Interview with Loud

Hi guys, please give us a short introduction about LOUD? Hello :-) LOUD are us - Kobi Toledano and Eitan Reiter. We Started making electronic music together almost 3 years ago. Why are you making trance music? Eitan: I think because when something makes you feel good or even changes your life you feel like you want to contribute to it. When I was a kid I fell in love with trance music and it made me want to create it. Kobi: I was very much into Electronic music like back in the late 80 through synth pop into the early 90 when The Prodigy (and a many others) came out and made their revolution in the electronic world …for me trance is a part of the evolution in the electronic music, but in an extreme way. I think that trance music is more then electronic music. You can go back in time and all the tribes back then were getting into trance states using percussion and dancing around the fire… Trance today is more gentle in some way and more "danceable ", but in my opinion once the dancer gets into trance through the music, there is no way back! It will change him for the rest of his life. Trance music hit me (HARD!) back then. I think this is way I'm creating it. Why are you working together? Eitan: Basically we have the same ideas of "what trance should sound like". We have almost the same beliefs and we both think a track should be a story and have a concept. Also we were both really into trance, but felt like this kind of music lost its spirit and we wanted to try to make a change. Kobi: It started as "let's seat together and make a track", and we finished it in 2 days working full power. The response was MASSIVE from the close circle of friends. So we decided to make another one to see if we can make it the way we think trance should be (we finish it in 3 days) and since then we are working together. Your debut album -Some Kind of Creativity- got a lot of attention and good reviews. For me that album has restored some faith in psytrance in the way it broke formulas, in its diversity, freshness and extreme psychedelia that came from its melodies and musicality. I especially found the name suiting the album very well. When the sample went "Show me some kind of creativity" who was it addressed to? Do you know what has happened to creativity in the psytrance world? Where did you find yours and why others seem to fail at finding it? Eitan: The phrase "show me some kind of creativity" in a way was referring to trance music that at that time we felt had lost it. But for me it’s a phrase that when someone is dancing it could take him to "other places" in his mind . . . (creativity is a BIG word). I think creativity is still here, but with artists who make changes. Yes, a lot of music sounds the same, but there are always artists who "break the formula" and bring something new. for me Extrawelt, Dusty Kid , and Guy Gerber (and these are just examples) are Electronic music producers who effect the music today in a big way and I find a lot more creativity and character in their music than in people who imitate other people, which for me means there is a lot more "trance" in it ! We have always wanted to make real art and even though it sounds different lots of the times, we believe that if you are a pro and have a high production level you can fully make people understand your ideas (a good speaker could make people understand even a complicated idea). Kobi: The sample "show me some creativity" is addressed to the dancer, in my eyes. He/she can take wherever he/she wants to, and that's the beauty in it , and also we wanted to show that trance can come in different forms, that was our main goal. I think that most of the artists today don’t want to take any risks and the promoters also (not all of them), and this approach is creating "NON creativity", because artists don’t want to take any risks and this is why most of trance music today has got no trance in it . I can not say why others fail to find it, because each artist is an individual. But we are trying to bring from our experience in life and in music. What has changed in your life since the release of the first album? Eitan: It was a big surprise, I think. We thought a lot about ourselves (kind of made it for ourselves ;-) ) in the beginning, but the reactions surprised us a lot. People really liked it and it made us feel GREAT, and gave us the power to keep on with our experimental side in the music. BUT it also made us realize that there are a lot of listeners out there and therefore we started also thinking about the crowd... Kobi: I cannot say that something changed in my life after the first album, but the main thing that happen is the exposure that the album gave us, ppl were very thankful for the album and for the fact that we decide to make it in our way …and that made us very happy. You've been touring quite a lot around the world, did this change your music? Eitan: Seeing new places is a big contribution to your muse. I believe the more experiences you have in life and the more "stories" you have to tell is going to be heard in your music. Its all INPUT and OUTPUT of emotions. Playing in parties overseas make you also wanna perfect your music and bring it to a point that a lot of people will like it. So that people of different backgrounds could connect to it. I believe