LA Nights, Raw Beats: Inside Leopold Nunan’s House Revolution”
Punk Head: You frame this track as resistance. What exactly are you pushing against right now?
Leopold Nunan: “In The Music” is resistance against everything fake, rushed, and algorithmic. We made a 7+ minute house track for the dance floor — not for short attention spans. In a world flooded with AI music and plastic formulas, we chose groove, soul, and real human energy.
We shot the video the same way: real dancers, fierce fashion, real movement, no shortcuts. We ignored the noise and followed instinct. This is house music the good old way — sweaty, liberated, unapologetic, and alive.
Punk Head: There's a lot of talk about “real” versus “AI” music. What does something human sound like to you in 2026?
Leopold Nunan: Human music in 2026 sounds imperfect, dangerous, emotional. It breathes. It speeds up, slows down, sweats, breaks rules. It’s people in a room chasing a feeling instead of an algorithm chasing engagement.
To me, human music still has risk, sensuality, mistakes, groove, personality. You can feel the fingerprints on it. That’s what “In The Music” is about — bringing soul back to the machine.
Punk Head: The video presents Los Angeles as a kind of kinetic playground. How does the city influence your understanding of underground culture right now?
Leopold Nunan: Los Angeles right now feels electric and feral. It’s urgent, chaotic, dirty, glamorous, exhausted, seductive — all at once. The underground here isn’t polished. It lives in warehouses, rooftops, backrooms, broken hearts, afterhours, dancers sweating under red lights at 4AM.
This city taught me that underground culture survives because people still crave real connection, real release, real danger. There’s a wildness in LA that keeps reinventing itself, and the video captures that energy — bodies in motion, fashion, nightlife, freedom, and the beautiful madness of people trying to feel alive.
Punk Head: Leopold, you're credited with the lyrical concept and vocals. How did you approach writing for a genre that is often more about repetition and feeling than narrative?
Leopold Nunan: House music was never really about linear storytelling to me — it’s about hypnosis, release, repetition, and emotion. I approached the lyrics almost like a mantra. Simple words that hit your body before they hit your brain.
Lines like “No fear, no pain, just the rhythm in your vein” are meant to feel collective, almost spiritual. The repetition becomes part of the trance. House music has always been about liberation — losing yourself enough to find yourself again. I wanted the lyrics to feel universal, hopeful, sensual, and alive inside the beat.
Punk Head: This collaboration is rooted in a 15-year shared history. How did that unspoken familiarity shape the creative process once you were finally in the room together?
Leopold Nunan: There was already a language between us before we even stepped into the studio. I knew Priscila Loya from the dance floor — she always lit up every room with incredible movement, presence, and authenticity. She carries that rare energy where style, rhythm, and personality become one thing.
And I’d been a fan of Juwan Rates for years. He brings soul and effortless coolness into everything he touches. Working with both of them felt natural because we all understand the culture beyond the music itself — the nightlife, the sweat, the community, the soundscape of LA after dark.
What shaped the process was trust. Nobody came in trying to force trends or manufacture something artificial. We came in to create something alive. They’re both helping keep deep LA house alive by building their own lanes, opening their own doors, and protecting the soul of the culture. I’m inspired by that and fully up for the challenge myself — to keep pushing boundaries, shattering ceilings, and creating music that feels free, edgy, and human.
