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.
The Future Is Yours
Kraak & Smaak Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To be as one and live my own truth
My sorrows are over now i found you
I feel so alive like I need to
The future is yours and its mine
Through sad times and good times
Its your time
Its alright its ok to feel love feel the love that's inside you
I feel it, I feel it
Through the hard times I will guide you
And when its hard times I will guide you too
No need to look over your shoulders no, no more
Cause your safe and its real
The lyrics of Kraak & Smaak's The Future Is Yours carry a message of finding one's true self and being able to live the best version of oneself. The song references the struggles that the singer has faced over the years in trying to find their identity and live their authentic life. However, with the discovery of the person being addressed in the song, their sorrows are finally over and they feel alive like never before.
The lyrics then say that the future belongs to this person, but it is also belonging to the singer. The message is that even in the low and high moments, the future belongs to whoever claims it and lives their truth to the fullest. The singer then encourages the addressed person to feel the love that is inside them, and it is okay to do so. The hard times will also come, but the singer promises to be a guide and help the person through those times.
Line by Line Meaning
So many years i have longed to
For countless years, I have yearned to
To be as one and live my own truth
To be unified and live in accordance with my own beliefs
My sorrows are over now i found you
My past sadness has dissipated since discovering you
I feel so alive like I need to
I possess a sense of vitality that I am compelled to experience
The future is yours and its mine
The future belongs to both of us and we hold equal ownership
Through sad times and good times
Amidst both sorrowful and joyful moments
Its your time
It is now solely your moment to shine
Its alright its ok to feel love feel the love that's inside you
It is acceptable and alright to embrace the love within oneself
I feel it, I feel it
I am directly experiencing this sensation
Through the hard times I will guide you
I will provide direction during challenging moments
And when its hard times I will guide you too
Especially during difficulties, I will offer my guidance
No need to look over your shoulders no, no more
There is no longer a necessity to peek behind oneself for safety
Cause your safe and its real
Genuine safety and security is available to you
Contributed by Joseph B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Andrew Knox
So so dope. love that bassline, its just like a big warm hug.
Jeffery Lawless
amazing mix & amazing Kraak&Smaak i luv em so