You mentioned new trends that have been happening within trance, what are some of the elements you have noticed changing the most?


Albert: Back in the day trance was much faster, mostly at 138 bpm with these driving lines, now it’s more combined with progressive house, with fat basslines and housey grooves, but still maintaining the euphoric elements and melodies. Kyau: The slowing down of trance has been happening for a couple years now; I remember our remix for Cresida- 6am. This was a huge hit, people playing it everywhere, this was the first time we slowed down our trance quite strongly and it worked anyway. So nowadays most pro- ductions in trance are slower. Albert: The way people produce is a lot different now as well, it’s a lot better. So the sound is a lot fatter now, bigger, wider.


Your new album, Nights Awake is an interesting title, where does this title come from, what does it mean?


Albert: First when we did the album we didn’t have a title, so when we finished we tried to look at the music and find a title that describes the music. We have spent many nights touring and long nights in the studio, so that’s why we used “Night’s Awake”.


Steven’s vocals are a huge part of your sound, where does the inspiration for the lyrics come from?


Albert: It just comes to us. First we have only the melo- dies and some sort of fantasy English (laughing), then we try to find the lyrics that work with the track and the feeling. It just comes out very naturally for us; it’s an expression of ourselves.


Tonight is one of the first after hours trance events in Ottawa, and it’s your first time playing here. How do you like playing for an after hours crowd? How does it compare to any other time of day?


Kyau: I feel like the “afterhours” concept is a special Ca- nadian thing. We have played many times in Canada, not in Ottawa yet, but many other places. I remember we’ve done this in other places like Montreal, and if the people are prepared for the late night then it is absolutely cool. We’ve been playing for many years in North America, and most of the time the clubs close very early. It’s very different from places in Europe and especially in Germany where we are from, I remember Germany in general a club night goes quite long. Albert: I remember when I first started clubbing (in Germany), it was very standard to stay in a club until the next day, 10am or noon. Kyau: We still have this in Berlin, even when we do Euphonic nights… we are not super young guys anymore, but usually we go to 6 am or so.


How have you guys been able to keep this close connec- tion between the both of you and a good vibe over the 16 years? Do you guys get tired of each other, how do you keep this going?


Kyau: My girlfriend says we act like an old couple, but we have known each other very long now and we have been doing it together and it works very well, mostly because we are a good combination of characters and we like the same music, which is important. Most bands or DJ groups struggle at some point because they have the feeling that they need to do something different musically, whether it is styles or experiences, but we have always had very similar tastes and ideas so it has worked great. When you listen to Nights Awake, as in the previous albums, we try to focus on a wide range of sounds which is something we have always agreed on.


As we talked about before, North America is blowing up with electronic music, there are a lot of young DJ’s and young producers, what is the best advice you can give to a young DJ or Producer trying to make a name for themselves?


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Albert: Just try and try and try to always get better with every production. Kyau: The amount of demos we are getting, since we run our own production label Euphonic, is unbelievable. From everywhere in the world, young producers, who some- times write they are 16, 17, 18 years old, they’re trying to get releases. Back in the vinyl days with Euphonic we had proper vinyl and CD distribution with major companies, but now the whole process is much different. You can start a digital label very easily without big distribution structures or big financial investments, and this is why we are seeing so many releases from so many labels. There is huge competition and so much output right now, that it’s really hard for a young producer to get noticed, compared to ten years ago when so much more went into a single release. Albert: Back in the day a release was a big investment, you needed to print vinyl copies or CD’s so you had to think twice about releasing a track, now all it takes is a good internet connection and you can have a release. The total amount of tracks out there is much much bigger, but there are still the same number of good top quality tracks, but it’s sometimes harder to find them. You have to focus on productions, put the time in investment in the studio.


Trance has been known as the healing music of the world, what’s your take on what it does for the body, mind and soul?


Kyau: I think trance is very positive, and compared to some other EDM styles, when it’s made well it needs more musical skills than some of the other styles which are more groove-based and simply constructed. Albert: For me I like the positive euphoric feel of trance. When I go to a club, and it’s a nice euphoric melody and a kicking groove, it’s better for me than a slowed down house beat.


For 2013, who are some other artists that the world needs to watch out for?


Kyau: There are so many talented guys. On our radio show Euphonic sessions, we try to pick out the best tracks that we like, they are often from some small labels, we are finding out about so many artists we didn’t know about before. There is a guy from (I think) the Ukraine, named Sanko; he just did a remix for Steve Brian with the New York-based singer David Berkley. The remix package is getting released on Euphonic, along with some other great remixes. Sanko was one of the winners of another remix competition we did last year, he is very talented. There are always new talents emerging, but he is one to pay attention to.


Do you guys have any plans for collaborations this year?


Albert: We don’t really plan collabs, but there are a lot on the album Nights Awake, we have one with Paul van Dyk and also one with Stoneface & Terminal, which will probably be our next single. We also did one with Ronski Speed our label mate, but now the album is finished, so the rest of the year we will be concentrating on club mixes from the best tracks on the album.


When you say club mixes of tracks on the album, are you not aiming your songs at the dance floor in the first place?


Albert: No, definitely not on the album. The new tracks we try to produce as listening music, when you release an album with a bunch of club mixes people choose one or two mixes they like most, and then the rest of the album is already old. But when we release our singles as listening versions, we can add something later on when we release new club mixes to keep it sounding fresh and different from the album. Kyau: We have the advantage that Steven sings all the vocals on our music. When you make purely instrumental songs there are less options to take the music in different directions, but with the combining element of his voice, it gives us more flexibility to make different versions of our songs.


Interesting strategy, what does the future hold for Kyau & Albert and Euphonic Records?


Kyau: We have a very busy release schedule in the next month; we are bringing many new singles which makes us very busy. We are touring heavily bringing this new album, trying to cover the whole world with the Nights Awake tour, you can expect a lot of new music from Euphonic this year, but for right now we are focusing on the album – Nights Awake!


After wrapping up the interview we had a short walk to the underground venue Bijou, where Kyau & Albert brought many of their new hits out, combined with a lot of unreleased mash-ups and bootlegs for the hungry Ottawa crowd. As young as the trance seen is in Ottawa, it was great to see a sellout crowd in the 300-person venue, and the positive vibe that Kyau & Albert brought to the club with them. Their inspirational lyrics continue to flow along with their euphoric and unique sounds. Being veterans of the industry for so long, they have consis- tently been able to bring more and more tracks for music lovers and it seems like there is no slowing down for this powerhouse duo. Their Nights Awake album is the latest example, and it is a masterfully crafted journey through euphoric trance tunes, make sure to pick up your copy!


WORDS BY COREY SHEIKH


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