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Kele cuts new paths

Kele. Picture: Supplied

Last seen in Perth fronting Bloc Party at last year's Future Music Festival, Kele Okereke is now focusing his musical attention on DJing and production.

At this weekend's Circo Festival, Okereke will share his latest concoctions from recent EPs Heartbreaker and Candy Flip, which have been released through cutting-edge electronic label Crosstown Rebels.

"I've always been interested in dance music, so I guess making music for this exclusively house music label was the next step for me as a musician," he says.

"I was very lucky that Crosstown liked the music that I was making and they wanted to put it out. To me, it's all part of the same journey I started with Bloc Party."

While he credits XXXChange, who produced his 2010 solo debut, The Boxer, for imparting some of his expertise, Okereke also cites the producer of Bloc Party's second album A Weekend in the City.

"I learnt a lot working with Jacknife Lee when Bloc Party were making our second record, that was the first time we started to look at programming," he

recalls.

"It was something that I was interested in learning about, I feel quite fortunate that I've been able to work with lots of different producers and see how they do things. It's fed into where I am right now."

Okereke is also trying his hand at producing other artists. He is currently working with a female vocalist but he won't say who.

"It's looking at coming out in the next few months, so watch this space," he hints.

On top of that, Okereke has also been busy exploring the craft of the written word. He has been published on the Guardian and Vice Magazine websites, has a half-written novel "on ice" and is co-writing a screenplay.

"That's what I'm doing in between music at the moment," Okereke says.

"It's cool. It's good for me to be creative in a different way.

"I'm lucky that I'm in the position as a creative person that I am able to pursue these sorts of ventures."