Bondax Breaks Down Their "Bondax And Friends" Album, Track-By-Track

Over the last three years, the London-based duo known as Bondax have been making a name for themselves, first catching our eyes via a release on the f

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Complex Original

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Over the last three years, the London-based duo known as Bondax have been making a name for themselves, first catching our eyes via a release on the forward-thinking Four40 Records imprint to Relentless and Sony Music (UK), who have been angling to help these two truly blow. Remixes for established acts like Rudimental, Duke Dumont, Jerome LOL, and more have also helped the cause. In November, Bondax dropped their 25-track Bondax and Friends mix album, which finds them not only showcasing their skills as DJs, but their ill sense of curation. And while you can listen to a dope mix and say "I know what these guys are about," it's always iller to have them walk you through the tracks themselves. Find out more about the producers and tracks that make up Bondax and Friends, and in turn learn more about this emerging duo.

Bondax - "Intro"

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Bondax ft. Bo Saris - "Let Me Be"

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This track is one of our personal favourites, we finished this song back in May '13, so we're really happy to finally have it out there! We made this song with the very talented Bo Saris, it was a track that came about after we'd been in the studio with Bo recording vocals for one of our previous singles "Giving It All." Instead, we all decided instead to start a tune from scratch together and this is the outcome. Its basically a homage to R&B, we wanted to make a track in the same vain of alot the music we've sampled over the past few years, whilst trying to incorporate new and fresh UK elements with the US sound.

Stwo - "Quiet Life"

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Stwo's a gifted producer from Paris and a member of the HW&W labelthats based in Canada. He's a lovely guy and he makes really good music, too! This is one of our favorite Stwo beats, every sound is so carefully compressed, it really sounds huge but at the same time very floaty and beautiful, something we try and do with our music a lot. A lot of respect for this guy, keep your eye on him he can only get bigger!

Karma Kid - "Who Knows"

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Karma Kid is our best friend in music. We've played countless shows together and always try to make an effort to see each other as much as possible! We released his first record "It's Always" on our record label back in 2012, and since then his music has only grown in maturity and complexity. This track is an exclusive for the compilation, its sounds like a hybrid of the old Karma Kid sound and his new slower, more instrumental hip-hop influenced project "Shy Luv," watch out for Karma Kid and Shy Luv, bound to be on your iPod/Turntable/Walkman/Betamax soon.

Shagabond - "Coral Soup"

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Shagabond is a teenage producer from near Toronto in Canada. He made this song when he was only 17, and he's definitely got a lot of growing to do and a lot more music to make, but if his beats are sounding like this now, its very exciting to think what they'll sound like when he's 21!

"Coral Soup" is one of his best beats so far, simultaneously ethereal and groovy, a hard balance to achieve but he gets it just right on this one. We had the pleasure of performing with him and Pomo in Toronto recently in October, and he played a really cool set, and turned out to be a super nice guy, excited to hear what he makes in the future.

DJ Cam Quartet - "Rebirth Of Cool"

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DJ Cam is an extremely talented musician and producer from France. He's one of the few people on this compilation we've never actually met, we're just big fans of his output. He's released two albums as "DJ Cam Quartet" (Diggin' and Rebirth Of Cool), the latter is one of our favorite new-jazz albums of the past decade. This is the title track, and we're very big fans of this one! One day George found this tune on YouTube, and it didn't get turned off for a few days. Its super cool and super chilled out, the chords ooze class, and the trumpet line is timeless, it's quite different to a lot of the tunes in this mix album, but it's definitely one of our favorites on the package.

Olsen ft. Mark Borgazzi - "Together"

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Olsen is one of our best friends from Lancaster, where we grew up. We both moved in with him to a flat in Manchester earlier this year and we're always making music, it's a lot of fun living together. This tune is our favorite song he's made. Featuring vocals from italian crooner Mark Borgazzi (another good friend of ours), this song is very beautiful indeed, the beat is ultimately chilled and deep, whilst Marks smooth vocal sits perfectly on top of the rhodes, defining the mood and the groove of the tune.

