Kiko Kaid
lofi hip-hop / chillhop
Kiko Kaid - Day Velvet [single]
Dreamy grooves, popping/bubbly synth plucks and smooth ear candy percussion. Day Velvet is a lovely addition to the Kiko Kaid catalogue. Branching out with some fun synth play this time, alongside some field recordings & nature soundscapes ~
Released: January 4th, 2024
Kiko Kaid - Sleepy Cabin
Kiko Kaid returns with a new collection of sleepy lofi tunes. Heavy use of pads and extremely washed out vocal layers to give each track a floating airy feel. Each track is lead by either some clean noodle guitar melodies, or multiple layers of keys and piano. All meshed together with very subtle and sleepy beats, multiple layers of reverb, field recordings and ambient swells.
Released: November 23rd, 2023
Kiko Kaid - Cupp [single]
Written in 2019. Normally I would label something like this as a H A C E beat. But the heavy use of grooving percussion, and plethora of dreamy piano melodies certainly lean more towards a Kiko Kaid tune. Not to mention the smooth drum fills and groove change up halfway through, point more to a Kiko tune as well. 2023 remastered.
Released: October 6th, 2023
Forest Floor [single]
Back to the forest with some nature-like-vibes from Kiko Kaid. Using some sampled jazzy piano chords along with the typical bubbly melodies you'd find in a Kiko beat. Flowing dancing electric guitar slowly builds and becomes a dreamy ethereal textures to wrap up the second half. Probably won’t have many lofi releases this year.
Released: January 31st, 2023
Kiko Kaid - the getaway
Winter themed lofi tune. Featuring open turning twinkle emo guitar along with soft piano and pads. Sprinkled with some light bells and other ear candy to be a relaxing listening experience. There’s two versions included in this release. On top of the normal mix there’s a longer, slower, more sleepy version titled “the long getaway.” More lovely sleepy lofi coming from Kiko Kaid ~ Checkout the visual here.
Released: December 8th, 2022
Kiko Kaid; Emre Şen - Rainspell [single]
A lovely sleepy lofi collaboration between myself as Kiko Kaid and Emre Sen. Emre provided the chords and a good deal of the keys. I gave the song a bit more structuring, added some guitar and piano leads. I think it came out really relaxing and smooth.
More like this from Kiko Kaid in the future.
Released: September 28th, 2022
Kiko Kaid - Pieces of Everything
Sleepy / emotional lofi tunes. I’ve always loved having emotional releases being only 2 songs. Originally 5-6 tracks, but after listening and holding onto these tunes for a while I’ve found that Departure & Stardew fit each other quite well. Using extremely light percussion from my desk and other random wooden objects, layered with some very rounded lofi drum hits. I used flute, acoustic guitar, electric piano and that dreamy electric guitar you’d find in most Kiko Kaid tunes.
Released: May 20th, 2022
Kiko Kaid - Ink [single]
Originally started as a H A C E tune. I’ve held onto Ink for about a year now. Each time I revisited the idea it evolved more and more. Adding more guitars and effects, to adding the soft plucky synth in the background. Probably the tightest groove from Kiko Kaid yet.
Released: May 10th, 2022
Kiko Kaid - Thru It [single]
A dreamy lofi single from Kiko Kaid! I’ve been trying to give space to some of my more recent tunes from this project. Experimenting not using quantization and trying to give that “human” feel back to the songs and not have it be so processed sounding. As well as keeping the instrumentation simple and minimal. I used a blend of sampled hits and my own personal sampling of me hitting my desk to create the drum timbre for this track.
Released: March 18th, 2022
Kiko Kaid - Saltwater / Nightstalker
Started as two originals "Saltwater" and "Nightstalker" featuring vocalists Sami Rahman and Danni Holmes. After sitting on the tunes for a while I kept adding and revamping the two songs over and over again until I was eventually somewhat happy with them. I eventually started sending out the two songs looking for remixers to get an extra song or two on the release. But after a while each remix I that would receive back would be massively different than the next. So I was compelled to create a larger remix project for these two originals. Now the entire release sounds like a extremely cohesive album with all kinds of flavors; yet keeping a very similar theme throughout. Hope you enjoy this experiment.
Released: January 27th, 2022
H A C E; Kiko Kaid - haha okay [single]
Blending the dreamy guitar and flow of Kiko Kaid with some dark sounding lofi textures and attitudes typically found in a H A C E tune. Long drawn-out chorus that begin to waver and ebb towards the end of their tails. Guitar plucks and chime-like bell synths dance around the track as the beat steps in and out of focus. Simple and smooth lofi chillhop tune ~ Check out the visualizer here.
Released: November 28th, 2021
Artwork provided by Kiwi Bear Records
Beaming [single]
Bringing back some of the vibes found in "Water Keys"
Full, yet muted and rounded chords that carry the song from area to area. Incorporating plenty of guitar. Light noodling that dances around the palm mutes. Very slide-y melodies that bring the song to those spacey - otherworldly moments using the signature Kiko delay/reverb combo. Special thanks to Kiwi Bear Records for releasing this on their label.
