How Siblings Lucati and Dateless Mentored Each Other
Before Lucati and Dateless became two of house music’s most unique artists, they were just two brothers who shared a love of music. As the legend goes, Lucati became interested in music first, fusing his Latin background with funky basslines and impeccable grooves. He taught himself music theory and just got to work.
In addition to teaching himself, he also showed his brother, Dateless, how to perfect a beat.
“I taught my brother everything that I knew but he expanded on it, got signed to Dirtybird,” he told Gray Area during his interview at Electric Zoo in 2022.
But soon, Lucati became overwhelmed and disenchanted with the scene. So he took a step back from music and decided to go to school. He thought the nine-to-five grind was a more fruitful path, and guess what? He still wasn’t happy.
“I graduated from USC, did the rat race, hated it,” Lucati said.
With his brother’s encouragement, he started to dabble in music again, immersing himself fully.
“He inspired me to send music to Dirtybird and one year after he got signed, I got signed,” he said, discussing how grateful he is for his brother taking their musical relationship full circle. The love these two share for music and each other is evident—consistently pushing to bring out the best in one another.
2018 served as a big year for both Lucati and Dateless. Lucati debuted on Dirtybird and the brothers threw down an epically amazing b2b set on The Birdhouse stage at the Dirtybird Campout. This was also the year they started Kȯlmē Records.
“Initially it was kind of the concept of just putting out music between me and us.”
But after a while, Lucati felt the label should go in one direction, and Dateless was heading in another.
“I have a different concept for it [the label] and he has basically another idea. He started a new label, Thanks For Sending… With Kȯlmē, I’m trying to to be more focused on really pungent releases.”
The two decided it would be best for each to pursue their individual passions.
“We just kind of split ways, in that regard. I love my brother, it’s not like it’s a hateful thing. He’s doing incredible with the music.”
It’s all love and no hard feelings, just a realization that while directions change, the foundation of mutual encouragement doesn’t.
Since 2017, the two have had countless EPs, collaborations, and even b2b sets together, fusing Lucati’s groovy, sexy sound with Dateless’ funky basslines and Latin percussion. Together, their combined musical forces created innovative house classics such as “Boost Morale,” “This is My Life,” “Ben Doesn’t Remember,” the EP Life Sentence, and so many more. So it makes sense that it was time to explore what else was out there. This in no way means that they won’t work together or collaborate again. It just means that, for the time being, they want to do their own thing.
And because their solo work and collaborations have all been bangers, we’re excited to see what else these two brothers have in store.
