Having already made their mark as individual talents these last few years, Kwo and Unïx are now joining forces to introduce their dynamic new project KWONIX. And with the buzz surrounding the venture already hitting a high, they break onto the scene with their soulful debut single ‘FULL SPEED’.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with them both to find out more about their origins and what plans they have for the future as well.
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Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in music?
KWO: I grew up in central Indiana just outside of Indianapolis, which is far from the epicenter of arts and culture. Luckily, I have my older brother, Sean, to thank for being my first and most important musical taste curator in life. He is an incredible DJ who goes by the moniker Sangsih, and his love for discovering new music remains today. He was always torrenting music and putting me onto artists like Radiohead, Daft Punk, The Flaming Lips, People Under the Stairs, Nujabes, Outkast, Grizzly Bear, and so much more. His thirst for discovering music and seeking out art and stimulation beyond the bland suburbs of Central Indiana is what made me curious about so many more things in life than I ever would have thought possible.
I started playing piano at around 5 but fell off after a few years. After that I took bass lessons from about 10-14, and I also played percussion in middle school and high school band. I always gravitated towards marimba as a percussionist and found my way back to the piano at the end of high school. I started learning Coldplay covers via Youtube and learned a few Debussy and Chopin pieces. Looking back, I think playing in a full wind ensemble and orchestra really influenced the way I make very full production arrangements and try to find little pockets for each instrument / melody line / chord stab to have its own moment.
I studied some jazz piano in college and had a lil’ band with some friends where we’d play Vulfpeck and BADBADNOTGOOD good covers at talent shows. It was also later in college that I took a class on Popular American Music and Race. It was an amazing history class that really shifted my perspective on music, life, and the world itself. I began gravitating more towards Black American Music, and BAM is the primary style of music I listen to and take inspiration from with my own stuff. I did not think I would pursue music professionally at this point.
It wasn’t until age 25 when I realized I didn’t wanna go to law school that I started getting the urge to write and create music of my own though I had barely done any sort of thing. I started teaching myself Ableton via Youtube and got super excited about the whole musicmaking process and decided to move to LA, the belly of the beast, to pursue music. At the time, it was such a vague idea and more of a feeling, and the past 6 years have been just the beginning of that journey.
UNIX: With church being the main activity for little black kids growing up in Richmond, Virginia lol, I started singing in my church choir when I was about 6 years old. I stayed in the choir until I was a teenager. During my high school years I took every vocal performance class you can think of; Show Choir, Boys Acapella, Chamber Ensemble, All-State Choir..I took them all chile. I learned so much about performance and structure in high school and I still apply those lessons today. I started singing professionally as a background vocalist for local soul artists and jazz bands when I was 15. Those experiences really taught me how to keep my voice healthy while singing long gigs and traveling up and down the East Coast. I toured alongside other amazing independent artists until I started performing under my artist name, Unïx, in 2013. Since then I have had the privilege of performing in many amazing places full of beautiful people.
Who are your biggest musical influences and how have they shaped your sound? I’ll list a few:
KWO: ● For production style, I’m heavily inspired by
○ Terrace Martin’s chords and production style. I especially love his work on Kendrick’s TPAB album, his song Beige for the chords and synth patches, his project Nintindo Soul, as well as his Christmas album.
○ Kiefer’s piano playing, sound choices. He has such joy that translates in his playing, and I absolutely love his drum sample choices, synths, and overall sound. He writes such clever and cute motifs and his playing is simple yet nuanced.
○ Monte Booker, who does a lot of Smino, Ravyn Lenae, and early Noname. If I’m ever at a loss for inspiration, I just try and copy a Monte Booker synth patch. That man’s 808s are insane as well.
● For my harmonic choices and arrangements, I like to these folks
○ Stevie Wonder’s chords and arrangements from his 70s run. I think ‘As’ is the greatest song of all time and shoutout Herbie for playing Rhodes on it. ‘Bird of Beauty’ and ‘Please Don’t Go’ off of Fulfillingness First Finale almost make me cry everytime I hear them.
○ Herbie Hancock from the 70s with his chords and rich imagination. His albums ‘Secrets’, ‘Thrust’, ‘Sunlight’, and of course ‘Headhunters’ are all full of endless inspiration, insane playing and pocket, and just sonic imagination beyond this realm of existence. Standout tracks for inspiration are ‘I Thought It Was You’, ‘Gentle Thoughts’, and ‘Tell Me a Bedtime Story’ (actually released in 1969.
○ Hiatus Kaiyote’s chords, arrangements, Nai Palm’s incredible songwriting. Their albums and sound just keep evolving and getting better and better. I will never forget the first time I heard ‘Choose Your Weapon’. I think my brain short-circuited from all the chaotic sonic beauty and madness.