the first album is good for Israel - but the second will be a bit more fitting for the rest of the world. Kobi: I totally agree with Eitan on this one, every place that we visit we are trying to put the influence from the place into our music, be it sound, melody, joke, or even a person that we met. And every place got its own magic... Your second album -Abstract- just came out, what is it about? Why is it called Abstract? Eitan: When you look at an Abstract painting - each person sees what he wants in it - always something different. In the past year we have been playing in parties from big full on raves to hot desert minimal/prog festivals. Maybe like the painting each person could hear a different thing in it. At least that's where we wanted to get. Kobi: Abstract is about music with no definition, no limit, and no Border. The listener can take it wherever he want, just like the painting that Eitan described, in this one we totally focus on the listener, and on the person in the dancefloor. We tried to combine between these two and this is what we got in the end- a fusion between experimental to mainstream to pure Goa style. Were there experiences in your life, musical or other, which had a strong effect on how this album came out? Can you give us examples? Eitan: Can't think of a specific one. They are all the same for me, at least. Meeting new people, eating good food, hearing good music, being in beautiful places, being happy, sad, under pressure, laid back. When you are an artist every single feeling that goes through your body effects your creations. I think the secret of being a true artist is being as in touch with your inner self as much as you can and knowing how to convert it to music (or whatever art you make) --> people actually feel it when your art is true! Kobi: Every day after we’ve finished our compilation (Private Lesson) was a small piece that went into Abstract. We didn’t plan it like that, but it was a busy year with a lot of things that happened, and when we had like 7 tracks done we saw that the album is going to be a fusion of genres creating one big colorful picture. There's a great diversity in the album, where does that come from? Eitan: I guess we have had a busy and diverse year and you can hear it in the album. Besides, we wanted it to be interesting and not monotonic. Something you could listen to from beginning to the end with out feeling "I have heard this before..." Kobi: I think that first of all, its coming from the fact that there are two minds trying to combine something to one. And the diversity is coming because we are totally trying to impress each other. Our first rule is to try to make something that we didn’t try before, be it the music, the synth work or the production. There are two tracks in the new album that sound very different than what you would expect to hear in a generic psytrance album- Downunder & Tough Kid- what's the story behind these tracks? Is there a reason they sound different? Do you play them in your sets and what are the reactions? Eitan: Funny you ask... A good LOUD set usually starts with Downunder and ends with Tough Kid. They are basically the last ones to be written for the album, so they are really what we aimed for. We feel like we are really getting to a level we can make people dance without using the regular and known formula that is ALL OVER trance these days. And these 2 tracks do the job! Kobi: The story behind Downunder is very nice. We aimed for an experimental track that is totally braking all the "rules". The first time we played it people were standing in the dance floor and staring in us in shock, and only after a few minutes they started dancing and getting into it in a mad way. Tough Kid had a few versions before we were happy with the middle part. And then we decided that the beginning and the end were a mess, so one day we deleted the beginning and started form scratch till the middle part. Only then we took the end to this electroish side, and developed it into this trance peak. I don’t think that we have a reason why they sound so different, it just happened. And of course we are playing them! We are very proud with these two- writing them took us to new places and made our minds move forward. The second album seems to me a bit more dance floor oriented- do you think that's true, and if so, why is that? Eitan: Well, we want to make people dance so we are actually aiming to make dancefloor music these days, just in a different way... People come to a party to dance and that’s what we want to provide. Kobi: I think Abstract is more unified, and yes, I agree it is more dancefloor oriented. After all this music is aimed for the dancefloor and should give the people a feeling of dancing. What is your favorite track in the album currently and why? Eitan: HARD QUESTION!!! for me its Downunder, which was made in Austria and very very fast- like we just spat it out... and the second is Disoriented- reminds me of English Twisted Records trance (VERY HAPPY and for the morning, but very psychedelic and flowing, not too experimental and sophisticated but with LOTS of spirit . . . ---> for me this is proper morning trance music). Kobi: It is a hard question, but if I have to choose it will be Downunder and Loose Senses. Don’t know why. Maybe it’s the feeling I get