Balance Selections 233: Hicky & Kalo

Hicky & Kalo are a DJ and Producer duo born and raised in Montreal, Canada.

Both classical musically trained and both having a diploma in electronic music at the University Of Montreal, they have gone on to craft a stellar reputation for their inimitable edge, commitment to the scene and penchant for deep melodic grooves. The young pair, resident of the famous (((Stereo Montreal))) club and founders of budding imprint records label Plaisirs Sonores Records are now firmly placed among the vanguard in dictating the new sound of the underground melodic scene worldwide.

Balance Selections 233: Hicky & Kalo

Tracklisting
1. Paul (AR) – Breathing
2. Hicky & Kalo – Time we Spent Together
3. Hicky & Kalo – Luminous Path
4. Savvas – Point in Time
5. John Cosani – Bootes (Hicky & Kalo remix)
6. Maezbi – Wonderland
7. Hick & Kalo – Outage
8. Dmitry Molosh – Butterfly (Hicky & Kalo)
9. Guy Laliberte & Soul of Zoo – Into Your Tribe (Hicky & Kalo remix)
10. Hicky & Kalo – Borealis (Nick Warren & Nicolas Rada remix)
11. Hicky & Kalo – Arch of Light
12. Mariano Mellino – El Beso De La Luna (D-Nox & Beckers remix)
13. Rauschhaus – Kaiju (Hicky & Kalo remix)
14. Hicky & Kalo – From Sea to Sea
15. Hicky & Kalo – Coming Back to Home
16. Hicky & Kalo – Wisdom

Balance Selections Q+A

Name: Thomas Gaboury-Potvin and Camilo Rivera
Location: Montréal
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Alias/Producer name: Hicky & Kalo
Labels affiliated with: Plaisirs Sonores, Sudbeat, Replug, When We Dip, XYZ

Our last 3 releases:

Hicky & Kalo – Arch of Light

Hicky & Kalo – Outage

Rauschhaus – Kaiju (Hicky & Kalo Remix)

What music did you listen to as a child?

We both went to primary and high school in classical music (violin, piano, trombone and choir).

Kalo: My mother was a professional guitarist player and electro acoustic composer and my dad a big fan of classical music. I listened to a lot of world music, classical and latin music in my early age. I started playing piano at the age of 7 year old and played classical, jazz, blues and Latin music.

Hicky: My parents were listening a lot of classical & experimental music like Wim Mertens, Philip Glass, Boards Of Canada, Steve Reich, Bjork, etc. , and their taste for non-standard commercial music was transmitted to me in my early teenage years.

When was the first time that you realized that you liked electronic music?

Hicky: I went to a party that my Aunt organised at her house in the countryside. There was around 200 people dancing to Vincent Lemieux and Mir’s music, and it’s exactly at this moment, that I got hooked up.

Kalo: I was busboy in a restaurant and there was always some DJs playing deep house like Jojo Flores and that’s where I knew it was for me.

When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?

We experienced our first club night at Salon Daomé. I think it was Nathan Burns playing there. Such a legendary club, we spent so many nights dancing there and it’s for sure our first inspiration.

Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?

For us, there’s no questions. Guy J is the best producer at the moment with his inimitable progressive house. Roy Rosenfeld and Sebastien Leger are big inspiration as well for their melodies and grooves. Hernan Cattaneo is the most inspiring DJ for his humility, his consistency and his professional assiduity.

What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?

We just received and downloaded the new EP from Mariano Mellino with a remix by D-Nox & Beckers, coming out soon on Sprout. Very cool one!

What is your current production and DJ set up like?

In the studio for production, 5e have the Prophet-6 and the Minibrute as well as ADAM A77X monitors and the Apollo X6 soundcard. We also have the Elysia 500 series that we use to improve the sound quality of our drums. And we have many many VST and plugins of course.

For DJ set up, we always like to play on the Rane MP2015 or Pionner V10.

What releases do you have on the horizon?

Two remix set to be release this spring. One for Guy Laliberté & Soul Of Zoo and one for Dmitry Molosh. We also have a three-track EP set to be release in July on a great label we can’t announce yet. You can hear all these tracks in our Balance mix.

Where can we hear you perform?

We have a residency at Stereo Montreal. We play there once a month and we are super grateful for this. We have the luck to test new tracks on the best soundsystem a club can have, play very long sets and meet other artists we respect a lot.

We recently played around Canada in Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa. We also played our first US gig in New York also. We look forward to a big year in 2023 and discover new cities and countries.

Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?

On this mix you will find 3 unreleased tracks from us and 3 upcoming tracks on our label from artists such as Maezbi, Paul AR, and Savvas. Also listen out for two unreleased remixes we did. One for Guy Laliberte & Soul of Zoo, and of for Dmitry Molosh set to be released this year.

Our Recommendations

The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:

Hicky: Jamiie – Echoes