Released: September 10th, 2021
Artwork by Katelyn Rink
Mushrooms
Light, breezy and groovy. This whole EP sits more on the jazzy side for Kiko Kaid. Slipping in and out of moody and lighthearted. While still using all the elements and instrumentation you’d normally find on a Kiko release. You can hear some new elements like flute, bells, and strings. Full smooth chords lead each song accompanied by wispy layers of keys and guitar. Features a track with Crossing Bridges; using a blend of soft strings and sampled strings to create a nice retro vibe. “Who are You Kid?” is completely inspired by Lemongrass.
Released: April 20th, 2021
Photography by Tucker Pendleton (carraway)
Feng Shui
Consider it August Pt. 2. These are the B-Sides from the older release August from 2019. This includes all the same vibes from the previous album. Sampling from the Collective, glitchy guitar splicing, and jangly bouncing acoustic guitars and bell synths. The muffled lofi beat pairs with the thumping sub bass that gives the songs a good movement. Includes a live intermission and several songs with vocal bits and a feature from Just the Architects.
Released: December 12th, 2020
Painting by Liz Silvergreen
Water Keys [LazyTreeRecords]
First time releasing Kiko through a label so I wanted to try some different approaches this time. Using all keyboards and synths. Standing while writing the whole thing. I wanted to have less going on and embellish the small amount of instrumentation going on. Keeping things more dry and small sounding. I can see this being the future of Kiko Kaid. I learned a lot and it was fun writing in a new light. Big thanks to all the support Lazy Tree Records has done for this release. Hopefully more to come!
Released: September 9th, 2020
Painting by Abigaze Sinpole
River Eyes w/Leandro Ragusa
The latest Kiko featuring Leandro has a wide step into new territory for this project and the collective. With Kiko’s open tuning twinkle emo guitar and smooth boom bap sub-bass marriage still being the main environment of the EP. Leandro’s bandoneon performance brings River Eyes to a new form of life. Allowing lofi/chillhop to take a step into the worldly and folk, to give the songs the ability to breathe. My favorite accompaniment / collaboration yet. Sit back and take a breath.
Released: June 14th, 2020
Photography by Stavi Xinou
Okie [single]
In light of recent times I personally had to make some happy tunes. This is definitely the peak of that vibe. Using lighthearted instrumentation like cowbell and organ to blend with the signature KK guitar noodles. I feel like this is definitely a step up in song structure for this project so definitely expect a little more depth like this in future releases. Enjoy this bright spring/summertime bop.
Released: May 14th, 2020
Gone Forever (ft. Charlie Universe) [single]
My cousin Charlie posted this beautiful loop on his instagram. When I asked for the original sample he said it was already deleted. So after sampling the instagram post this is what came of it. The psychedelic loop is chopped up and pitched at certain times. Added some guitar tracks with heavy effects as well as the classic Kiko boom-bap drum and bass combo. Not to mention a few added layers here and there. Check out the video.
Released: November 11th, 2019
Artwork by Abigaze Sinpole
Quartet {bt}
Sounds like a warp in time. Back to simpler days. Each song themed around history. I wanted to make it seem like the whole record was recorded by a quartet. Using a limited amount of tracks and instrumentation. Going for a more jazzy approach for this {bt}. Quartet is definitely the direction Kiko is going in. Smooth laid back, thick, and retro.
Released: September 20th, 2019
PINBALL MONKEY {bt}
Samples featuring Forest Kids & RANDEL (the ghost). As well as features from upcoming project Mr. Rai & Just the Architects. From smooth guitar vibes in Dazed and YTFPIS, to dissociative synths and pads in One Chance, Creep, & Ghost Clan. Ghost Clan features Mr. Rai on guitar. Bringing in the smooth jazzy vibes. More team-ups from Kiko Kaid coming later this year.
Released: May 20th, 2019
OnaLite (feat. Taki Brano)
A small collaboration between myself and a friend (Taki Brano). Myself providing the guitars and beat. Taki started the collaboration with the piano loop and eventually sent several more textures and the lead piano. Smooth, dark, and smokey. More collaborations to come ~
Released: May 1st, 2019
Artwork by Stavi Xinou
August {bt}
First official lofi-hiphop beattape from the Collective. Classic boom-bap beats with deep hiphop sub’s. Kiko Kaid’s character is a scavenger stalker and it shows in their music. By taking samples and stems from other alias’s throughout the Collective. Alias’s sampled: H A C E, Imisu, Forest Kids, Just the Architects, and RANDEL (the ghost). People Eating Fruit & Danni Holmes feature on the beattape as well !
Released: February 23rd, 2019
TakeOver (feat. People Eating Fruit) [single]
Flipped sample from an unreleased People Eating Fruit song. Branden Bauer of PEF vocals are slowed and pitched up, along with the phase guitars and hard hitting hiphop beat. With the use of some sweep filter & trap samples, TakeOver is a bop.
Released: December 5th, 2018
Bluntlips [single]
The first single from Kiko Kaid. Diving into lofi-hiphop. Using pitched hiphop snares and 808s. Bluntlips is a slow calm introductory track for this project. Using deep guitar looping for the backtrack and other small instrumentation. With sampling of waves crashing and a voicemail.
Released: November 6th, 2018