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KSHMR <\/strong>has been entertaining dance music fans for the past decade. He\u2019s made massive festival anthems like \u201cSecrets,\u201d \u201cMegalodon\u201d and \u201cKarate\u201d, he\u2019s cultivated a conscious identity and sound based on his Indian heritage and he\u2019s also a producer extraordinaire.<\/p>\n While KSHMR, whose real name is Niles Hollowell-Dhar, continued to put out some dance tunes in 2023, his main accomplishment last year was his Indian hip-hop album KARAM<\/em>. Now, after a brief foray outside of dance music, KSHMR enters 2024 ready to dominate the EDM landscape. Not only did KSHMR just release his first single of the year \u201cAll Night<\/strong>\u201d with gritney<\/strong>, KSHMR also just launched his new bi-weekly Dharma Radio<\/strong> show as well as embarking on a North American club tour.<\/p>\n We got the chance to chat with KSHMR ahead of his Los Angeles takeover March 8 & 9. Niles is truly one of the most thoughtful individuals in the dance music world and we had the pleasure of speaking with him about a number of topics. We discussed adapting to the current musical landscape, his musical rejuvenation after KARAM<\/em>, the production of his latest single \u201cAll Night\u201d and reflecting on 10 years of KSHMR. He even gave us a production deep dive on how to make tracks sound better in a live setting.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that\u2019s been a tricky one, figuring out how I fit into it. There\u2019s a lot of music out there that I like, that I really respect and admire. But, then I think about me doing it and it feels a bit forced. So, I\u2019ve been trying to find that line of incorporating new sounds that I do enjoy and what my take on it is.<\/em><\/p>\n And, I was in a bit of a rut with it for a while, but in the last four or five months I found some songs that sort of reignited that passion again. It was nice making that hip-hop album in India that I made, because it got my head out of dance music completely. So coming back to dance music, it felt fresh again, inspired. The newest song, \u2018All Night\u2019, when I look at the scene, I really love the faster stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n When stuff started getting slower, or just groovy, not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that. I was like, I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t want to make drops that are just groovy with the bassline like a lot of house stuff. But, the Psy energy really appeals to me. That Eli Brown track, \u2018Be the One\u2019, I\u2019m actually friends with the girl who wrote it. And it was interesting because throughout that process, she was like, how should I handle this? Because Eli had used a sample of hers to make that track, \u2018Be the One\u2019. And she was like is anyone going to know it\u2019s me or how can I use this to get people to know I\u2019m the singer on it, you might be interested in me too. I told her, you should just shout it from the mountain tops, let everyone know who\u2019s listening. \u2018Hey, if you like that song, just so you know, it\u2019s me singing.\u2019 Be annoying about it, it\u2019s fine.<\/em><\/p>\n But, another thing you could do, is do a song sort of in that style, except this time you\u2019ll be featured on it and everything. So, I actually made this beat, just for her to do that. Just kind of for Sarah, to have her song so she could ride the wave of the Eli Brown thing a little bit and have her own song to show for it. Then as it developed we were like, ah, maybe we\u2019ll just make it a collaboration, make it like KSHMR and Sarah; on the track she goes by gritney, but her name is Sarah de Warren.<\/em><\/p>\n So yeah, part of me was like it\u2019s kind of like the Eli Brown track, but I liked it so much, I was like, eh, it\u2019s cool. I won\u2019t mince words about the fact that it\u2019s definitely inspired by that, and I wanted to do a track for Sarah that had that feel. So yeah, I\u2019m really happy with that one, I\u2019ve been playing it live.<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s another track coming, it\u2019s called \u2018Happy\u2019, it\u2019s just a really beautiful song. It\u2019s another one, I was like this is really beautiful, but how do I make this something I want to play live and something that fits in the world of KSHMR. Oftentimes, that\u2019s just a process of the production; I remember Secrets even, I had the vocal and the chords, but then the production and what the style was going to be, it was probably about eight months before really cracking it.<\/em><\/p>\n So, Happy was another one, it didn\u2019t take as long, but just knowing it was a beautiful song and just finding the right style to make it make sense for the show, and I think the version that we land on is something really special. So, that\u2019ll be the next single.