2014 has been a busy year for Dance Spirit both in the studio and on the road. The Southern California hyperspace duo recently wrapped up an extensive Summer tour in Barcelona and Ibiza showcasing their sound while finding inspiration through a different perspective. We recently caught up with them to discuss about their experience and what it has meant for them as an artist to stay inspired and creative as they push forward.

You guys spent some time in Barcelona and Ibiza in Summer 2013 as we recall, but this year it seems like you were out there for a more extensive Summer tour. What were some of the major difference between going to Barcelona and Ibiza this year compared to last?

In July we were able to get a lot of studio time in with both Anthony and Luca on separate occasions. These sessions were invaluable to our creative paths as artists and lent a huge amount of growth and technique in our approach to music as we are constantly trying to improve our style. We collaborated with Anthony on a couple of remixes, one for Maison D’etre and one for Connaisseur Recordings. We also collaborated on 2 originals with Luca, they sound great but at the moment they are homeless. We also did a solo remix for connessure recordings, and one original for that will be coming out on Endless Recordings. Other than that there are probably 10 originals that have great potential, and everything else that we made is worked into the live set, so nothing is every wasted or compromised.

Inspiration is infinite for us.

 

Akbal Music Podcast 020: Dance Spirit

During your live shows as mentioned before, that one person runs the beats and effects while the other runs synths and effects. Would you say your studio set up and production work flow is similar to what you guys do at live events? or is it more of a full-on collaborative effort on all ends depending on the style and mood you’re going with?

In some regards it’s the same, Chris usually starts the beats up then I’ll come in and start building around it then will pass it back off to Chris again and so forth until we have a really solid chunk of a song going. Chris is generally the arrangement maestro, while I handle effects, mix down, and mastering. But it’s not always the same. It’s good to not get stuck in too much of a routine, and if you notice yourself doing that, it’s time to take a step back, as you’re no longer in a true creative zone, just a routine. By the end of our trip we experienced a bit of a burn out from this, so it’s been nice to have a bit of a break from writing… but now we’re itching to get back in the studio and create. There’s always a collaborative effort, and our best music happens when we both start the track together. Sometimes we both come up with starts of songs on our own, but they never really go anywhere when we try and sit down at them later together, but these bits always end up making their way into the live set in some form or fashion.

You guys are scheduled to play at the upcoming Minimal Effort again with fellow Flying Circus/Supernature friend, Audiofly. The last one you played in March was out of this world; what can we all expect musically from you this time around? And what are you most looking forward to at this year’s Halloween warehouse event?

Well, right now it is hard to tell you what to expect as we have not received our set times yet. We usually program our sets based on our set times like a proper DJ should, and we have so much music we can adapt the set to our time. Of course we will be filling it with most of our European creations as we were hugely influenced by a lot of the music we found and discovered out there. Techno is usually the theme in all of its beautiful colors and forms, and of course we strive for beauty and emotion in our art so we are hoping to capture imagination like we always do. We love a good warehouse party and the vibes they create, and of course Halloween is full of fun and fantasy so it will be a terrific night of letting loose and howling at the moon.

With Timewarp making its ground in to U.S. soil next month and gatherings such as Movement, BPM, and Decibel are gaining strong recognition. Where do you see the direction and future for quality electronic music for North America and more importantly on a global scale? Do you think we are approaching market saturation? If so, would you consider that a good or bad thing?

People are dancing all over the world, and its a beautiful thing. No one can predict the future, so who is to say where all of this will take us and what the next phase in music and culture will be. The more people listening and dancing the better off we will be. The only thing that can stifle and ruin it is the commercialization of what happens in the underground. Over-saturation is another killer. From our point of view, avant-garde arts will never die, they will just go back underground and transform into something else. The other threatening thing from our perspective is the advance of the Hollywood celebrity into the DJ culture. Those of us that are living and suffering and sacrificing for our art, and there are some who just step in to be cool. We have to draw a line in the sand, and the fact that this is happening is absolutely maddening. In many ways, underground is dead, but the ethics and romanticism of true art is something we try to create and keep alive. It is not a means to an end, or a solution to a problem, but a way of expressing our subconscious minds while trying to relate and evoke an emotional response in our listeners in a positive and contemplative manner.