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.
Good for the City
Kraak & Smaak Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All the rats would fled the scene
The bottleneck of human traffic
And their mobile phones
Could not preserve the memory
All of the photo's and the stories
Quicly buckled on ths e weight
The bureacratic indignation
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
I call upon the prosecution
Please identify your case
The star witness from the counsel
Quickly put them their place
He laid his plans out on the table
As all our promises were sold
To build a temple of consumption
Where stood a temple of the soul
He said
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
The city
The city
Imagine it there looking
Imagine it there
The city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
Oh you could hear the shakes from miles
As they tore straight through the glass
A ghostly quier ressurected?? some base guitars
They put us there upon the carcass
With broken hearts we watched it fall
The cornerstone of this fine city
A monument to urban stroll
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
The lyrics of Kraak & Smaak Featuring Sam Duckworth's song "Good For The City" are full of social commentary and criticism about urban development and the consequences of gentrification. The song paints a picture of a city in turmoil, with a massive fire in an alley causing chaos in the streets. The human traffic is bottlenecked by their mobile phones, and despite taking pictures and sharing stories, they cannot preserve the memory of the moment. The bureaucracy of the city is highlighted through the mention of "ticket tape parade." The singer questions the city management's priorities, as they promote the idea of building a temple of consumption where once stood a temple of the soul - a critique of the gentrification process that prioritizes consumerism over culture and history.
The lyrics also describe the legal proceedings involving the builder and the prosecution, with the star witness from the council quickly put in place. The builder lays out his plan to build something new that would look pretty but can destroy the city's cultural heritage. The lyrics suggest that this kind of development is not about creating something good for the people, but instead seeks to profit from the city's resources. Finally, the lyrics describe the devastation wrought by the fire as the singer watches the city's cornerstone fall.
Overall, "Good For The City" is a biting critique of urban development and gentrification. The song highlights the consequences of prioritizing financial gain over cultural heritage and the well-being of the people who call the city home.
Line by Line Meaning
There was a fire in the alley
There was an incident in the narrow street
All the rats would fled the scene
All the small animals ran away from the site
The bottleneck of human traffic
The congestion caused by the flow of people
And their mobile phones
And their handheld devices
Could not preserve the memory
Could not capture the event for posterity
All of the photo's and the stories
All of the captured images and narratives
Quickly buckled on ths e weight
Quickly succumbed to its significance
The bureacratic indignation
The bureaucratic backlash
And it's their ticket tape parade
And it's their celebration of paperwork
I call upon the prosecution
I ask for the prosecution's explanation
Please identify your case
Please state your argument
The star witness from the counsel
The key witness from the defense
Quickly put them their place
Quickly responded with a rebuttal
He laid his plans out on the table
He presented his proposal
As all our promises were sold
As we traded all our pledges
To build a temple of consumption
To construct a shrine of commercialism
Where stood a temple of the soul
Where a spiritual center once stood
Oh you could hear the shakes from miles
Oh you could feel the tremors from far away
As they tore straight through the glass
As they shattered the windows
A ghostly quier ressurected
A haunting melody revitalized
some base guitars
Some low-pitched musical instruments
They put us there upon the carcass
They placed us on the remains
With broken hearts we watched it fall
With heavy emotions, we observed its collapse
The cornerstone of this fine city
The backbone of this great metropolis
A monument to urban stroll
A symbol of the city's character
The city
The urban area
Imagine it there looking
Envision it appearing
Imagine it there
Picture it existing
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
Visualize it displaying a magnificent aura
This would be good for the city
This would benefit the urban area
This would be good for the city
This would benefit the urban area
This would be good for the city
This would benefit the urban area
This would be good for the city
This would benefit the urban area
Contributed by Oliver I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@clive3940
Good for the City
Song by Kraak & Smaak
OverviewLyricsListenPeople also search for
There was a fire in the alley
All the rats would fled the scene
The bottleneck of human traffic
And their mobile phones
Could not preserve the memory
All of the photo's and the stories
Quicly buckled on ths e weight
The bureacratic indignation
And it's their ticket tape parade
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
I call upon the prosecution
Please identify your case
The star witness from the counsel
Quickly put them their place
He laid his plans out on the table
As all our promises were sold
To build a temple of consumption
Where stood a temple of the soul
He said
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
The city
The city
Imagine it there looking
Imagine it there
The city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
Oh you could hear the shakes from miles
As they tore straight through the glass
A ghostly quier ressurected?? some base guitars
They put us there upon the carcass
With broken hearts we watched it fall
The cornerstone of this fine city
A monument to urban stroll
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
This would be good for the city
Imagine it there looking oh so pretty
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Duckworth / Plug / Kneppers / D. Jong / De Jong
@lacek_dx
9 years passed and I just now discovered this Gem!
@ShatteredPants
This is undoubtedly one of the songs ever.
@PinkPanther1402
This song is helping me through my bachelor thesis. Keeping my mood up!
@GingerTony68
Love it - can't wait for the album to drop. :-)
@Hangloozz
Awesome, you guys nailed it again :)
@AdventuresOfWilly
This song is good for the world!
@lockunknown521
You right.
@regulatorQ
Love you guys so much, this song and video are anazing
@g__e__o
This song is awesome!
@MeNisim
BRILLIANT CLIP & GOOD SONG, POST LYRICS PLEASE :) LOVED!