Who's been following our diary snippets from the production lab? (Click click, Day 1, day 2 and 3) All stems lead towards this Saturday's live (and now sold out) event with Shlomo, Ego Ella May, and Okapii. To add background to the beats, we spoke with Alex Rita of Danish duo, Okapii. Tak!

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When and where did you first hear about or attend CDR? What do you recall?
In Copenhagen around 2012? Can't remember exactly, But I do remember thinking this is nice, a community for all the geeks. LOVE IT.

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What do CDR / Roundhouse Rising attendees have in store for them when you represent on February 22nd?

I hope people will sway and feel the warmth, and forget about cold London for a moment while they listen. Also expect some really talented musicians who care about the harmonies/melodies and who put their heart into what they do. Last but not least expect my knees to be a little shaky!

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Musical/creative ambitions/resolutions for the year ahead?

Finish our album Album and I'm getting more and more into making videos. So some funky music videos for our new material. Hopefully play some more live gigs!

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Please give a brief (or not!) description of your audio production/recording setup?

We’ve been fortunate so far to be in a studio that has everything! Logic, a mic for me, lots of percussion and nice stuff that makes sweet little sounds, I'm not sure what all our gear is called. You'll have to ask Mads [Oustrup] about that.

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Any music makers you'd love to collab with?  

YES, Sampha, Sampha Sampha! I think his voice is one of the best I've heard in years. I saw him play 3 tracks as a warm-up for Andrew Ashong. I started crying! Only Stevie and Donny can do that, Bob too. You know when you start crying that's serious! Tuesday Born, is another artist i would love to collaborate with. I'm also starting to think about who could remix some of our new stuff.

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Who/What has been on heavy rotation on your audio player of late?

Flying Ibex (some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It’s a mystery to me why they are not touring the world) Sampha, Mo Kolours, Alice Coltrane, The Room Below Boiler Room set.

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Please talk us through the track you last [cmd] ‘S’d ? ([ctrl] ‘S’ to PC users) [in other words, last project you saved]

I went to CDR in London - Feb 9th and submitted Storm, a track from our upcoming album. It’s percussion driven little 2 minute track. Actually it's sort of like an interlude. We only recorded live strings on it and I think it has lifted the whole track a lot. It was amazing to hear the strings out loud. But as it is still work in progress my vocals was quite high and that ended up being all I could think about!

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Finally, have you any advice or words of warning for producers/musicians/vocalists developing musical works in progress to play at CDR?

Warning: If you are a bit shy about your music, go to CDR alone. Then when your track comes on no one will know you made it and you can just listen to it on the amazing sound system without feeling pressure from what others might think. (hopefully the person standing next to you won't say “ughr, that was a horrible track”) Advice: Don’t be shy, don’t feel pressure. Bring all your nerdy music friends and meet some lovely like-minded passionate musicians!! You might even meet a new friend :D

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More Okapii goodness at okapii.bandcamp.com, Facebook, and YouTube.

Read on: Keep track of wha' gwarn at CDR x Roundhouse Rising - day 1, day 2 - and @its_CDR.

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