Alina Baraz - "Art Of Persuasion (Esta Remix)"

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Despite only being on the scene for a few years, Esta seems to be analmost prolific producer, constantly churning out beats. He's from San Diego in California and is part of the Soulection record label, a label we're both big fans of. This remix is huge, we play it out whenever we can and it definitely sounds massive on a system! Complimenting Alina Baraz's ethereal vocal perfectly, this beat is basically the epitome of swag, without even trying to be. The drums and percussion are so powerful and are in such a propulsive rhythm, it's definitely a tune that makes your neck snap back and forth involuntarily.

Bo Saris - "Little Bit More (Bodhi Remix)"

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Bodhi are a production duo from Cardiff, they've been making music for a while now, and this remix is definitely one of our favourite tracks we've heard from them. The chilled out beachy rhodes really takes you away to a place a lot prettier than Cardiff, the vocoder on Bo's vocal is super slick, but when that funky slap bass comes in, hats off to the Bodhi boys there, its a great moment and sounds like a great combination of modern-day house and classic disco from the 70s. They've supported us on tour many times and its always a pleasure!

Bondax ft. Speelburg - "Something Good"

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We made this tune with a friend of ours called Speelburg, who's a very talented singer, writer and producer. The whole tune is based around a funky saxophone line that George sampled into Maschine and chopped up. The song also features a lot of disco guitars, popping percussion and bouncing basslines. It was really fun to make, as we pretty much made it with the intention of being more of a club track than anything else, something we don't do very often. The end result is hopefully quite a fun, flamboyant track.

Reva Devito - "Kisses"

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Reva Devito is another member of the HW&W crew from Canada. Hailing from Portland, Reva Devito's voice is timeless and reminiscent of Erykah Badu and Lauryn HIll. We're big fans of the music she's put out and we can't wait to hear more! "Kisses" is a stripped back R&B joint, shimmering with sultriness and playfulness. B Bravo's production is slick and clean, and compliments Reva's vocal perfectly. This song is a really good example of the hybrid sound of r&b and modern sounding production we're really into.

iamnobodi - "Monarch"

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iamnobodi is a producer from Berlin and is another member of Soulection from LA. This track "Monarch" comes from our favorite LP from him called Snapshots from Berlin. It's full of good tracks, but this is probably our favourite. It's got such a sick groove to it, its got a ?uestlove sort of laid back feel to the beat, that simultaneously pumps and drags at the same time. We had the pleasure of DJing with him in Amsterdam earlier this year, and it was nice to meet him, cool guy, cool tune.

Bondax - "All I See"

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This is our most recent single, which we wrote with our good friends MNEK and Becky Hill down in London towards the tail end of last year. It's a pretty carefree track, all about the excitement and attraction that can happen in a nightclub, something thats relevant to pretty much all of us. The vocals are by the very talented Tanya Lacey, we're really happy with her performance on this!

Kartell - "Lights"

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Darius ft. Darianna Everett - "Hot Hands"

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Darius also hails from France and is on Roche Musique. We've had the chance to hang out numerous times, and despite the language barrier, there's only positive vibes! This tune is one of our favorites from Darius and is taken from the amazing Romance EP, released earlier this year. The production on this is subtle but powerful, as Darius always seems to be. The vocals come from Darianna Everett, a great singer from Canada we've been following for a while, her voice beautifully glides of Darius's driving beats and thick synths. The end result is a really nice track, one fit for the club or headphones.

Ali Jameson - "Four Thirty (5eya Remix)"

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This is a really good club track, and one that we've played out many many times. Both hailing from London, Ali Jameson and 5eya's sounds collide to make a seriously funky track. The continuous guitar riff and piercing chords mean that if anyone is left not dancing then they must be deaf, or not into disco.

