Loz Seka Interview: Cuccú, Flamenca Records & BBC Radio 1

Loz Seka on his Flamenca Records debut Cuccú, BBC Radio 1 support, and his journey from blues bands to Latin tech house. Seka – who counts radio support from Danny Howard, Arielle Free, Jaguar, Jeremiah Asiamah and Annie Mac, and club support from Fatboy Slim, Mark Knight, Solardo, MK, Sonny Fodera and Syreeta – was introduced to the FLAMENCA team via Toolroom Records. Known for his Latin, Afro and Percussive Tech touch, it was a match made in heaven. Layering Arabesque sounding instrumentation over syncopating percussion and Latin rhythms, ‘Cuccú’ is a rolling club weapon that takes the FLAMENCA sound into the very beginnings of the summer season. “I’m a huge fan of Flamenca, STBAN and the artists on the roster,” Seka said, “so I’m absolutely buzzing to be joining the family with ‘Cuccú’. Really excited and can’t wait to get this one out!” Speaking about Seka’s FLAMENCA debut, label boss STBAN said: “As soon as I heard the track, I knew we had to sign it. Loz is an exciting new talent making exactly the kind of music the FLAMENCA family loves, so it was a no-brainer to bring him on board to release’ Cuccú’ with us.” With so much support for the rising UK star coming from all corners, we thought it was about time we caught up with Loz to find out more… You’ve just released your latest single ‘Cuccú’ on FLAMENCA Records – can you tell us a bit more about the track? Hi guys, massive thanks for having me on, I really appreciate it. I’m honestly buzzing to be releasing on FLAMENCA. The label is doing such great things at the moment and I’m honoured to now be part of the roster and the family. Cuccú is one of my favourite records I’ve made to date. It leans into the Afro and Latin sound that I love both producing and playing out. It’s a bit of a percussive late night weapon. It has that shoulder and hip shaking energy that I love, a huge lead and cool vocal hooks. It’s something I hope will resonate on the dancefloor just as much as it did in the studio while I was making it. How did you get involved with the FLAMENCA Records team? I sent some music to my good friend Danny Rhys from Toolroom just for some feedback. He listened and said he thought the track would actually suit FLAMENCA really well. Not long after he did me a massive solid and sent it over to them for me, and they ended up signing it, so I’m massively grateful to him for that. I was honestly blown away when they signed it. When you look at the level of artists on the roster, what STBAN and the team have created, and artists I love like Jesus Fernandez being involved, it’s a huge honour to be welcomed onto the label. Working with the team since has also been a great experience. Super professional, really friendly and just genuinely nice people, which makes the whole process even better. You’ve got a definite Latin sound to your work but you’re from the UK – what is it about the Latin vibe that attracts you musically? The main thing is just the vibe. Every time I play out, people react to it straight away. There’s something about the vibe and rhythms that just makes people move. I’m a big sucker for Jazz, Latin and Blues, and generally I’m just mad for percussion. Before making house music I was actually producing drum and bass, and even earlier than that I was in bands playing blues, jazz, ska and metal, so rhythm and drums have always been the thing that grabs me first when it comes to music. Because of that my music has always been quite percussion led so when I started leaning into Latin influences, it just felt really natural. I also wasn’t massively connecting with some of the more mainstream tech house sounds at the time, but the Latin Tech side of things really reminds me of old school tech house. Dusty drums, rolling bass, cool vocals, maybe a synth or two, and that groove that you can lock into for ages. You’ve got some serious support from some big names in British radio – Danny Howard, Arielle Free, Annie Mac. How helpful has their support been to your career so far? Annie Mac is honestly an idol of mine. I grew up listening to her shows and they played a huge part in shaping my musical identity in dance music, alongside Mary Anne Hobbs. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Annie twice now and she has always been really inspiring and warm to talk to, so seeing her drop one of my tracks at Warehouse Project genuinely blew my mind. I cannot thank her enough for the support. Arielle Free, it’s hard to put into words what she’s done for my career. She’s easily been the biggest supporter of my music over the last couple of years. I can’t thank her enough and I absolutely love her to bits. I’m so fortunate for how hard she backs my records. I signed to her label and she booked me to play UNVRS, which are things I genuinely would not have thought possible a couple of years ago. And of course getting the nod from Danny Howard, Jaguar and Jeremiah Asiamah as well is such a great feeling. When people at that level support your music it really does mea