Remember the electronic duo that blew the GVF’19 stage last year?
Composed of Ahmad Taufiq and Adi Ridhwan, Dizkopolis is “Re-contextualising the golden age of house music, by bringing the latest French Touch wave to Malaysia.”
With their hit ” Work It Out”, Dizkopolis is definitely an electronic duo that elevates the local music scene!
So what makes this duo so special?
Well, you will just have to read all about them down below!
As we dive into their creative process, to their performance on the GVF’19 stage, and even their future plans with music, here is Sevenpie’s Featured Interview with Dizkopolis!
1. Could you tell our readers a little about Dizkopolis?
Dizkopolis is an electronic duo, composed of Ahmad Taufiq & Adi Ridhwan. We’ve been long time pals since 2004 as we both went to the same school – Victoria Institution.
2. What made the both of you decide to pursue music? At what age did you realize that music was your passion? How was Dizkopolis formed?
Taufiq: I decided to pursue music right after high school, heavily influenced by my uncle who’s apparently an old timer music composer, Fauzi Marzuki.
Adi: As for me I came from an artistic background of my dad as he’s also an artist in the creative industry, Wan Hanafi Su, hence giving me the inspiration to pursue music as a serious hobby.
We both started off DJ-ing back in 2010, playing in numerous clubs and events around Kuala Lumpur. We took a break from DJ-ing a year later and started producing ever since. We got our first break in 2012, when we emerged as the winner of Astro Hitz – The Music Video Grant with our first original single “Class of ’91”.
After almost a four-year hiatus from music due to our studies, we returned in 2017 by competing in the “Remix Competition: Hollywood by Pat Lok”, a global remix competition held by French electronic music record label and fashion label Kitsuné. With over 180 entries submitted worldwide, we were announced as the winner of the competition and the remix was released digitally on Kitsuné Musique in the compilation “Hold On Let Go (Remixes)” alongside international acts Pat Lok, JNTHN STEIN, Crackazat, Potatohead People, Fabich and more.
Re-contextualising the golden age of house music, we are bringing the latest French Touch wave in Malaysia.
3. You have played at many venues over the years, where would you say was your most favourite venue that you have performed live at?
Personally, the best venue and concert that we’ve played was for Rockaway 2012 @ The Wknd Sessions Stage in Sepang. The atmosphere was phenomenal considering the fact that it’s a rock orientated festival. It was our first live electronic set and seeing the crowd went mental with a lot of crowd-surfing/moshing was something refreshing.
4. Who would be your dream to perform and/or collaborate with in the future?
For international acts, it would be a dream for us to collaborate with any of the artists from Ed Banger Records. As for local acts, we would love to work with Dato’ Sheila Majid, Hanie Soraya & Aina Abdul in the near future.
5. “ Work It Out” was one of your biggest hits to date! Collaborating with Kitsune Musique and Froya! How did the collaboration come about? What was it like collaborating with them?
Taufiq: Basically, it all started 4 or 5 years ago when we first discovered Froya from her first album “Panic Bird”. We really like her voice and her songwriting in the song “Uncomprehended Child” so we decided to approach her and sent her our instrumental. She liked it, so that’s basically how our collaboration started.
Adi: I can tell you that there were a lot of different versions of the song, but it was only after 4 years that we finalised the product and we were satisfied with the outcome. There were maybe 10 different mixes of it before we finalised on this one. The best part is that after we released the song, Kitsuné approached us and that’s where the collaboration with them came about. That was another huge achievement for us, having our material released on Kitsuné Musique again.
6. Who are some of the inspirations that come to mind when creating music?
We are heavily inspired by a lot of French Touch acts such as Justice, Daft Punk, Phoenix, SebastiAn and the list goes on. But lately we’ve been listening to a lot of musical compositions by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Brian Eno & Hans Zimmer. We can say that our inspirations are very diverse.
7. Dizkopolis performed at Good Vibes Festival’19! What was it like performing on the GVF stage?
It was a nerve-wrecking experience at first as we have never played in such a big festival. As soon as we stepped on the stage the energy from the crowd was surreal, so we had a lot of fun.
8. What is the creative process like for Dizkopolis?
The term creative process for us is very subjective. Sometimes it comes naturally when we’re in the studio, but we usually pinpoint to the direction of our sounds by doing a lot of experimentations.
9. What is next for Dizkopolis? Are there any future plans in the making?
Basically, we are in the midst of working and writing on an album at the moment. We are trying to create distinctive and unique sounds that we could offer to our audience.
10. The local music scene has been evolving over the years, is there anything that you would change in the local music scene? If so, what would it be?
For us personally, I think the local nightlife scene here is growing but merely in a circular motion. The electronic music scene here especially here in KL is really small and niche, as such, we should encourage the locals to get themselves exposed to other musical genres.
11. For your fans who are thinking of starting a journey in the local music scene, what would be your advice to them?
Study your music. Understand that doing music is never about the money but it’s all about the passion. As cliché as it may sound but never give up on the things you love and passionate about.
