Konvex: "Every collaboration nourishes me, enriches me, and helps me grow"
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Originally from the south of France, Konvex has spent close to two decades embedded in electronic music culture. DJ, producer, vocalist and percussionist, he also co-runs the independent label AZZUR with longtime collaborator Meloko.
His production style is built around detail and texture, often reconstructing grooves from live recordings or carefully dissected samples. Behind the decks, he moves across three to four turntables, layering energy and rhythm with live electronic percussion woven into his sets.
In 2024, he contributed to the global success of “Me Gusta” (+2M streams). The following year, his single “If U Ever” became a steady presence on dancefloors worldwide, holding a position in Beatport’s global Top Sales chart for over three months (1M streams in 3 months). His work continues to receive consistent support from names such as Keinemusik Crew, Dixon, Âme, Solomun, and Adriatique.
You started your career in the south of France and have been active in the electronic music scene for almost 20 years. Which memories from your hometown still influence your music today?
Montpellier in the 2000s was an electronic city. It had countless clubs, and I was a regular at two of them in particular: La Villa Rouge and Le Bar Live. Between the clubs, the afters, and the befores, you could pretty much dance non-stop from Friday night to Sunday night.
That’s where I discovered artists like Laurent Garnier or Sven Väth at La Villa Rouge, and the whole German minimal scene at Bar Live — Michael Mayer, Ellen Allien, and Paul Kalkbrenner.I also danced a lot at free parties around Montpellier; we often ended up away for several days of non-stop raving. That’s where I discovered crews like Spiral Tribe and Heretik.
So I’d say what stayed with me from that period is a love for very diverse music and people. Diversity is central for me — it feeds me and keeps me out of any social bubble. When everyone around the table agrees, there’s no growth. You always need to try, listen, and dance to different musical styles… otherwise you quickly turn into an old grump.
You are a DJ, producer, singer, and percussionist. How do you balance all these roles in your creative process?
I think the key is precisely not to balance anything.In the studio I let go completely; I don’t think about anything, and I just see what happens.After that, I switch my brain back on and decide what to do with the idea.
The worst thing is thinking about the end result while you’re creating. What we do is basically a chain of experiments, lucky accidents, and bits of experience that sometimes turn into something cool. In that process, you have to try to be as free as possible.
That’s why I learned piano and singing, on top of the percussion I had taught myself. The goal is to be able to try out every idea that comes into my head. Once the idea is recorded, if I realize my voice or piano playing isn’t good enough, I send it to a singer or pianist friend. But at least the idea is captured.
In your productions, your attention to grooves is meticulous, often built from live recordings or samples. Can you walk us through your workflow when creating a track from scratch?
First, you need a hook — something the whole track revolves around, the main character in a way. It can be a vocal, a synth, or anything strong and distinctive. Then I lay down a bassline or a harmony to understand where I’m heading.
After that come the grooves… and that’s when it becomes a bit of a carnival! Anything is possible. I might start from an audio sample that I’ll chop up, re-groove, detune, and dirty up… or from a MIDI part I’ll play on a drum machine… or I grab my mic and record pretty much anything that’s within reach and start mangling it. The idea is to keep moving until the magic kicks in… and at some point everything falls into place.
Then I do the arrangement, and it’s done.
As a DJ, you enjoy using 3 or 4 decks simultaneously, often with electronic percussion. What’s the biggest challenge when mixing this way?
The core idea is that, for me, every action (in the studio or during a DJ set) has to serve the music and the dancers. Adding a third or fourth deck lets me bring in more groove and energy, and it also allows me to give a track a different color — all with the sole purpose of making people dance and telling a story through the music.
But depending on the moment, if one track is enough, I only play one. It all depends on the venue, the crowd, where I am in the set, etc. And it’s exactly the same with percussion: I only add it when I feel it brings something to the music.
It’s not systematic. I try to stay focused on the music and the dancers. They’re the ones guiding me.
In 2024, you contributed to the worldwide success of "Me Gusta". How did being part of such a global project impact your career?
It shone a spotlight on the crew… and that’s fantastic! It’s been more than 10 years since Meloko and I created AZZUR, and it really makes me happy — and proud — to see a track like "Me Gusta" living such a good life.
What’s funny is that, to me, "Me Gusta" is a track like any other. What I mean is that I put the same intention, the same energy, the same ambition, and the same amount of work into every piece I work on… And sometimes, one of them stands out. And that’s the greatest joy for a producer.
Your music can make people dance both at large festivals and in intimate clubs. How do you decide if a track will work better in one context over the other?
In general, you don’t really decide anything.As a producer or musician, I just do my best and give the most I can in that moment. After that, it’s the people who decide. I’m convinced you can’t predict how the audience will react in advance. So I do my best, I test things, and I see what happens.
As a DJ, though, I’ve noticed that in clubs you have to maintain high energy as much as possible: short breaks, steady rhythm, and frequent changes in moods and styles. You can also push your ideas further and play more niche or demanding tracks.
At festivals, the set times are often shorter, the lineup is heavier, and everyone tends to play their hits… that’s the game, and it’s great too. But the two atmospheres are very different.
You run the independent label AZZUR alongside Meloko. What values or mission guide your selection of artists and projects for the label?
What we want is always to push music forward by innovating and trying to do things better and differently from what already exists… because if it’s just to offer something that’s already out there, what’s the point?
Our principle is that you need to be a good person to make good music. What matters to us is creating a safe space where we can try and experiment, while getting feedback from the team in a caring way. That sparks ideas and collaboration around shared human values: respect, kindness, not taking ourselves too seriously — and teasing each other a bit… that’s important in the crew.
Basically, we’re just a group of friends making music and throwing parties. It’s as simple as that.
Your career has led you to collaborate with many artists and explore different genres. Was there a particular encounter or collaboration that changed your perspective on music?
What changed my perspective, above all, were the encounters. Every time I produce a track with another artist, I discover their world, their approach, and we exchange ideas. There’s always a moment of uncertainty at the beginning, before our visions align, and then everything starts to fall into place. Each collaboration nourishes me, enriches me, and helps me grow. I really see music as an exchange of ideas. Collaborations are essential to my process.
More broadly, if I had to choose just one person, it would obviously be Meloko. We’ve been working together every day for more than fifteen years — that leaves a mark.
Over the years, you’ve witnessed significant changes in electronic music. Which shifts have stood out the most, and where do you see the scene heading today?
In my view, what has changed the most is the reason why people make music today.
As I said earlier, I started making music and DJing more than 20 years ago. At that time, we were all a bit utopian — we just wanted to dance freely. Dancing was our way to escape the metro-work-sleep routine. There was no marketing behind any of it; we just wanted to dance and never stop. Most of the time we played at illegal parties and were rarely paid. The goal was the music and being happy together.
Today, there’s a real ecosystem around our music (streaming, gigs, etc.), and this is great! But I think that collectively — promoters, clubs, producers, DJs — we need to keep a part of that utopia and that refusal of the established order. We should aim to create something different and singular rather than chase whatever is supposed to "work".
The goal in everything we do should be to surprise people and make them happy together on a dancefloor.
Looking ahead, are there new experiments, collaborations, or sounds you’re excited to explore in your upcoming projects?
The future feels really exciting to me!We have plenty of new technical tools that let us create different things, both in production and in DJing. For the coming year, I’ve decided to collaborate even more with singers, musicians, and percussionists.
And above all, to keep having fun with my friends — the AZZUR crew. Music, friends, and laughter sound like a solid plan to me.
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