Since the Dutch trio of producers Kraak & Smaak released their first album … Read Full Bio ↴Since the Dutch trio of producers Kraak & Smaak released their first album 'Boogie Angst' worldwide in 2005, the act has steadily grown into a well-respected force in today's international producers, club and festival scene.

Their set-up, combining the club sound of their releases with live musicians and vocalists, turned out to be a musical phenomenon on the Dutch circuit, leading to invitations to play at Europe’s festivals and renowned USA hotspots like SXSW, Coachella, Miami's WMC and New York's CMJ.

The second album 'Plastic People' dropped in 2008, and off that album, the hit single 'Squeeze Me', made for an even more rapid international rise of K&S. The acclaimed UK dance magazine IDJ labelled K&S as a “Must see live act”, together with big guns as the Chemical Brothers, Moby and The Prodigy. The band subsequently performed at the 'holy grail of festivals' Glastonbury in the UK, Lowlands in the Netherlands and again Europe's biggest festival, Sziget. During a five-week live tour across the USA they performed at Jimmy Kimmel's late night show on ABC television and further explicit support came from US Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who describes K&S as ‘Amy Winehouse meets Moby’. Even Kanye West declared himself a fan! And to top things off, the European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) is won, together with none other than Adele.

In the following years, the upward trend of K&S is continued and solidified with the albums 'Electric Hustle' (2011) and 'Chrome Waves' (2013). A grueling schedule of international touring includes career highlight shows at Detroit Movement, Sziget, Glastonbury and Exit, and key single releases in this period include “Let’s Go Back” which features a superb vocal from the sadly departed Romanthony, The Future Is Yours” (which saw the band hook up a second time with Ben Westbeech who at the time was hitting the top of the charts under his Breach guise), and the soulful “How We Gonna Stop The Time” - an instant club hit that went on to be licensed for release on Axtone Records. New remix work comes through for Moby, Aretha Franklin, Chromatics, and Royksopp, and 2015 sees a one-off single release on Spinnin’ Records.

The 5th album, Juicy Fruit, released in 2016, has seen them returning to the more organic sound of their debut record. As usual it contains some heavyweight collaborations, including Americans Mayer Hawthorne and Eric Biddines, and Australians Parcels and Cleopold to name just a few. In the US, initial support comes from KCRW (Top Tune #1 for ‘Hands of Time’) and a #2 position in the College radio CMJ / RPM charts for I’ Don’t Know Why’ . The latter track, also also gets picked up by the Jimmy Kimmel show band, and the track ’Stumble’ reaches a #1 position in Hype Machine’s Most Popular list.

A string of new international live and dj dates followed, with performances in countries in West- and Eastern-Europe, the Americas and Asia, topping it all off with an extensive tour in the USA and again a live show on 2017’s Glastonbury.
Coinciding with their busy touring schedule Kraak & Smaak have also just released their album “Juicy Fruit Remixed”, with input from Eli Escobar, Fouk, Purple Disco Machine, Moods and Thatmanmonkz among others, to give a new fresh outlook on the tracks by producers they admire.
Moreover, they have found some time to work on new material themselves as well: new singles ‘Hendo’ and 'Scorched' have recently been released on the Exploited and Spinnin' Deep labels, and more is coming later this year for labels such as Future Disco.

Danse Macabre
Kraak & Smaak Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

There's a beautiful sound that is heard

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

There's a beautiful sound that is heard
It begins with a F

???
???
It is never ???
???
Could never have had

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

There's a beautiful sound that is heard

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

There's a beautiful sound that is heard

There's a beautiful sound that is heard

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

There's a beautiful sound that is heard

???
Could never have had

Overall Meaning

The song "Danse Macabre" by Kraak & Smaak features these enigmatic yet captivating lyrics. The opening repetition of "Mmmmm" creates an air of mystery and anticipation, as the listeners are drawn in to hear about the beautiful sound that is heard. The song then begins to describe this sound as starting with an F, possibly referring to a musical note, and it is something that is never what it seems. The lyrics suggest that this sound is unique and could not have been created by anyone else.

The repeated "Mmmmm" throughout the song could signify the kind of hypnotic trance that the sound creates, which leaves the listener wanting more, and this is emphasized by the steady beat of the music that acts as a backdrop to the lyrics. The phrase "there's a beautiful sound that is heard" is then repeated before the lyrics end with the suggestion that this sound is truly something special that could never have been found elsewhere.

Overall, the lyrics of "Danse Macabre" leave a lot to the interpretation of the listener, which adds to the appeal of the song. The mystery surrounding the sound mentioned in the song creates a sense of longing that listeners, both new and old, can enjoy.

Line by Line Meaning

There's a beautiful sound that is heard
The track begins with a captivating sound that catches the listener's attention.

Mmmmm
The sound is a mysterious and alluring hum that draws one in.

It begins with a F
The introduction of the track features a prominent, uplifting melody in the key of F.

???
The identity of the specific sound or instrument used to create the melody is left to interpretation.

???
The sound is consistently enjoyable and never loses its appeal throughout the track.

Could never have had
The musical experience delivered by this track is not one that could have been achieved without the unique combination of sounds and production techniques used by Kraak & Smaak.

Contributed by Andrew N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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