For Kevin Michael, the Queens songwriter and producer behind NO SEEDS, music has always been a way through. A first-generation Ecuadorian American born and raised in Corona, New York, he began writing songs at ten, finding an escape from a turbulent home in melody and words. By twelve, he was the hook writer and creative director of a rap group; in high school, he began writing for others, including Spanish-language songs for local bachata and merengue acts that led to his first placements. Picking up bass and developing his production skills widened the scope of what he could make, setting the foundations for a creative practice that has never stayed inside one genre.
That instinct eventually became NO SEEDS: an open-ended collaborative project built around Michael’s songwriting and production, with a changing cast of vocalists and musicians. Taking cues from the producer-led models of Daft Punk and Disclosure, he extends that collaborative approach beyond electronic music and into indie rock, R&B and the many sounds that shaped him in New York. Plucky, bachata-inflected guitars meet live drums, elastic basslines and sharp pop instincts, creating music that feels immediately familiar while resisting easy categorisation.
The project grew out of a period in which Michael had stepped away from releasing music and turned his attention to NO STEMS, a New York lifestyle brand whose pieces reached stores in New York, Osaka and Tokyo and were worn by artists including Schoolboy Q and Skepta. Although that chapter ultimately came to a close, it sharpened his understanding of where his strengths truly lay: not in running a business, but in building worlds, shaping ideas and making music. When he later asked himself what should come after NO STEMS, the answer was simple: NO SEEDS.
New York runs through every part of the project. Michael grew up absorbed by the city’s musical continuum: The Velvet Underground, Television and The Ramones; Sonic Youth, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, Santigold and Vampire Weekend; the Fania All-Stars and Aventura; Nas, Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest, Mobb Deep and The Beatnuts. These histories mingle naturally in his work alongside influences including Aaliyah, Pharrell Williams, Radiohead, Amy Winehouse, Daft Punk, Disclosure, Clairo and Alvvays. Film, literature and fashion feed the same creative antenna. “Valid,” for instance, draws on both Jasmine’s first magic-carpet ride in Aladdin and the Zion rave in The Matrix Reloaded, while “Girl in a Band” takes its title from Kim Gordon’s memoir and nods to her unorthodox approach to playing.
That openness is central to Michael’s process. He is drawn to joy, love and the feeling of collective effervescence that emerges when people share a room, a dance floor or a song. Rather than treating his influences as separate references, he lets them collide: a guitar texture might carry the snap of bachata, an indie rhythm can sit beneath an R&B vocal, and a cinematic image can unlock the emotional centre of a lyric. NO SEEDS is the place where those signals are gathered and transformed, allowing each collaborator to bring a distinct perspective while Michael shapes the larger world around it.
That openness is central to Michael’s process. He is drawn to joy, love and the feeling of collective effervescence that emerges when people share a room, a dance floor or a song. Rather than treating his influences as separate references, he lets them collide: a guitar texture might carry the snap of bachata, an indie rhythm can sit beneath an R&B vocal, and a cinematic image can unlock the emotional centre of a lyric. NO SEEDS is the place where those signals are gathered and transformed, allowing each collaborator to bring a distinct perspective while Michael shapes the larger world around it.
“Girl in a Band” became an early defining moment for NO SEEDS. Michael initially wrote it with the distant ambition of pitching it to Olivia Rodrigo, but the song took on a life of its own through contributions from vocalist Talya Louie, KIDDIGGS, drummer Rebecca Sykes and guitarist Seth Niller. Recorded at FLUX Studios and engineered by Albert Mavraj and Bailey Kislak, the finished track felt too vital to remain a private demo. Released independently, it went on to attract more than 50,000 streams through a modest budget and genuine word of mouth.
Its success crystallised the wider purpose of NO SEEDS: alternative independent music made by artists of colour. Michael came of age loving early-2000s indie at a time when the genre was still overwhelmingly presented through white, male voices, despite artists such as TV on the Radio and Santigold pointing towards other possibilities. Making this music as a first-generation Ecuadorian American from Queens is not a contradiction but the heart of the project. For Michael, following that instinct—rather than making the music others might expect from him—is precisely what being alternative means.
That vision continues on “Surfin’,” the latest NO SEEDS single, featuring fellow Queens artist Deem Spencer. The track began as a Strokes-influenced instrumental before Michael invited Spencer, whose work he had admired for years, to explore something more indie-leaning. Trusting him to write and record the vocals independently marked a shift for a songwriter used to shaping every lyrical detail; Spencer delivered his contribution in a day.
Drawing particularly from The Strokes’ Is This It and Room on Fire, “Surfin’” was produced by Michael, who also played bass, with Andrea of Dead Rituals contributing guitar and drums. Spencer recorded his vocals in Queens, while Albert Mavraj of FLUX Studios handled mixing and mastering. Taut guitars, an easy groove and Spencer’s memorable delivery place the track squarely in the NO SEEDS world: collaborative, joyful and unmistakably rooted in New York.
For Michael, each NO SEEDS release is another step towards becoming one of the city’s defining songwriters and producers. His ambition now is to bring that perspective into the rooms where major records are made—joining writing teams, contributing in the studio and continuing to build unexpected connections between artists, histories and sounds.