Wannes Salomé and Erik Buschmann are the masterminds behind the newly-minted electronic music act Ramsesboomboom. A prevalent force in the realms of Dutch indie rock, the pair have enjoyed many successful years alongside Koen van de Wardt with their group Klangstof; the first Dutch band to perform at Coachella. Now, entering the electronic music scape, Ramsesboomboom deliver their inaugural EP, ‘Sam’, returning to the mighty Reflektor Records for the first time since Klangstof’s collaboration with Amy Root on ‘Alike’.

Thanks for joining us today, guys! Firstly, can you tell us how Ramsesboomboom came to be? What’s the story behind the name?

We started this project while we were playing and writing a lot in the band Klangstof. We were spending a lot of time writing sad indie songs and sometimes we just needed to step out of it. So, we started to write electronic music in between. The first electronic track we made was called “Ramses” (this track is now called ‘I Feel Nothing’). We added “boomboom” to it for some extra playfulness and to give it a bit more character.

How would you describe your style and sound?

We’re very picky about the sounds of every layer in our songs. It’s crazy how much time we sometimes spend on the tiniest details. At the same time, we can be very blunt and make big changes to a song. All of this results in a blend of techno and house with a playful energy.

Talk us through your new ‘Sam’ EP. How long has this been in the works?

We produce a lot of music and always have a long list of unreleased demos and tracks. When we sent this list to Amsterdam label Reflektor Records, they were very excited about this selection. I think this selection has some of our most left-field tracks in them, like ‘Fixmybody’ and ‘Uppaclass’. ‘Huskytime’ is one of the oldest tracks on the record and was first called ‘Magic Daddy’. It contained a lot of samples from the children’s series Peppa Pig. When we swapped those around with samples of an autotuned singing husky, the track suddenly clicked. The other two tracks, ‘Poly’ and ‘Without U’, are just bangers.

How do you approach the creative process when producing new tracks as a duo?

We mostly have something to start with. This could be a short improvisation on a synthesizer, an old idea lying around, or a sample from our private sample folder. Then we basically take turns tweaking the knobs. We know and trust each other enough to give up some control and let each other do our thing. We always get to a place we’re both happy with, and it’s always something we could not have made on our own.

What do you hope listeners take away from your music?

We’re aiming for a wonderful combination of serious fist-bumping and joy.

How do you engage with your audience, both online and offline?

Because we’re a duo, we sometimes get to talk a bit with the audience during our DJ sets. Online, we engage mostly through our socials, like Instagram.

If you could curate your own festival, where would it be and who would join you on the lineup?

It would be either in Amsterdam or Rotterdam (the two most fun cities in the Netherlands) and have all our favorite artists: Gold Panda, Floating Points, Four Tet, Fred Again.., Kelly Lee Owens, Overmono, Hudson Mohawke, Two Shell, DJ ADHD.

How do you envision the future for Ramsesboomboom? Any upcoming projects or collaborations we can look forward to?

We’re already working on some new music in the background, and it’s going to have a slightly different sound than this one. We’ll share more about that soon. In the meantime, we have some remixes lined up, and we’re going to try and come play as much as we can!

Lastly, what’s one thing you’d like your fans to know about Ramsesboomboom that they might not already know?

If you go to our website and enter the command ‘kids’, you’ll hear a super small snippet of a demo we’re working on. We also regularly tease new music on our Instagram @ramsesboomboom.