Ecco2k's Aldehydes and Ketones Video Took Six Years

Ecco2k released "Aldehydes and Ketones" on October 22, 2026, a song produced by Gud with a self directed music video that took six years and twelve countries to shoot. It is his first official solo release in nearly five years, and the video's own description reportedly dates the shoot 2021 to 2026, which starts the clock the year his last solo EP came out.

Twelve Countries, Dated 2021 to 2026

Ecco2k, whose name is Zak Arogundade, directed the video himself and shot it in twelve countries over six years. A fan account noticed that the video's description carries the span 2021 to 2026, and the arithmetic fits: 2021 is the year PXE arrived, so the footage and the five year silence began together.

On screen, Arogundade plays a character called Echo who moves through industrial and partly built environments, according to the song's Wikipedia entry. None of the coverage read for this piece names the twelve countries, so the itinerary stays unconfirmed.

Directing is familiar ground for him. Hypebeast billed the January 2020 "Peroxide" video as a self directed visual, and the Fader covered the "Pollen" video that September. The 2021 EP PXE went another way: its video came from the animator Freddy Carrasco. "Aldehydes and Ketones" puts the camera back in Arogundade's hands and stretches the schedule from weeks to years.

Gud Returns to the Credits

Gud produced "Aldehydes and Ketones". He is a member of Sad Boys alongside Yung Lean and Yung Sherman, and he and Whitearmor executive produced Ecco2k's debut album E, whose producers also included Shanti and Mechatok. E was recorded across multiple cities, which gives a twelve country video a precedent in how Ecco2k and Gud have worked before.

Gud's name sits elsewhere in the Drain Gang orbit too. He is credited on Thaiboy Digital's 2019 album Legendary Member next to Whitearmor, RipSquad and Woesum, though he is not among the listed producers of Drain Gang's Trash Island, which was made by Whitearmor, Mechatok and Lusi.

The producer's chair on Ecco2k's recent output has moved around. PXE was produced entirely by Arogundade himself. "MAKKA", his May 14, 2025 song with the British rapper fakemink, was produced by longtime collaborator Mechatok. Now it is Gud. Fakemink, his MAKKA partner, announced an official video for Love Of The Game 3 on September 25, a month before this release.

Counting the Gap Between Releases

PXE arrived as a surprise on March 31, 2021, and 2022 brought Crest, a collaborative album. After that came "MAKKA", the 2025 collaboration with fakemink. "Aldehydes and Ketones" is the first release in that run credited to him alone with a video he directed.

The Fader headlined the song as his first solo song in five years, and The Line of Best Fit wrote that it is his first new solo release in nearly five years. Counted from PXE on March 31, 2021, the interval is five years and almost seven months. The coverage does not say which release it counts from, so the exact length of the silence depends on what counts as solo.

What Comes Next Is Not Announced

Dazed ran a piece titled "Where has Ecco2k been these last 5 years?" and described the single as heavily implying the start of a new album campaign. No album title, tracklist or release date has been announced. A claim circulating on social media that a rollout begins in November is an unverified user comment, not an announcement.

The confirmed dates are festival slots in South America: Primavera Sound Buenos Aires on November 28, 2026, and Primavera Sound São Paulo on December 5 and 6, though listings disagree on whether his set falls on December 5 or 6. Resident Advisor lists the single under the label 9th and gave it an October 22 release in its weekly new music roundup, alongside FaltyDL and Nabihah Iqbal.

Early listener reaction is warm without being rapturous. Album of the Year shows a user score of 85 from 218 ratings and no critic score yet, and one Rate Your Music reviewer wrote that they were happier the song exists than they loved the song itself, glad Ecco2k is back from hiatus. Another called it lush and overwhelming, loud at moments and subdued at others.

Ecco2k's last three named releases split the credits three ways: himself on PXE, Mechatok on "MAKKA", Gud on "Aldehydes and Ketones". The video, twelve countries deep and dated 2021 to 2026, is the part only he could have made.