Influences: Kornél Kovács

Kornel Kovacs is one of those characters who has modestly and organically asserted his influence on the European house scene. As one of the co-founders of the Studio Barnhus label with Alex Bowman, he has aired releases by Baba Stiltz, Jimi Tenor, Mount Liberation Unlimited, HNNY and many more. It also serves as a home for his own brilliantly colourful and inventive takes on house music. Elsewhere, he has disseminated this sound on Japan’s Endless Flight label and even Numbers, who released possibly his biggest record, Radio Koko, which featuring the infectious party anthem ‘Pantalon’.

This February, he returns to Leeds for the first time in a few years. Here are his influences.

 

Your earliest musical memory

“I swear it’s my Mum playing Kraftwerk – Computer Liebe album on tape in our Stockholm home.”

 

The first record/cd you bought

“First vinyl I ever bought was Origin Unknown – Valley Of The Shadows – the 96 remix release. Still think 96 remix tops the original!”

 

A record given to you by your parents

“I never really got any records from my parents, it was more like I forced money out of them to buy records before I started making my own money. Some mixtapes happened for sure and there were always good records at home.”

 

A record that made you pick up an instrument/play music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8FWaB0zP-Y

“Michael Mayer’s Fabric 13 mix cd played a large part in me taking up djing again after a brief hiatus a long time ago.”

 

A tune from your school days

“Lots of school, lots of tunes… But maybe I should say Jan Sandström’s Det är en ros utsrpungen which I sang many times as a student at Adolf Fredriks Musikklasser.”

 

A record that altered your music taste forever

“I really don’t know! Don’t think such a thing happened ever. Maybe Computer Liebe then!”

 

A record from your first clubbing experiences

“Vitalic – La Rock 01”

 

A record that affected your political standpoint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6xgbxoNzek

“Infinite Mass – Area Turns Red”

 

An unlikely influence

“Maybe golden era, turn-of-the-millennium Max Martin could be considered unlikely? Really big for me. And I guess choral stuff that I was singing in school.”

 

A current influence

“Shannon Lay, love her music so much!”

 

A record you want played at your funeral

“Fatlip – What’s Up Fatlip?”