○ Nick Hakim’s chords, arrangements, and insane voice. The way he so tastefully uses modal interchange to alter his melodies at certain moments is everything.
● While I don’t think my music sounds like his, I love Tyler, the Creator’s music, production style, and just artistry overall
● I also love all of the Mizell Brothers work from the 70s on Blue Note: Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, Johnny Hammond
● 70s Jazz Funk is everything
With all that said, I think my sound is very current, new, while also feeling like older music, certainly because of the chords and harmonies I choose. Modern music (let’s say 2010 and forward) and the 1970s are everything to me, and the time periods from which I pull the most from.
UNIX: I have always been a student of the radio. Songs like ‘Killing Me Softly’ by The Fugees,’Quiet Storm’ by Smokie Robinson, or ‘Untitled’ by D’angelo have all served as appetizers on the menu of my childhood playlist. My mom would have us listening to anything from Donny Hathaway to Jay Z. Her music taste has undoubtedly influenced my own style and appetite for music. She’s not a musician but that lady would listen to some of the greatest music of all time(to me lol). The songs that she used to play have truly become my musical rolodex. I steal inspiration from those songs all the time
Was there a specific moment or experience that made you decide to pursue music seriously?
KWO: I was thinking of pursuing law school from age 22-24, but after working some legal jobs I realized that I did not want to become a lawyer. I knew I cared more about people than the law itself, and it gave me pause for some self-reflection. At the time, I was living in San Francisco and feeling pretty unfulfilled/uninspired by everyone being in the corporate rat race, climbing ladders and all that. I have no idea what specifically got me on this line of thought, but I just kept thinking: I want to make music. I want to create my own stuff. I had never really done so in a serious manner, but it felt like such an exciting challenge as it was something I thought I could never do and thought I sucked at. I definitely did at the beginning, but you gotta start somewhere!
UNIX: The first song I ever led was a duet in the 7th grade. Me and my classmate , Olivia Sharpe, led ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. We rehearsed for our concert in the classroom and our teacher was moved by our rehearsal so much that she called in the assistant principal to listen to us sing. From there, our assistant principal was moved to tears and put together an assembly with our entire 7th grade class to hear us perform this song. Nothing I’d done up until this moment had moved my peers as much as that song did on that day. I knew at that moment that I wanted to be a music artist. I didn’t know at what capacity but I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to do.
Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?
KWO: I’m usually sitting at one of my pianos, probably late at night actually, when I’m a little sleepy. I’ll just start playing some chords or a little melody line. If something catches, I’ll develop it and try to make a little A-B-A structure if possible. I always want my piano sketches to become and feel like a composition and have some sort of full melodic arc to them. I’m often pulling from a song that I just learned or transcribed. I’ll be jamming out and think ‘Oh yeah, I just learned ‘Textures’ by Herbie Hancock, let me put that little line from the solo in this moment’, which is what happened for ‘FULL SPEED’. If it’s late at night, I’ll be sure to record a voice memo of whatever it is I’m playing to go back to it. I think it’s always best to record that idea within the same week or even the next day while the inspiration is still there.
When it comes to producing, I’ll find a drum loop I like that captures the feeling of the piano idea. Then it’s just recording the base idea and adding whatever other layers and textures I think go on top of it. I like to build out the biggest part of the song and then strip layers away, kinda like sculpting. My best stuff is when I get into a flow state of just freely adding whatever’s coming to my head. I often look back at my music and think, wait how did I do that?
UNIX: I start my writing process by listening to whatever Kwo sends to me. I listen for empty spaces to carefully place words and melodies. After I find a melody that I f*ck with, I can start to figure out what story I want to tell. The punchline or chorus of the song almost always comes to me first. Once I identify what the song is about it becomes easier to form sentences that describe whatever message the song is conveying. From there, I search for moments to emphasize the feeling of the song with harmonies and other textures. I feel that songs should be multi-dimensional and especially when recording. I want the listeners to feel exactly what I’m singing about.
How do you find inspiration for your music and lyrics?
KWO: LISTEN TO GOOD ASS MUSIC. And also, inspiration comes and goes. There’s no forcing that. Sometimes I’ll go a few months without feeling inspired to create something, and I’ve come to realize that that is totally okay. High output is great and you can learn a lot, but everyone is different. I don’t think I’m particularly high output.
I feel most inspired when I transcribe a song that I love and get it under my fingers. Understanding the melodies, chords, and sonics of your heroes is endlessly inspiring.
