they use scratch records to add hype to their sets is really unique.
[3kelves]
One mix Dylan and I were listening to on repeat while we we’re building our current studio was Sadar Bahar’s mix for the Defected Broadcasting House. He’s a true Disco selector and definitely showcasing a style of vinyl DJing that I’m a big fan of. I love finding the rare stuff and there are so many great tunes in here that aren’t on shazam. You really have to do the work to find these gems on wax but once you do you will have that track as a weapon forever. This set is a great example of that.
What else can we expect from 3kelves & Dylan C. Greene in 2024?
[Dylan C. Greene]
This year we are really focussed on putting out a lot more music. Lucas has a whole indie EP coming out on Toucan Sounds and I’m still working on finishing up a few more house records to put out later this year. We also have all of our C3DO Recordings releases lined up for the rest of the year, so expect monthly drops from us over there. We’re also starting to get focus on throwing more label events and getting some bigger shows lined up for this summer, so stay tuned for that!
For more info on 3kelves, Dylan C Greene & C3DO Recordings please check
3kelves Instagram
Dylan C Greene Instagram
C3DO Recordings Instagram
Love this? Check out more from 3kelves & Dylan Greene HERE
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3Kelves & Dylan C Greene – Disco Selectors 56 – Tracklist
1. Borrowed Identity – Musique
2. Hade – Hausmachine Alpha
3. Underground System – Looking In (Clive From Accounts Remix)
4. 3kelves – Nonsense
5. Lord Leopard – Club Saturn (feat. Conal Kelly)
6. George Benson – Song For My Brother (Kenlou 12″ Mix)
7. Crustation – Flame (Mood II Swing Vocal Mix)
8. Dylan C. Greene – Fool Me [Forthcoming on C3DO Recordings]
9. Hush Hush – Good Love
10. Igor Gonya & 3kelves – Tittman
11. Lion Babe – Love Another Time (3kelves & Dylan C. Greene Remix)
12. Makèz – Unreleased ID
13. David Bay – dancing on the edge (Dylan C. Greene Remix)
14. We Are Neurotic – Hyperservice
15. Black Cock – Juicy Sushi
