Feature: Innacircle [Interview + Premiere]

Hi Guys, thanks for joining us. What is your current mood and what was the last piece of music you listened to?

Hi, we’re doing well. You know, after the pandemic we’re focussing anew on our label and rebuilding it.

Noa: I’ve got that Drum n Bass track kinda stuck on my mind: “I saw Jesus do Cocaine on a night out …” - the track is called “Messy in heaven” by venbee & goddard.

Lucas: I’m totally obsessed with the entire LP by the Punkband ‘Team Scheiße’. The track “Karstadtdetektiv” really got to me.

How’s your year been so far? And what are your plans for the coming week?

2022 has been, despite the Pandemic times during which we didn't really produce much, pretty successful. Our highlight recently was the last gig in Toronto (Canada)- it was a real blast. Sofar we’re currently working on our debut release on our Geistzeit Label.

Do you think growing up in Germany had any effect on your career path into music? And if so how?

Of course, we grew up in the city Lueneburg (Hamburg). Before Corona we had lots of partys and bashes. Some well known artists eg Mathias Meyer & Patlac are also from our town. Techno culture is deeply rooted in our country. The longing for freedom and a place to express is very much connected to us all.

What are some of your best memories from first going to clubs and events in Germany? Were there specific nights or sets that really made you feel you wanted to pursue electronic music?

Clubs like Waagenbau and Übel & Gefährlich were our first encounters - and we still love these clubs years later. Being based in Hamburg we listened a lot to sets by Kollektiv Turmstraße, Stimming & Solomun. Especially the first Turmstraße Tracks made us want to do music.

What have been some of your favourite venues to perform or attend events at in Germany and why?

There were several locations/events, but ‘Fusion’ & ‘Bucht der Träumer’ Festivals were our most memorable nights till now. These festivals carry their own spirit and the memory will last with us for sure.

How did you meet and eventually start collaborating together as Innacircle?

We're lifelong best friends who grew up together. Once we got out of school and moved in together, music became a constant with us two.

A successful partnership is generally based around balance and compromise; how do you manage these things within the Innacircle dynamic?

Well, sometimes it helps to unwind with some good cannabis… just kidding. It’s not always easy to make music together, especially since we both have our jobs and responsibilities. Lucas works as a graphic designer and runs a marketing agency and Noa is responsible for the marketing department of a well established Solar Energy Corp. But we think our progress looks good in the long run - we released our first track 8 years ago under separate aliases.

Do you have different roles in the production process? And if so elaborate please.

In short: Noa brings his background from studying ‘Audio engineering’ and has a knack for technique, while Lucas is an artist by heart and loves to break from norms and tech quite a bit.

We quite regularly come to the point where we leave behind entire tracks. You know, we both thrive to be really happy and pleased with what we’re creating. So, if one of us really doesn't like some element, we end up starting over til we’re happy. It’s not the easy way, but in the end it ensures that we both are pleased and content with the final tracks we publish in the end…

Do you guys consider yourself DJs or producers first? And which do you enjoy more and why?

Producers first. But what we enjoy the most is live performing our tracks. DJ’ing never was a goal, but to being able to learn it on the way was also really cool. But our shared vision always was and will be performing our own live sets.

You’ve been releasing music as Innacircle for around five years, what are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in yourselves, both as producers and DJs, since you first started the project?

We started out with a more ethereal style of production, rather than producing a vibe or a dirty beat you can dance to. Through playing more and more of our tracks in front of people, we got a better idea of what we have to change in our style of production to make the tracks more dancey. We think people are going to enjoy the next releases a lot more on the dance floor.

Your biography states that field recordings are a deep part of your work, could you give us an example of how you incorporate those into your tracks?

We always lived in a very rural area with lots of forests and meadows. Therefore, we don't have much to do other than going for a walk, we’re surrounded by nature. Bringing in back what we recorded from a walk after a production session can really benefit the creative process.

Tell us a bit about your label ‘Geistzeit’, it looks like you had a hiatus for a few years but have just come back with a new release, what are your plans going forward?