when I’m hearing them. Your music feels a lot to me like a reincarnation in a new outfit of 1995-2000 trance music- in melodies and structures. It's one of the reasons I like it so much- it seems to me to pick up on something that was lost on the way and continue it. Some people, though, say they feel your music is just something already done- what are your thoughts about that? Eitan: Well, if you listen to the new album it is a combination of a lot of today’s sounds- you will find even influences from the most underground minimal techno music. But it is also true that it brings back the Goa sound that was indeed done before (and we grew up listening to it), only was never produced like today’s music. Kobi: True! We are totally influenced by music from those years. After all, these were the times that trance music was taking you and getting you into trance… but I think that if you listen well the album, you can find some elements of electro, techno, minimal, goa, and experimental music. In that era trance have been divided in a way between the more "psychedelic" stuff and the more "melodic" stuff- you seem to have both infused in your music- what are your influences in trance music? Eitan: X-Dream (old and new stuff), Extrawelt, Psysex, Simon Posford, Perfect Stranger, Infected Mushroom. Kobi: Simon Posford, X-Dream, Dado, Indoor, Cosma, Psysex, Trancewave, Infected mushroom (early stuff). Please name one album that you feel affected your musical writing the most. Eitan: There’s a lot more then ONE !!!! For starters- HALLUCINOGEN- TWISTED !!!!! Kobi : HALLUCINOGEN - TWISTED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) Usually, it seems that trance duos don't last long these days- do you think you'll stick together? Eitan: I think we have not reached our peak yet, and as long as there is a feeling of moving forward and getting better there is no reason to stop. I believe we are very aware of our status all the time and the second we will feel stuck is when we can start to think of something like stopping LOUD. Kobi: As Eitan said, I think that LOUD will be done when we will feel that we don’t have anything to offer and don’t have something to give to our audience through our music. We have a long way, I believe, to get to the peak of our potential... till then we’re not going anywhere  Are there disagreements between you while writing music- how do you solve them? Can you give us a musical example from the album? Eitan: There are! We FIGHT a lot (but I am happy to say that a lot less than we used too). What we do is always try both options a couple of times and listen to find out what is better. We always try to find something we both like that we know is perfect! Kobi: It’s going to sound weird, but I think that its good that we are arguing and "fighting"… It’s only taking us higher. After all, the arguing is about our music (not on a personal level), and it’s only pushing us forward and squeezing the best out of us. We both know that we are expressing our feelings through our music. In the end when we are seating together and listening to a track that we just finished, we’re laughing about ourselves. Someone I know says you sound like what Infected Mushroom would have sound if they would have continued to make psychedelic trance- is that something you can relate to? Eitan: First of all, thanks :-) I can tell you that Shiva Shidapu and Infected Mushroom are the reasons I started writing trance on Impulse Tracker! But it’s still a bit different than Infected I think- LOUD is LOUD and that person might be thinking a bit more of the first album. Kobi: I don’t think that you have an artist in the world that is not influenced by a different artist. It happens in rock, classic, pop, or even jazz music That’s the beauty in it- the influence of someone that you love and respect is creating something new through your creation. Talking of Infected, I know you made a remix to an old Infected Mushroom track that you play in your sets- What is the track and why isn't it released? Is there a chance it will be? Eitan: It is Devil- I think the first ever release of Infected. There is always a chance it will be released one day, but we might need to work on it a bit more... What I can say for a fact is that (just like our music, which is very real) we remixed this because we both think the track is AMAZING and not because of the name Infected Mushroom. This remix we made had some crazy reactions in parties, especially in Israel, where it made people remember the old days. Please name an artist who's music you have discovered this year and has affected you deeply and tell us why. Eitan: Dusty Kid is one. Very nice synth work, very flowing, I think his music is done a lot from the heart and not too much from the head, which is for me PERFECT MUSIC! Kobi: Guy Gerber, AMAZING music full of emotion and psychedelia, and great diversity inside. Extrawelt make the best minimal music for me. And also Dusty kid. What album or track/song have you been listening a lot to lately? Eitan: Dido's last album :-) (MTV MUSIC)- all this studio time made me enjoy simple and calm music sooo much . . . Kobi : Younger Brother- Last Days of Gravity. Future plans? Eitan: Make Music. Kobi: Maybe some collaboration with different artists from different genres.

Interview by Shahar