Twenty years of a single principle: the Dutch trio Kraak & Smaak has teamed up with a Los Angeles duo
The Leiden trio takes a funk frame and leaves nothing but the groove.
Kraak & Smaak have released ‘When The Magic Comes’ together with Paco Versailles, a duo from Los Angeles.
The Apple Music catalogue records it.
The track runs 3 minutes 30 seconds and came out on 24 July 2026.
The release came out on Boogie Angst — the band’s own label, named after their debut record from the middle of the 2000s.
A label of their own
They put simply why they needed a label of their own.
“As K&S I guess we have a strong brand name and are sort of internationally well-known, have a good network, etc… why not look around for other acts we like and provide them with the platform we built?”
It has been a busy year for them. On 6 March 2026 they released ‘Real Love’ with Kainalu — the release also carried a remix by the Australian Harvey Sutherland. On 27 March came their own fifteen-track DJ mix ‘Springtime’. And now the July collaboration.
Kraak & Smaak are a trio from Leiden in the Netherlands: Oscar de Jong, Mark Kneppers and Wim Plug. They began recording in 2003 and have done the same thing ever since: take a funk frame, trim everything unnecessary from it and leave the groove.
They describe their method matter-of-factly.
“Often ideas starts with simple loops in our studio: beats, bass and a melody. From thereon — if we are looking for a song, we start looking for a vocalist that may fit.”
After the debut ‘Boogie Angst’ came ‘Plastic People’ (2008) and ‘Electric Hustle’ (2011); for their work the band received a European Border Breakers Award.
The label named after their own debut record remains the place where they decide themselves what comes out and when — and a third release in a year shows they decide often.
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