Right, before the pandemic, we had a lot of people organizing Geistzeit together with us. But due to the lack of events, many people had to quit. So now we are back to our roots with us & Nina Hepburn (shout-outs at this point). Just now we released a beautiful track by our buddy ‘Saite Zwei’ to start things over. The whole label will get a new design, and we have some other cool things planned.

You have a new release out this week ‘Realize To Find’ via Deep Woods, tell us about the release and how it showcases your sound.

The track is more minimalistic and dance floor ready. But it all started out with the vocals. We produced the first version of this track back in 2019. We played it in almost every live set around at that time. Due to corona, we totally missed out on releasing it and the track became a little bit dusty. The new version was immediately signed by PrettyPink once we had shown her. Deep Woods fits very good as a home for the style and tone of the track.

https://youtu.be/PjWq-ttxBGU

This was a collaborative project with Saite Zwei, tell us how that came to be and walk us through the production process on the track.

When ‘Saite Zwei’ was in talks about his Geistzeit release, we also wanted to try to do a collab. We showed him the old version of the track, and he really liked the idea. But it had to be made more fitting to the current Zeitgeist. So he really reworked the whole 2019 version into a more fitting 2022 style. He had some great ideas and visions and really brought the track to where it is now. We think this track will fit great in many sets, but also remains a timeless touch.

Let’s continue talking about production for a moment, where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc. play? And was there anything that inspired ‘Realize to Find’?

We're both really daydreaming persons and are often either inspired by lush monotony and melancholy but also bright and big images, or even scary dystopian ideas. The key is while producing - we really tend to try to focus on long term satisfaction with a track. Rather than chasing the next standardized production hype, we really want to put something out we can listen to years after and still think of it  ‘it couldn't have been done any other way’. Maybe that's why this song took so long to release - being first played in 2019 and produced in 2018. It took 4 years for this. Damn, we're really slow paced. Haha!

For you to get started on a track do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called ‘visualizations’ of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Our basic approach is often the fitting of kick and bass. From there, the process of fine-tuning and melodic progression begins. As it's dance music, you have to adapt to some rules to make it commonly accepted, but once you master these rules you can do pretty much everything you want with it and that's what we enjoy the most. Some melodies come along the way, others are planned and well thought through.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you’re satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practice?

We tend to work long hours on the songs/tracks. We’re aware of the risks of overdoing it, but thankfully we can also be pretty impulsive and creative. Whenever we’re losing the spirit of the song, we move on, no matter what.

What’s the task you enjoy the most when producing, and what is something you’d rather have taken care of by somebody else? And why?

The early moments with a new project are so precious and creative-sheer joy. Mixing and Mastering can easily be handed over to another pro. This gives the track a technical & different vision of how the elements fit into each other.

How much road testing or friend feedback is done before you’re ready to say a track is finished? And who is someone you share your new music with first for feedback?

We rarely do road testing or extensive feedback from friends. “Realize to find” was a clear exception to that. The song was played so often on festivals, and it changed quite a bit due to that. First it was a solo track but got clearly refined by ‘Saite Zwei’.

If you could set up an event with a line-up of five artists of your choice, who would you book, and what set times would you ascribe to the artists?

23-0.00 Kollektiv Turmstrasse

00 - 1.00 Adriatique

1.00 - 2.00 Innacircle Live Set

2.00 - 5.00 Township Rebellion

5.00 - end David August

What would be a musical extravagance for your studio you would pay for, if you were very wealthy?

Noa is a big Moog Fan, he loves his Moog. We are always making jokes about buying a Memory Moog, which costs about $16.000. That would be a dream come true.

What’s a book you’ve read or film you watched that has left an impact on you, and why?

It will always be the movie “Zeitgeist”. The word  "Zeitgeist" means the "intellectual, spiritual and cultural awareness of the time" and obviously it inspired us for the name of our label “Geistzeit”.

What’s a superpower you wish you had, and how would you use it?

Being able to heal with our music would be the greatest thing.

If you could travel anywhere for one day, all laws and limitations void, where would it be?

The Moon.

Apart from music, what makes you happiest?

Our girlfriends.

What does the remainder of 2022 hold for you? Anything you can share with us?

We want to use this year to set everything up right lanes and to be ready to start touring in 2023 again. So you can expect lots of new music in 2023.