Welcome to the Fempire: Kédu Carlö on their upcoming album and latest EP

Words by Hannah Powell. Images by Jerome Warburton.

Badass DJ duo Kédu Carlö have recently released their second EP, ‘Alien Fempire’. Yo Vocal caught up with Carly and Jess to talk about Melbourne, an album, and the excitement of the EP release.

Meet Carly and Jess: two best friends who DJ under the name Kédu Carlö. Self-described as “acid lords”, Kédu Carlö is based in Auckland and has reached new heights with the release of their latest EP, ‘Alien Fempire’.

When I catch up with the two of them, Carly and Jess are miles ahead. They’re close to finishing their debut album. “Whilst we’re releasing Alien Fempire, we’re kind of also mentally in another world,” Carly laughs. “We’ve been busy in the background…we’re gearing up for our Melbourne tour and adapting our live show once again. [And] we moved in together, which is cool.”

Like with their album, after the release of their first EP, ‘Let’s Get To It,’ it was straight into the next. The process of ‘Alien Fempire’ began early last year. Laying the foundation of acid lines and dancey drum groove, both were determined to make an EP that sounded different.

“We were just kind of obsessed with acid and 90s rave, and more vintage sounds,” Jess says. “I remember us having a conversation when we started making the EP being like, this is going to be a classic acid 90s rave EP, [but] of course, these things evolve.”

Super active in playing gigs, Carly says they were inspired by the songs they were mixing at the time. “We wanted to make tracks that were very dedicated for the dance floor.”

And dedicated to the dance floor they are. ‘Alien Fempire’ features six tracks with Kédu Carlö’s distinctive vocal. Sexy, dancey, and mysterious done right. “We love a vocal, and a sassy vocal,” Carly says. “We like to embody a character and feel like it’s a space that we can step into when we’re on stage and feel empowered.”

For Jess and Carly, it’s the same characters that come out to play: think intergalactic, sassy bitch.

“[Our lyrics] are like all the things that you want to say in real life, but you don’t really have the balls,” Jess explains. “Sometimes I worry, I’m like, are people going to be offended? [But] they usually love it.”

With a powerful and demanding energy behind the decks, both wāhine draw on their on-stage assertion in real life. “You know how you have a conversation, and you walk out of it, and you’re like, fuck, I wish I said this?” Carly says. “[Jess and I] we come, we chat about it. And then we write it out. And then we make it the song, and then it becomes a character, and it becomes us, and then it means next time you’re ready to go.”

“Writing these lyrics and performing them has definitely helped me be more powerful and assertive in my real life. It’s kind of like therapy,” Jess says.

Featuring popular singles ‘Don’t Call Me on My Birthday’, ‘Coochie’, and ‘Intergalactica’, Kédu Carlö’s latest sound is inspired by warm synths, snuff pedals, and aggressive percussion. With sonic themes of Star Trek, aliens, and other worlds, ‘Alien Fempire’ has a lot of big moments.

With the album, Carly and Jess say they are leaning more into intricacy and 80s drum machines.

“Not all of the songs are necessarily targeted for the dance floor, but they’re all electronic,” Carly says. “There will be certain songs that go more into a deeper sound, which is something we’re really enjoying, and sort of happened a bit more towards the end of the album, which I think will lead us into our next project as well.”

“I’ve definitely gotten into the Linn drum machine…[there are] synth lines that we’ve written again, quite a few arps and acid lines, but they’re transitioning to be a little bit more groovy.” So while you wait until its release next year, catch them at summer festivals That Weekend and Le Currents. If you’re in Ōtautahi, they’ll be playing a set at Flux this month. And by the time this article is published, Kédu Carlö will be on their first Melbourne tour (5-8 Oct).

More importantly, blast ‘Alien Fempire’ first. Carly and Jess have recommended where best to listen to it.

“I would say at the pres,” Carly says. “Yeah, I’d say at the pres when you’re going out with your favourite group of friends, and you’re all getting in the mood, and you’re getting ready and getting dressed up. Just getting really excited and pumped.”

“You want to feel, you know, I’m getting in my vibe,” Jess adds. “I feel it’s super good for that.” Unless you’re listening to Ground CTRL, Carly encourages that to be played at 3am.