ANK has arrived as a masked producer with a new Hard House sound and the question the world of EDM can’t seem to answer: who is ANK?
The artist’s debut single, SHE DOESN’T KNOW, caught the attention of big artists including KETTAMA and Tiësto and websites like FindYourSounds.com and Fresh Music Freaks. His track Wish That You Are Mine also made its way onto festival stages in KETTAMA’S Creamfields and Reading Festival sets. Now ANK is back on NIGHTMODE – a label previously responsible for tracks like the Drum & Bass heater Voices by ShockOne and PUSH DOMEZ BACK / LUV 2 PARTY by Montell2099 – with TRANSITIONING FROM LIFE, a fresh track that nods to the Rave sounds of the ’90s and early 2000s.
The new single takes inspiration from classic video games such as Jet Set Radio, mixing minimal, hard bounce rhythms with retro synth leads, soulful vocal loops and carefully-placed atmospheric touches. It’s a vibrant, emotionally charged sound, with the energy of classic Hard House given a modern finish. But while the music is undoubtedly being put front and center, ANK’s carefully maintained anonymity has invited another question. Is this artist someone completely new, or are they a familiar name exploring a different side of their sound under a new alias?
As of now, there is no confirmed response to this question. Consequently, for this feature we’re assuming the answer is the latter, and using a little detective work to weigh up three possibilities as to who ANK might be using the clues in the music and the artist’s connections to the NIGHTMODE circle.
Suspect #3: BORNE, NIGHTMODE and the ANK Connection
Our first suspect is BORNE, the Montreal-based Bass House producer responsible for tracks like Hold Me Down, who also shares management with ANK through To Be Fair Management. The roster connection is unusually close, with the company publicly representing just these two electronic artists. That doesn’t prove they’re the same person, of course, although some might argue it does raise a plausible possibility; a producer with experience and established industry relationships could use this method to help build a new anonymous project from the ground up while keeping their own name out of the spotlight.
There’s also a sonic case to consider. ANK’s tracks have a dense, bass-heavy finish, with distortion that sounds soft-clipped rather than simply rough around the edges. This sits alongside BORNE’s reputation for polished, weighty production and “soft-clipped” distortion. It’s not a definitive answer by any means, but the aforementioned management overlap and these crossovers in musical style make BORNE a credible contender.
Suspect #2: Could ARYA Be ANK’s Secret Hard House Alias?
Next up on our list of ANK suspects is ARYA, a Vancouver-based House producer and established NIGHTMODE artist, whose recent release Lost in Paranoia places them firmly within the world of this label. ANK’s priority position on an Insomniac imprint also invites questions about how the project came together. New artists can break through quickly, but a close connection to a label’s existing studio and A&R network could help explain their fast start in this instance.
ARYA using ANK as an alias isn’t exactly difficult to imagine either, with the former’s groove-led House project being able to remain intact while ANK provides room for them to explore harder, faster sounds. Essentially, a new musical identity would allow the producer to follow that impulse without confusing the one they’ve already built. Again, however, this reasoning alone is not enough to confirm that ARYA is the artist who has taken on the role of masked producer ANK.
Suspect #1: Is ANK Really NVADRZ & ALIAS?
Our leading theory points to NVADRZ and ALIAS, the European studio duo and established NIGHTMODE alumni. They already have a connection to the label through tracks such as Let Me Move. That insider status could also explain how SHE DOESN’T KNOW reached the dizzying heights of festival play so early.
Then there’s the geographical part of the puzzle. Label publicity describes ANK as emerging from Slovakia, while NVADRZ member Klemen Štular Breznik is Slovenian. The two countries are easy to mix up in a rushed biography, but this discrepancy could also be deliberate misdirection. It’s an intriguing clue, though again, hardly concrete proof.
The few visible features of masked producer ANK, meanwhile, have also prompted speculation about Klemen, while one possible theory is that Alex Künti contributes in the studio and Klemen takes the public-facing role. For now though, this all remains guesswork. The label connection and festival airplay make NVADRZ and ALIAS our strongest suspects, but ANK’s mask is doing its job for the time being – keeping his true identity just out of reach for EDM fans.
Where to Stream ANK – TRANSITIONING FROM LIFE?
Where to Stream ANK – SHE DOESN’T KNOW?
Where to Stream ANK’s Bootlegs, Remixes and Free Downloads?
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