Nikko Becks, a native of Sauerland, has been a songwriter and musician since childhood, switching between a wide variety of genres and bands to satisfy his hunger for new creative discoveries. In 2017, he released his first EP Happy, still clearly rooted in post-hardcore, followed by the singles H666 H66464 L8787, Blood in My Spit, Colours and Starstruck in 2019 and 2021, presenting more electronic sounds.
After two and a half years of sweat, perseverance and self-sacrifice, Didi Cals‘ concept album – Q////つづく:|| – is now ready for release. Nikko Becks tells a story of acceleration, injury, continuation, repetition and invites us on a retrospective journey full of literary and pop cultural references. Musically, he underpins it all with complex melodies, jumbled song structures and a raw, uncouth sound.
The album was conceived and recorded between 2018 and 2021. The eleven tracks collectively clock in at a playing time of 42:29 minutes. All instruments were played or programmed by Nicolas Becker himself. Contributions from other artists can be found in track 1 Godot (additional vocals by his brother Kristo Jarik) and track 4 Ride/silencekills (trombone solo by Mathias Illian: Semfshow, The Swingcredibles, Sinfonieorchester Universität zu Köln). In 2021 the album was produced, mixed and mastered with the help of Leon Sieland (Tily, Easy Easy).
Q////つづく:|| refreshes and irritates ears worn down by everyday mush and challenges the boundaries of classical genres. Musically characterised by wild tempo and style changes, Didi Cals seeks its place somewhere between mathrock, post-hardcore and fusion and sounds unusually refreshing in the process. On top of that are emotional, multi-layered lyrics that find expression with shallow melodies, genre-typical shouts and even atmospheric choirs. Nikko Becks creates everything himself in his art, from the vision to the finished song, and paints a painting in the listener’s head to boot.
SOCIAL
Press Kit