From San Francisco to Jakarta, 3kelves Makes Borderless Indie Pop

Sure, a lot of artists connect on Instagram. But for the producer 3kelves, it all started in a more niche corner of the internet: the Disclosure Discord server. That’s where he discovered he might be good at music production, and that it could take him all over the world.

Bored in his San Francisco apartment during pandemic lockdowns, the Korean American artist began frequenting the Grammy-winning English dance music duo’s Discord, where they had taken to sharing their creative process. When Disclosure hosted a remix contest, 3kelves tried his hand and won. Twice.

It set him on an upward trajectory that allowed him to quit his tech job and meet his closest collaborators: Dylan C. Greene from the Netherlands, and Indonesian group We Are Neurotic, all of whom are now partners in their new record label, C3DO.

Once the world reopened, the friends began traveling to see one another in person. It was in Jakarta that they began working on tracks that became part of 3kelves’ new EP lucas 루카스, which also features production from San Diego’s Memery and Germany’s Axel Steinbiss.

“When we met each other, there were no barriers,” says 3kelves, whose real name is Taewook Lucas Kang, in a video call from a hotel lobby in New York during a mini-tour earlier this month. “It’s just like, straight into it because we’ve been hanging out so much online. The only difference we didn’t notice was [each other’s] heights.”

In the years prior, 3kelves had made a name for himself with nu-disco releases whose ecstatic melodies and pulsing beats beckoned listeners to the dance floor, landing him opening gigs for big names in house music like Purple Disco Machine, Duck Sauce and SG Lewis. lucas 루카스 (which came out March 29 via Brooklyn label toucan sounds) is his most personal project yet, one where his lyrical abilities come into clear focus as he excavates the intricacies of turbulent relationships.

The EP dips into 2000s nostalgia, taking inspiration from the indie pop music 3kelves immersed himself in when he and his family first arrived from Korea to the United States (Irvine, Calif., to be exact) when he was in middle school.

Because of the language barrier, it was hard at first to connect with peers. “But my friend gave me this mixtape that had the later side of Beatles, Radiohead, Arcade Fire and The Shins — the earlier indie stuff, even before it was that popular,” 3kelves recalls. “That mixtape really changed my life.”

Music became his way of finding community, and in high school and college in New York state, 3kelves immersed himself in the playful and experimental sounds of the Dirty Projectors, Passion Pit and Danny Brown. lucas 루카스 calls back to that era of music blogs and technological optimism. Funky bass lines bubble up from undercurrents of dreamy, reflective synth melodies as 3kelves delivers lyrics with the intensity of a psychological thriller.

lucas 루카스 might have a nostalgic sound, but this isn’t background music for tuning out in a coffee shop. “Squint your eyes but there’s nothing to see / Tangled up, I’m dying in your basement / Reach your hands down and carried me out / Blood naked to the cross alone,” 3kelves sings on the unsettling yet upbeat opening track “Tides,” about a codependent relationship.

When asked how he keeps his pen so sharp, 3kelves reveals that he’s a huge poetry fan. Poet and memoirist Saeed Jones (who is also a reliable source for whip-smart cultural commentary on his podcast, Vibe Check) is an inspiration, as is U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, specifically her meditation on love and loss, The Hurting Kind.

“I look at the poetry books and how they organize things — it’s kind of incredible. Like the cadence of the words and the impact of certain words,” 3kelves says. “I take a lot of inspiration from that. Not that I’m taking any lines straight from the book, but just looking at the word choice and how it flows.”

Musical partner in crime Dylan C. Greene (“Someone described our dynamic as a couple that’s about to divorce at any moment,” says 3kelves) is quick to praise 3kelves’ songwriting.

“His speed and skill for writing non-corny lyrics is very good,” says Greene, who permanently joined 3kelves in San Francisco about a year ago. “I’ve never heard a line come out of his pen that I’m just like, ‘Oh no, I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ It’s always an interesting take on something or a nice turn of phrase. That’s a skill that’s very rare, and that hopefully we can start using for other people’s projects.”

The two friends have a music studio downtown that they share with a crew of collaborators — mostly electronic musicians and one trombone player who makes disco. Their ambitions are global, but they have no plans of leaving San Francisco, an electronic music destination that still has a small-city pace.

“In New York City, I think if I moved here,” 3kelves laughs, “I would have lost my mind and lost all my money.”