Lesky - Meraki (Sealed) (LP)

“Meraki” is the first full-length album by LESKY. Within less than three years, LESKY has established himself as one of the most promising and ambitious producers on the German scene. For a new artist, his discography is pretty deep and versatile. No matter if he delves into sample-driven lofi-beats or dropping trap and phonk, there is always a strong melodic side to his music. The LESKY sound is a nutshell: „All meat - no fat: hard and busy drums, fender rhodes neo soul chords and a filtered moog bassline“, as he puts it. With a guest list that features long-time friends Phlocalyst and S?tyr alongside MPM artists FloFilz, MC Turt of Summers Sons, Sakura Murakami and new talents like Cologne (beat) boy wonder Midan and New Jersey-based singer Tally Schwenk, “Meraki” is bringing together the best of many worlds under one LESKY groove. Other artists featured on the album are Ddob, Meadow, Cuebe, Flynn and Mensing. “Meraki” is Greek and of those words that don’t translate into English very well. One could put it as follows: “When you leave a piece of yourself, your soul, creativity, and love in what you do.” For LESKY, it also stands for the transition of turning your hobby into a profession. Born and raised in Leipzig, he moved to Cologne when he turned 21 to intern and later work at MPM. Fast forward to 2021, LESKY has once again packed his bags and relocated to Tbilisi, the capitol of Georgia. It looks as if the journey for this young producer has only just begun... Tracklist 1. Oyster feat. FloFilz, Phlocalyst & Sakura Murakami Drums by FloFilz. Trumpet by Phlocalyst. Guitar by Sakura Murakami. 2. Palma feat. Midan Co-Production, bass & guitar by Midan. 3. Alight feat. Turt & DDob Vocals by Turt. Co-Production & guitar by DDob. 4. Coda feat. Medow Co-Production by Meadow. 5. Bamboo feat. Cuebe Co-Production by Cuebe. 6. Lluvia feat. Midan Co-Production, bass & guitarr by Midan. 7. Aaliyah feat. Flynn Co-Production, bass & guitar by Midan. 8. Augustiner feat. S?tyr Co-Production & guitar by S?tyr. 9. Ragazza feat. S?tyr Co-Production & guitar by S?tyr. 10. Rakomelo 11. Apricot feat. Phlocalyst & S?tyr Co-Production & trumpet by Phlocalyst. Co-Production & guitar by S?tyr. 12. Saint Eugene feat. Midan Co-Production, bass & guitar by Midan. 13. Relief feat. Tally Schwenk & Mensing Vocals by Tally Schwenk. Co-Production by Mensing. Credits All tracks produced and mixed by LESKY. Mastered by Roe Beardie. Artwork by Maxim Tur. Photo by Niels Freidel. A&R by Olski. Product Management by Tobias Servos. Q&A w/ LESKY Q: After several EPs and countless singles & collabos, is “Meraki” your debut album. Did you have a different approach or particular goals for this project? A: For me, all my main beat projects in the past feel like stages on my way to Meraki. Plata was a field study in classic sampling, on Eterea I was able to improve my drums game and act on my inclination for Trap/Phonk and Suadela was the catalyst for a less overly overthought approach and catchy melodies. “Meraki” combines all that and shows the variety of my musical network as it also demonstrates my personal taste as a producer. Q: A team player is creating a solo album: the guestlist is long. How did the contact come about? Could you tell us about a special connection to one, two or three of the guests? A: None of the guest appearances felt tedious or unnatural to me. The contact to Flo and Turt came inevitably through the two years of working for MPM. Phlocalyst and I are connected through a long-standing friendship (he tried blaming me for some water damages when we were still neighbours in Leipzig). I met S?tyr at a FloFilz gig in Munich in 2019, where he was the pre-act. Midan, who is well known in the cratedigger scene in Cologne, started talking to me at Groove Attack Recordstore after the release of my first MPM single in the beginning of 2020. Especially with the latter three, it’s always a fluent transition from just casually hanging out to productive work to a hungover morning from 12 beers and a liter of ouzo in Athens, which after three hours of sleep is likely to end up in the next session and transition into the next hangover again. Q: Leipzig – Cologne – Tbilisi: How did this trip happen? A: An internship and later the job at MPM took me to Cologne, while Tbilis has some nice points going for it: It’s where my girlfriend is studying to become a doctor, the living expenses are ridiculously cheap and Covid doesn’t seem to affect Georgia as badly as Germany – and since the music holds a promising full time career, the decision to move hasn’t been too hard for me. Q: What made you move to Georgia? What is life out there like? How’s the scene? A: In some ways, it always had to happen. A long-term schoolfriend of mine is Georgian, I had my first kiss with a girl from Georgia plus my girlfriend has Georgian roots and has been teaching me the language. That all just kind of happened. Last week I thought “fuck it“ and got LESKY in Georgian letters tattooed on my stomach. These days, there is a curfew between 9PM and 5AM, otherwise I’m enjoying the variety of restaurants, bars and the exciting potpourri of European, Soviet and Middle Eastern culture. I get up early, work two to three hours in the morning and keep the rest of the day free for leisure and exploring the area with some locals as well as talk to other “digital nomads“. There is an old factory hall that developed to be a hotspot, following the Berlin model, which includes a complete recording studio that I regularly rent for two Euros per hour to do sessions with a British guitarist. The weather is incredible (subtropical), but when it does get cold, it gets really cold. Luckily, there’s always self-made wine and Cha Cha (40-80 % moonshine) to keep me warm.