<\/em><\/p>\n And, this will be really interesting for all you music nerds out there; it\u2019s in Phrygian. So there\u2019s this really beautiful concept in music called plagal cadence, where if say you\u2019re in C major, the sound of the F chord is supposed to be major, but then you could make it minor and then you resolve back to C. It has a very instantly recognizable like, we\u2019re going to sleep kind of sound. It\u2019s one of the most beautiful sets of two chords you can put together in all of music, I would say.<\/em><\/p>\n And it\u2019s also special because it\u2019s going out of key, so anytime something goes out of key and it works, my ears perk up, and I think most people who are interested in music are like, whoa, what\u2019s the science of that? We\u2019re all familiar with the seven chords that are afforded to us in a normal scale, but you can absolutely step out of those in interesting ways. And if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, it\u2019ll sound bad. But, there are cases where it does work and it sounds good and it\u2019s even more special because you broke the rules a little bit.<\/em><\/p>\n So this is a song that\u2019s in Phrygian, which is an interesting scale, it usually sounds like Middle Eastern to people, or it sounds maybe kind of like heavy metal, it\u2019s quite moody. And this plagal cadence thing worked within that scale, it was a nice thing, that feel that you don\u2019t often get to put in dance music because it borders on a little movie sounding, yeah, it\u2019s just moody, overly emotional.<\/em><\/p>\n But, in the case of this song, I think I was able to get it just right in the pocket of having that emotion but also working well as a dance song. I did that one with Tiina, who I also did \u201cDo Bad Well\u201d with, she\u2019s a great singer. It\u2019s very focused on her vocal the whole time, her vocal is like the drop, it\u2019s the verse, it\u2019s everything, it\u2019s beautiful.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou know, there was a time when I was getting prepared for a tour it was sort of incremental. Like I would take the songs and edits that I had that worked, I\u2019d mostly keep them, maybe do a couple of new things. It was hard to justify spending a lot of time going back to songs like Secrets and doing a new edit or a new mix, when I was feeling a lot of pressure to make new music. So going back to these old songs and doing edits of them, it seemed frivolous.<\/em><\/p>\n But, this tour, something changed, I was just sick of it. I was like, look I\u2019ve been playing this fucking edit too much, I\u2019m scrapping all this shit! I\u2019m still playing the songs that people are familiar with, but I put a new edit, remix, mashup on just about everything. And what comes out of that is cool because I end up producing essentially remixes of old tracks. Sometimes the remixes end up being really cool and maybe I would even put those out, maybe when the tour is done or halfway through.<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s so many edits and remixes now, and it\u2019s also been a big driver for me to take the little demos that I have, that aren\u2019t quite ready yet and them ready enough to play live, because playing IDs, new tracks, that feedback that you get from the crowd instantly informs your decision making when it comes to the production of the track. So, yeah, these sets were supposed to be 75 minutes and I had to push it to 90 minutes because there\u2019s so much new music. I used to say absolutely not, nothing over 75 minutes, now I\u2019m asking them for more time. It just feels like I have so much music I want to play for people. It\u2019s a great feeling, honestly, you feel revitalized, it\u2019s nice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s horrific, you know. Yeah, it feels bad, to be fair, I think you have to take the average of a few different cities, how they\u2019re reacting. Because for that crowd, at that time you played it, with that soundsystem, maybe something just didn\u2019t click. So, that doesn\u2019t mean abandon it, you go to the next city. But, if there\u2019s something about the mix that you can tell, then you can fix it. Sometimes it\u2019ll just kill my enthusiasm for a song altogether and that\u2019s happened before too.<\/em><\/p>\n One thing from a production perspective I\u2019ve definitely noticed is things that sound good in the studio with a lot of bass, cannot translate if you haven\u2019t left a little space. Having more space between a kick, meaning maybe your kick is a little shorter and the sub, creating that space, oftentimes for live works better. Like in the studio, where everything is perfectly treated, having the kick fill all those low frequencies and then the bass comes in right when the kick stops, seems like the right idea, you have this never-ending sub, that\u2019s what you want. But, for live, there\u2019s going to be so much bass, the bass is going to be accentuated, it\u2019s going to be exaggerated, that making kind of cautious decisions, maybe a shorter kick, maybe the bass takes longer to sidechain in and things like that kind of compensate for the fact that there\u2019s probably going to be an exaggerated representation of the bass when you go to play it live.