leet & Viskus – Contrast (LiS Exclusive Single / Q&A)

Our exclusive this week is a spooky romper from producers leet Viskus, two projects with very different styles coming together for a track suited perfectly for this All Hallow’s Eve. Contrast is a thickly textured sonic excursion, dripping with atmosphere sandwiched between mischievous, boisterous sounds designed to make you bounce on a cold, dark October night. We sat down with the creators to chat a bit about themselves and music.

[LiS] Tell us a bit about yourselves. Who are you, where are you from, and where are you going?

leet: My name is Harrison. I’m from Jackson, TN but I’m currently living in the Nashville area. Where do I plan on going? Only time will tell. I’d like to end up in Colorado.

Viskus: We are Viskus, consisting of both producers Nick Krauskoff and Trent Nedbal. Both of us grew up in the metro Detroit area and came to have a similar dream which formed us together. We plan to go wherever the music takes us. We just do this for fun and because we LOVE it.

How’d you get into dance music? What was the first show where you thought “Ohhhh, I get it now.”?

leet: I first got into EDM when I was about 15. I was browsing YouTube and came across “Doctor P – Sweet Shop”. I had never heard anything like it, it’s like it was the one genre of music I never knew I needed.

Viskus (Nick): My first show ever was Funtcase for Halloween. After that, everything started making sense. After that I had seen Bassnectar on Halloween the following year and it changed my life forever. I knew this was something I could do and started to pursue shortly after.

Link us up with five non-electronic musical influences.

leet: Tough one, but if I had to make a list:

  1. Deftones
  2. Odd Future
  3. Rage Against The Machine
  4. Flying Lotus
  5. Pretty much all 90’s hip-hop.

Viskus:

  1. We Came as Romans
  2. Kanye West
  3. A Day to Remember
  4. Mac Miller
  5. Queen

What’s your intention behind creating richly textured, dark beats like this one?

leet: Drippy, low-end beats are what I consider to be my signature style. Viskus and I both have very different styles, so this collab in particular was a lot of fun. You can hear who did what within the project.

Viskus: Well, music is about stimulating emotion, and an easy way to do so is to write music to follow seasonal/holiday vibes to enhance what they are already most likely feeling or thinking about. Everyone loves a good spooky Halloween tune!

The sound design in Contrast is complex, twisted and lush. What are your favorite VSTs and sound processes to create with? 

leet: Believe it or not, I hardly use VSTs. I usually only work with audio through resampling and warping/timestretching.

Viskus: Mostly we use Serum and Massive. Sometimes resampling can be a dope way to get some sick textures, but when starting from scratch, we mostly use Serum.

Could you tell us a bit about your most notable performance?

leet: My most notable recent performance was definitely Imagine Festival 2018 just about a month ago. I was scheduled to play at the silent disco. This silent disco in particular had two decks, so two different DJs could play and the audience could choose a channel of their preference. Well, I was scheduled to play against a “surprise guest”, but he/she didn’t show up, so I had the entire stage to myself for a little over 2,000 people. Definitely a crazy experience, I had never played in front of that many people before. If you’d like to listen to that set, I just uploaded it to my soundcloud!

Viskus: We were this year’s Untz Challenge winners! We were able to perform Imagine, 515 Alive, Electric Forest, Summer Camp, Camp Bisco, Sonic Bloom, and The Untz.

How did you grow as artists this year?

leet: I’ve grown quite a bit as an artist this year. I’m finally at a spot in my production where I am completely comfortable with the majority of what I create. I’ve also toured for the very first time in my life this past summer, something that’s been a goal of mine since I started making music.

Viskus: After we got booked main stage at the Intersection in Grand Rapids for Minnesota + SoDown, we won that Untz contest and got to tour the country. From there, we have built relationships, networked our butts off, and booked more tour stops along the way, with bookings continuing to pour into next year!

What are your plans for the future of your project(s)?

leet: My plan is to keep doing what I’m doing and create as much as my brain will allow me to create.

Viskus: We plan to sign with a bigger agency and release with some bigger labels to see how far we can get our music out in the world!

What are you most grateful for?

leet: I’m most grateful for my friends and family who support what I do every step of the way. I’m also grateful for the people who enjoy what I create.

Viskus: We are most grateful for the opportunities we are constantly given. Opening for Bassnectar at 515 was the most humbling experience in our lives thus far. Also very thankful for all the amazing people who support us, which helps us continue to do this!

And finally… What is music to you?

leet: Music is a universal language that we all share.

Viskus: Music to me is any auditory experience that makes you feel/move in unexplainable ways.

Socials:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Recent releases:

leet & Chark – Garbage (belowthesurface)
leet & JuJu Beats – ThxM8 (Wormhole Music Group)
leet & NEWSENSEi – Win (unsigned)

Recent performances:

Imagine Festival 2018 (Atlanta, GA), The Black Box (Denver, CO)

Socials:

Facebook

Recent releases:
Psyntimental x SLAVE – Kevin’s Theme + A 9 track album dropping Nov 9th.

Recent performances:
Summer Camp, The Untz, Electric Forest, 515 Alive, Imagine Festival, Sonic Bloom, and Camp Bisco. They will also be playing Nightfall in Texas for Halloween.

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