LÂLKA, known for her avant-garde electronic music, pushes boundaries further with “Yves Klein,” the first single from her upcoming Willfire EP. A classically trained artist turned sonic rebel, LÂLKA fuses dark basslines with soaring melodies and playful chaos, earning critical acclaim in the underground scene.
The track, rooted in bass and trap genres, features LÂLKA’s signature synth hooks and intense production. She also incorporates elements of her Chinese and Bidayuh heritage, blending ethnic instrument tunings into the dubstep/trap mix.
LÂLKA describes the song as a high-energy anthem masking deeper sadness, revealed in the melancholic piano at the end. The accompanying AI-generated visualizer, created with fan contributions, and the launch of an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) for the Willfire EP, invite fans to engage with her music on a deeper level, solving puzzles and unlocking hidden worlds.
We’re big fans of LÂLKA and were keen to find out some of the behind the scenes production techniques she employed on Yves Klein, so let’s dive in…
PUSH
This is the Ableton Push 3. The main reason I got it was to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone when it came to writing music. When I was working on Yves Klein, I had just gotten the Push 3, so I was still figuring out how to use it and hadn’t yet explored all its functions. For this specific track, I ended up using the opening sound you hear with the MPE function, as well as creating subtle textures underneath the music. I know there are many producers who love analog gear and hardware, but I’m actually the opposite. Growing up as a multi-instrumentalist, I played a lot of instruments, so when I started producing electronic music, it was refreshing and challenging to write music without any hardware, using just my mouse and computer. But I thought the Push 3 was a cool piece of hardware, so I made an exception! It’s ironic that I’ve almost come full circle—challenging myself to make music by physically manipulating something instead of relying solely on automation and clicking with a mouse!
Piano Synth Plugin
I used stock Ableton piano plugins, layering the Childhood Home Piano with the Grand Piano. I like the noise that the Childhood Home Piano plugin has; it lends a nostalgic expression—you can hear how “velvety” it sounds, like the worn hammers of an old piano. In contrast, the Grand Piano has a much brighter tone, and layering it underneath the Childhood Home Piano helped the melody become more present in the mix.
Simpler
Even though I work almost exclusively in Ableton now, I actually taught myself music production using Logic. I like revisiting Logic’s library—there’s a certain shiny quality to Logic’s VSTs that you can hear so clearly in the music of A.G. Cook. I sampled one of my favorite pads in Logic, exported the WAV file, and brought it into Simpler in Ableton. Apart from that, it was pretty straightforward—I didn’t even have to EQ it!
Sampling Ethnic Instruments
During my travels in Borneo (where I was born), I sampled some ethnic instruments from the Bidayuh tribe. Incidentally, during that visit, my mum casually mentioned some family lore, and I found out that I have a connection with that ethnic group! So it seemed fitting to include those timbres in my music. I didn’t have any equipment with me during my travels, so I used my iPhone to record. EQ and Fat & Ruff in E were the only two plugins I used to enhance the ethnic instruments I sampled!
Yves Klein is out now on Tomboi Records
The post How It Was Made: LÂLKA – Yves Klein appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.