<\/em><\/p>\n But, in the case of playing it live, creating that separation, you can do it the right way, which is to open up the project and actually mix it differently. But, the other way that you could do, is just put LFO Tool on a track, make sure it\u2019s only affecting the sub and you can just carve out a different shape for it. So if the kick and the sub are really fat and there\u2019s no space between them that low end frequency is just going to look like a sausage kind of. So you use LFO Tool to essentially carve out a little dip in the kick to stop it and halfway through the beat you can lift the sub back in. And if you don\u2019t want to go back into the project, you just want to get a rough idea of what a shorter kick and more space might sound like, you can do that!<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been doing that, and you can quickly get just a slightly different mix and see how that feels, and if that is a good idea, you can go back into your project and do a proper mix that way. But, as I\u2019m playing things live, if I had the opportunity to go to a club before it opens, like I\u2019ve done before, and have them let me play music through the speakers, that\u2019s probably the main thing I would focus on. How long does this kick need to be to make it sound like it\u2019s bangin\u2019 and how loud does a sub really need to be.<\/em><\/p>\n Because some great songs that sound really punchy, really big, like \u2018Push Up\u2019 by Creeds. Yeah, that track is really interesting, really loud kick, sub is not that loud, and sub has a big separation from the kick. So, when I saw how well that works live, it made me rethink what I thought I knew a lot about. Maybe a kick could be a lot louder, sometimes it doesn\u2019t need to be that loud. And if I go and get to test things in a club, that\u2019s mostly what I\u2019m checking for. That\u2019s a long-winded way of answering your question. How does it feel when something doesn\u2019t work? It\u2019s not only the problem, but I\u2019m offering the solution, too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it feels great to be coming back to Ultra. I think the last time I played I did the orchestral show, and I\u2019ve done that twice now in Miami. This time just doing a normal DJ set on the main stage and I think it\u2019s probably going to be like everything I\u2019ve learned from on tour, what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not. All of the new music that I\u2019ll be testing on tour, I\u2019ll get it in a really good place to present it at Ultra Miami. That\u2019s kind of my plan.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou know, there was talk about doing, but these shows would be at like 5 AM, and I also gotta think about me, my kind of show, and in Miami with that crowd, 5 AM, am I the right DJ? So, there were a couple of things that we discussed, but I ended up deciding it wasn\u2019t the right thing. I wouldn\u2019t want to hear a KSHMR set at 5 AM, I\u2019m off my you know what. It\u2019s not the vibe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that\u2019s really wild, 10 years since my first show. I was putting out music for about a year before that, I was an anonymous thing and not playing any shows yet. Yeah, it\u2019s been a wild journey. I think I came in with a really concise vision of being this dark, cinematic, mysterious guy. Back then I was riding the wave of songs like \u201cTsunami\u201d, \u201cMegalodon\u201d, even all the way up until \u201cSecrets\u201d. Somewhere around there more of the Indian side came out with songs like \u201cJammu\u201d and \u201cKashmir\u201d and I really leaned into that. And, there\u2019s been these different waves,<\/em><\/p>\n Harmonica Andromeda album was again a wave, just going to different tempos and really taking the cinematic and organic stuff and taking it to its extreme of what if a song had three different twists in it. In a way, just an absolute showcase of what I was capable of production-wise. I had a lot of fun making that. Another wave was going to India and doing that, I think it\u2019s been a lot of really great waves and that\u2019s all you can hope for. I guess I\u2019m really proud of the challenges and the way that the team and I have faced them and made something really fun and interesting out of them.<\/em><\/p>\n Like, even the orchestral show, originally it was sort of a challenge because Ultra was going to give me either not-a-great set on the main stage, or they said why don\u2019t you do the live stage, and that was kind of like, are they just throwing us on the live stage? But, then the wheels got turning on what that could mean and it led to one of my favorite shows to play now, the live orchestral shows.