Palmbomen

Behind Palmbomen is Kai Hugo, a Dutch musician who lived in Amsterdam and Berlin before settling in Los Angeles. His trajectory spans house, ambient, electronic psychedelia and touches of Italo disco. Emerging around 2010, Palmbomen released the EP Moon Children in 2010 on NON Records, the label he co-founded with Bear Damen, and the title track was featured on the Kitsuné Maison 10 compilation that same year. The project grew into a broader form with the 2013 album Night Flight Europa, where Palmbomen honed a slow, melodic and hazy electronic writing style intended as much for listening as for live performance. That period also brought intersections with Soulwax’s universe and the videogame world, with a presence in Grand Theft Auto V and the composition of the soundtrack for Metrico in 2014. Since 2015 Kai Hugo has released music as Palmbomen II, an identity more clearly oriented toward solo work and off-kilter electronics—situated between outsider house, dreamy IDM and retro-futuristic textures. Under this name he released the album Palmbomen II in 2015 and the Center Parcs EP in 2016 with Dutch producer Betonkust.