Bondax - "Giving It All (Chill VIP)"

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This is another exclusive for the compilation, we wanted to make a different version of "Giving It All" and take it to a more reflective space than the original. It's very icy and cold, as opposed to the tropical original. Its filled with reverberated guitar lines and crystallised synths but its held together by quite a powerful aggressive beat, sounds that are very different to the original, hopefully this takes people to a different place.

Kahwe - "Sit Back"

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Kahwe is one of our good friends from Bolton in the UK. He's a very talented producer and has a tendency to be a perfectionist, so it's rare to hear new stuff that he's happy to share, however when he sent us the Sit Back EP, released earlier this year, we were both into it instantly. It has a sort of lo-fi house feel and the synths are really warm and textured, all this combined with a sick groove and chord progression, "Sit Back" is a near-classic sounding club track.

Karma Kid - "Bird Of Prey"

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As he's our best music mate, would only be fair to feature him twice! This is Karma Kid's latest single, released last month on Future Classic. The whole EP is great, "Saffron" is a personal favourite and the end result is a more mature sounding record compared to some of his earlier releases. "Bird Of Prey" features Karma Kid himself on the vocals, a step into uncharted territory for him, but he sounds really good. The production is on point as always, featuring more strident synths than in previous releases and a 4x4 shuffling beat that drives the whole piece, overall a really bright, melodious song.

Dürerstuben - "Gscheids Planet"

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"Gscheids Planet" comes from German producer Düererstuben and is taken off the Sheets of Rane EP, which came out in 2013. Düererstuben himself is a mystery, this EP is the only one we could find, and no information is really out there about Düererstuben. That's irrelevant though really, as this track is a masterpiece. The tune transforms from a glitchy sounding, cut up discordant beat to a glistening and alluring banger. It takes you on a proper journey from beginning to end, from it's moody beginnings to its beaming climax, this track its definitely not half-baked, its a meticulous tune that is guaranteed to go off!

Jerome LOL - "Always (Bondax Remix)"

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We made this track because we're such massive fans of the original. The vocals are sung by the amazing Sara Z, someone we've since collaborated with to make original music. The remix seemed like a good idea as we knew the vocal would sound good in a club and the original is much more chilled, so we made a club version. It's one of the most house-y tracks you'll ever hear us make, but this one is good for the club, we've definitely had some parties to this song!

Bondax - "Dusk Funk"

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"Dusk Funk," featuring vocals from Ayah Marar, is a colourful hybrid of house and disco that we made late last year. It's definitely a very funky song, featuring a lot of twangy guitars and hammering rhodes. It was really fun to make, until our laptop got stolen when we were in Bulgaria early this year, and we had to remake the song from scratch! That was a painful process, but happy to say we did it and we're proud of the final product!

Camo & Krooked - "Loving You Is Easy (Bondax Edit)"

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This edit felt like something we were obliged to do. We massively respect Camo & Krooked’s work as producers & so when this tune came along we saw the chance to give it the slightest tweak for our DJ sets. It’s become a staple part of the kind of sound we intend to portray in our sets therefore it felt right to include it in this, the compilation of our current sound!

French Kiwi Juice - "Carelessness"

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As supporters of FKJ’s work for a while now we have never claimed to have been there from the beginning, but it must be said we didn't know anyone else in England who had heard of his work before we found it a few years ago now. FKJ has consistently remained one of our favorite producers & not only is his parisian production of the highest standard he’s also an incredible musician. Including this piece was a chance for us to include one of favourite modern producers & give you a little less obvious one of his productions.

Duke Dumont - "I Got U (Bondax Remix)"

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Our final tune & one of the biggest dance tunes of the last few years. We had heard this tune early on & ideas just began to spark, we were fans of the steel drum melody & really wanted to remix this one just simply to play out. We talked to Duke Dumont about it & found out the release date was in enough time for us to do an official remix. The remix gave us the chance to bring that funk we’ve felt like we’ve always had but always shied away from utilizing so to finally be able to release it in this tune was for us a small form of musical liberation.

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