<\/em><\/p>\n Another thing was how we\u2019re going to present the show in general, then the Animated Story idea came about, then thinking it\u2019ll be so cool if we translated that into the different languages of the countries I\u2019m performing in. There\u2019s just a lot of challenges that led to fun ideas that led to a lot of work, but it\u2019s such a great feeling when your work seems to be for something that you believe in. You know, that feeling of you want to stay up all night, you want to stay up all weekend. I really love that feeling when there\u2019s such a singular, clear purpose to your life.<\/em><\/p>\n The KSHMR project has presented so many of those amazing experiences and challenges, so I\u2019m really grateful for it. And, all the guys that helped me along the way, before my production skill was even really as good as the songs were. The reason the songs were good is because of how many great people collaborated with me. Bassjackers, R3HAB, Tiesto, 7 Skies, all of these guys.<\/em><\/p>\n So, I\u2019ve been really fortunate in that sense, and now I\u2019m in this period of like, well, everybody into dance music kinda knows who I am and I\u2019ll probably never be that hot, rising guy like I was, so now it\u2019s almost a relief, there\u2019s not the pressure to be that, you can just find new waves, do things that excite you and keep it rockin\u2019.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, there\u2019s going to be Europe in the summer, that\u2019s typically what I do, I spend a lot of time in Europe. I think probably more India is going to be coming around, India is always a big one for me, it feels like a homecoming. Yeah, you know, there\u2019s always fucking shows. I\u2019m just focused on what\u2019s in front of me, which is the North American tour.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a while since I had a book that I really loved. But, streaming recommendations, American Nightmare on Netflix, that is a wild story, that\u2019s a really good one. For people who are fans of sci-fi, \u2018Severance\u2019 is a really good show.<\/em><\/p>\n Sometimes this show gets boring, but altogether I do love it. It\u2019s called \u2018For All Mankind\u2019, it\u2019s like historical fiction, it\u2019s kind of like in the High Castle, where it reimagines a critical event in history and then all of the events that emerged from that even being slightly different from the version that we\u2019re familiar with. In this case, it\u2019s Russia beating us to the moon. Not only do they beat us to the moon, but they put a woman on the moon, so this has a dramatic impact on the view of women in society and the amount of investment that the American government makes into NASA. So, by the 90s people are driving electric cars and there\u2019s been all this investment in science.<\/em><\/p>\n So it does a really beautiful job of sort of reimagining history in a way that\u2019s not cheesy, it\u2019s kind of subtle and it\u2019s trippy to think how things could have been slightly different. I really took it too heart that we lost the moon race and so they just started plowing money into science which ends up having a lot of great consequences, you get a female president, a lot of cool, interesting things happen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I just can\u2019t wait for all of you guys to hear this new music, and if you come to the shows, you\u2019ll hear it first.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Check out the latest from KSHMR & gritney \u201cAll Night\u201d out now on Dharma. Get your tickets for one of KSHMR\u2019s two upcoming Los Angeles shows here<\/a>. Remaining tour dates below.<\/p>\nHey Niles! Thanks for the chat, it\u2019s always a pleasure. Tell us what has KSHMR been up to lately and how have you adapted to the ever changing musical landscape?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
You\u2019re currently on your North American club tour. How\u2019s it been going so far and tell us what kind of preparation goes into your own headline tour as opposed to pulling up to a festival and playing an hour-long set?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Has that ever happened, or what\u2019s the feeling like where you play something new for the first time and maybe it doesn\u2019t get the reaction you were expecting?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Speaking of festivals, Ultra Miami is just around the corner. How does it feel to be back in Miami and what can fans expect on the main stage? Are you playing any other shows for Miami Music Week?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Will you be playing any other shows during Miami Music Week at all?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
2024 will mark 10 years of KSHMR, reflect on your musical journey for us. How have you grown and evolved as an artist over a decade? Do you have anything special planned to celebrate?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
What other music and touring do you have in store for 2024?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
I always like to ask this in interviews. Do you have any current book or streaming recommendations?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Anything else you want to say to all the fans out there?<\/strong><\/h4>\n