KRAAK FEST 2023 HIGHLIGHTS: Morthen Kiang
We're happy to have Maldegem’s very own Morthen Kiang as our closing DJ for this fest! Banker by day and Technics terrorist by night, the Kiang gets to break out all the technos and all the houses for these KRAAKheads: he’s got acid and booty, Chicago and New York, and whatever breaches can be found in between. No way to not bounce to this man’s skills!
Can you talk about your musical upbringing in deep Maldegem? What scenes were you part of and what styles did you favor as a youngin?
It all started on a gray Wednesday afternoon in October 1996. I was hangin’ on the main square in MALDEGEM and a friend gave me a cassette of THUNDERDOME XIV. I was 14 and immediately hooked on gabber music and persuaded my mom to buy me a bomber jacket. I still wear a bomber jacket to this very day.
In 2000 another friend handed me his cassette recording of Jeff Mills @ I Love Techno ‘99 and I couldn’t believe my ears and feet. I persuaded my mom once more to buy three Technics SL-1210 mkII turntables and a mixer and started spinning.
What kind of experience - if any lol - do you wish to create through your DJ sets?
I’m playing my favorite house, techno, acid and trance records that I’ve been collecting over all these years. It’s a kind of “best of” I guess. Lots of energy and fast mixing, schooled by Jeff Mills and Derrick May and drenched in a Maldegem 90’s zoned out XTC come down vibe. People WILL dance.
You recently mentioned that you want to focus more on your music productions than on DJ sets. What are you working on & what’s your musical set up? PERMISSION TO NERD OUT
I have a studio with a bunch of drum machines and synths from the 80’s, including a TR-808, TR-909, SH-101, Juno 60, Juno 106, TB-303 and 2 Korg MS-20’s. I also like synthesizers with cool names, such as the Yamaha TX81Z. Every weekend I’m rocking this big 32 channel analog Soundtracs mixing desk from the early 90’s and loving it. Making music just gives me more joy than dj’ing and at more convenient hours.
I just released my first solo record After Club EP on 9300 Records (distributed by Clone). My “After Club” moniker is for retro trance stuff. Played the first track at Meakusma Festival and was happy to see it worked!
You can find my other music on Soundcloud (and hopefully on vinyl soon).
Seen any good films lately? :))) And what would Columbo say about all this nonsense?
Best film I watched recently: My Cousin Vinny, with Joe Pesci as a wanna-be lawyer. Gave it 5 stars and a like on letterboxd. I’m indeed a big Columbo fan. My favorite episodes are those of the 70’s such as How To Dial A Murder (with two dobermans attacking on the command “Rosebud”), Any Old Port In A Storm (the “port” refers to the drink) and Identity Crisis (with Leslie Nielsen as a CIA agent). Rest in peace, Peter Falk!
Soundcloud (again)
Morthen Kiang closes KRAAK Fest 2023 this March 4 at Het Bos. GRIP THE TIX!!