London producers and DJs Oliver Lee and James Carter are the talent behind breakthrough duo Snakehips, whose remixes and original productions have propelled them into the spotlight. Inspired by golden-era hip-hop and R&B with more modern production techniques, Snakehips has crafted a signature sound that is soulful and sweetly reminiscent.

          Despite a shared home city, the pair met on separate business trips to Hong Kong, where they bonded over their mutual musical interests. They shared a flight to L.A., began talking music and booked a studio in which to work on a track. It went so well that within days of returning to London they nudged their laptops together and Snakehips was born.

           The pair’s first release was a remix of Chicago band Wild Belle’s ‘It’s Too Late’; their next a remix of ‘Gold’ by electronic duo Bondax. Both used only the original vocal, topped the Hype Machine chart and revealed Snakehips’ love of ‘90s hip-hop, disco and vintage soul.

           When Snakehips heard Banks’ song ‘Warm Water’ the guys loved it so much they contacted Banks and asked to remix it. She sent the acapella, they added funky disco music, had another blog hit on their hands and were rewarded by being asked to rework The Weeknd’s ‘Wanderlust’. After The Weeknd tweeted his praise for their version, saying it was “dope”, it received a million and a half plays in less than a month, and is currently sitting on over 7 million streams. More recently the duo have remixed Raury’s ‘Cigarette Song’ and Lion Babe’s ‘Treat Me Like Fire’ and have inevitably wracked up even more Hype Machine kudos.

          Following on from “On & On’ Snakehips put out a further two singles; ‘Days With You’ (ft. Sinead Harnett), a track that’s amassed 2.3 million Soundcloud streams to date as was described by The Sunday Times as “woozy, classic soul, R&B and House, heavy with impeccably sourced samples”, and the equally hypnotic ‘After I Met You’.

           In just two years Snakehips has mustered up a hefty online following with over 158,000 Soundcloud subscribers, 77,000 Facebook likes and just over 12,000 Twitter followers – and collectively their original productions have wracked up over 5 million streams. With a new EP ‘Forever (Part II)’ out in March alongside a UK tour and another busy festival season, there’s certainly a lot more of exciting things in store from the London based production duo.