UNIX: I feel like music kind of plays out what story it wants you to tell. Like, sad songs sound sad and happy songs sound happy. If a song feels sad to me I will think of a sad topic to write about and write from the saddest point of view I can think of. My emotional discernment becomes my North Star in writing. Letting the music lead my writing really does help me come up with some interesting stuff that I would’ve never said otherwise.
What themes or messages do you hope listeners take away from your music?
KWO: I hope people feel a sense of warmth, wonder, and possibility about our existence when they hear my creations. I always put a lot of love and all my passion into writing my music, and I really want that to translate.
UNIX: I just want people to create more and care less. Sometimes I might say things in songs that aren’t grammatically correct or aren’t as pleasant to hear but I think it’s important to keep those human errors inside of art because it reflects the true feelings that the artist is trying to convey. Like, sometimes I just be saying random sh*t that don’t rhyme and that’s ok lol.
What challenges have you faced as an emerging artist in the music industry?
KWO: Definitely navigating promotion and spending the time and money on admin things like distribution, publishing, licensing, and all that fun stuff that a label does for you. Social media stuff also takes up so much time. I’m lucky to have skilled ass people on my team who can cover those bases, and I’ve learned to do a bit of it myself, but it just takes up way too much time. I’d really love to just be able to create the music and artwork and visuals and leave it at that. I hate Instagram and Tik Tok lol.
UNIX: Sometimes it feels nearly impossible to get my music heard. We are living in a time when people are releasing 12 songs a week. I can’t compete with that lol. Visibility is a thing. Sometimes it feels like I’m a little invisible and that is kind of something I’m trying to figure out. I think one of my main challenges is definitely figuring out the best way to share my message and music with the world without losing my integrity.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your musical journey so far?
KWO: I think just gaining a sense of groundedness in who I am and feeling more comfortable with my artistic side. I no longer feel silly calling myself a musician or an artist, and I fully believe in what I’m doing. Complementary to that, the friendships and relationships and magic that have come from working with others like my friend Unix are just priceless. Connection is everything to me, and hearing what he does on my productions gives me chills, makes me feel all the feels, and just has me in awe of what is possible in this world. Music is magic forreal.
UNIX: The most rewarding aspect of my music journey has been the moments when someone says that my music has affected them. I kind of create from a selfish place lol where I make things that I think are beautiful and almost always forget that someone else might also find those things beautiful. So when it does happen, when people take the time to tell me that they’ve been affected or touched by anything that I have done creatively, it makes it all worthwhile. It’s nice to know that I’m not a crazy person making delusional art for myself to enjoy alone. Lol
How do you stay true to yourself and your artistry in a constantly evolving industry?
KWO: I would never create a song that I would not want to listen to. I will never create from a place of ‘oh i know people will get down with this’, and I think having that integrity and firm knowing of myself will serve me well. I think the right people will find my music eventually, and I just have to be patient. This is a long long long game we’re playing.
UNIX: I’m proud to be me and I also just don’t know how to be anything other than me. I try not to try so hard and I try not to think so hard about how I present myself…I show up as the same person I wake up as.
What can fans expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or tours?
KWO: I’m playing some shows in July up in NorCal with my friend Chav’, also an incredible rapper from Sacramento based in SoCal. We have a few dates in Oakland July 11th at Couchdate and a SoFar Sounds July 12th in Oakland. I’ll be playing in downtown LA at the Stowaway on August 30th with the KWONIX experience debuting live.
We (KWONIX) have another single coming later this summer, as well as a five track KWONIX EP for later this year.
UNIX: I recently started a band with my homie, Kwo. He produces and I sing/rap in a music duo that we created and named KWONIX. We met a few years ago through the internet while working on songs for another artist. Quickly we realized that we had some creative chemistry going on and started working on other songs from home. We met for the first time and recorded our first single in April of this year. “FULL SPEED” is available for streaming on every platform….Hopefully
soon we’ll be able to share performance dates and more music with
Where do you see yourself and your music career in the next five years?
KWO: Hopefully with lots of people listening to the music with opportunities for national and overseas tours!! I’d love to be making a living off the music, so I can continue teaching and my music therapy work. I just want to have that freedom to create what I want, with who I want, whenever I want. I hope my songs are in movies and TV shows. I hope people really feel what I feel when I make the music. Shit Grammys why not? Haha all part of the journey. I really hope artists that I look up to someday hear my stuff and enjoy it as well. I think the highest compliments for me are when musicians I respect tell me they like my music. I would like to be respected as a musician and artist, above all else.
UNIX: I can see myself touring with my homie across the country and maybe even internationally. I can definitely see our music becoming a vibe for the people and a record that people really f*** with for years to come. I don’t know, I just see good stuff coming. I can feel it in my bones.
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Listen to KWONIX’s debut single ‘FULL SPEED’ below.
