Free Download: Knife Party “Boss Mode” (Kayzo Harder Mix)

Kayzo is an absolute machine. The sound-shifting producer is currently sitting on 11 unreleased tracks, and as per his MO, they run the gamut of genres—incorporating everything from hard house to drum & bass elements. Aside from the solo material Hayden Capuozzo will be slugging out very soon, he also has a few collabs in store with homies Dotcom, rapper Sam King, Sullivan King, and Seek N Destroy. But before he lets go of those wildin’-out earworms, Hayden is dropping off the next banger from his Harder Mix series.

Decided by a vote held among his fans, Kayzo takes a stab at reworking Knife Party’s “Boss Mode,” and he’s so on the money here. Ramping up the tune to dangerously high levels of energy, the remix places the worlds of hardstyle and trap on a head-on collision course. The original melody line is cut with rapid-fire 808s and a heavy-footed kick, but the real head-fuckery comes during the blindsiding tempo switch-ups. You need to fux with it.

Kayzo is handing this one out for free, so hit up the download link found on the SoundCloud player below.

Were you impulsive on this track, or did you have a sketch in mind before you started?
It was funny how this remix came to be, actually. I was in a dilemma to either remix this particular track or another one I was pretty big on at the moment. Instead of just choosing at random, I decided to hold a vote on my Facebook page. My fans were pretty persistent on me taking a stab at Boss Mode, so within the first 30 minutes of the vote, it was pretty clear what I was going to be working on. As for the process of the track itself, it all came together pretty quick. I knew I wanted to re-create the main melody and then put my spin on it, so I had a pretty clear direction of where to start.

Have you played this one out in any of your sets? If so, what was the response?
I have been playing out the remix for the past month and a half, and I have experienced nothing but positive response from the crowd. I had put a preview snippet out about a week before the first time I played it out, so people were pretty eager to hear it live in its entirety.

What’s your favorite sound/synth/effect/etc. used here?
My favorite effect on this track is something that is a bit unorthodox, I think, to many artists. It’s nothing to do with the sound of the track itself, actually, but to do with the bpm of it. The track is a 150-bpm track, but for the second drop, I decided to automate the tempo down to 128 from the build to drop, and once that drop is done it gets back to 150. People lose their mind at that part; it sort of feel like it has a moombah vibe to it, which holds a really nice contrast in comparison to the 150 upbeat vibe.

Choose one feeling that sums up this release and describe it to us.
The feeling behind my “harder” mixes has always been one best described as “intense.” Not many artists do what I decide to do when producing hardstyle. I like to add other genre elements to my songs, such as trap beats to complement the 4/4 kick on drops. The flip from 4/4 hardstyle kicks to 808 bass really exerts a sort of energy and surprise that I can’t explain. It’s a huge part of my sound, and to see the excitement people get from it, both from my releases and in a live setting, is really rewarding.

How does this production reflect your personality/ethos?
I have always wanted to be one that goes against the grain and against the trend. In a time where deeper future sounds reign supreme as the new “trendy” thing, I have always held a passion for the harder sounds. I fell in love with bass music early, so to showcase my side of that in many different contexts of genres I think shows my fans who I really am as a person. I’m like most people. I enjoy many different things—different tastes for different times. My mood doesn’t stay at one tempo at all times. I feel different ways each and every day. I try to convey that in my music to relate to people out there.

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