Hello dear readers! Like some of you guys probably know, Kyau and Albert released their 15 Years of Kyau & Albert Album today, on March 12th. Their label, Euphonics was kind enough to send me a hard copy of the album (directly from Germany) and let me send a few short interview questions to them. For the ones who don’t know who Kyau & Albert are, or if you know them but don’t know much about them, they are a DJ duo from Germany with a pretty big background in the European EDM scene (North-American as well now). Their songs play very often on Trance Around the World and other popular podcasts. Lately, they frequently play in big venues in North America like Pacha New York, Electric Zoo, WMC, EDC, etc.

I’ve already listened to the album a few times (I got it in the mail this morning) and I’ve got to say that it sounds very very good. All the songs are old or new hits from Kyau & Albert and are either remixes or official reworks (minus three song that are the originals). The remixes are by the likes of Tritonal, Arty, Cosmic Gate, Mat Zo, Stoneface & Terminal, Super8 & Tab and more. I’ve already heard a lot of the songs that are on the album before getting it, but it’s very nice to see them all in one release. This album is like hearing all good songs, but with a new sound. You should definitely check it out HERE (itunes) or HERE (Euphonics). Here is the tracklist.

1- Falling Anywhere (Sunn Jellie Remix)
2- 7Skies (Ellez Marinni Tech Mix)
3- On the Way
4- Neo Love (Dennis Sheperd Remix) ft. Marc Marberg
5- Once in a Life (Tritonal Remix)
6- Are You Fine? (Arty Remix
7- Always a Fool (2011 Rework)
8- This Love
9- Save Me (Steve Brian Remix)
10- Megashira (Ronski Speed Remix) ft. Marc Marberg
11- Painkillers (Alternative Club Mix)
12- A Night Like This
13- I Love You (Cosmic Gate Remix)
14- Be There 4 U (Mat Zo Remix)
15- Kiksu (2011 Rework)
16- Made of Sun (Stoneface & Terminal Remix)
17- Velvet Morning (Super8 & Tab Remix)

… And here is the interview with Kyau & Albert, I hope you enjoy!

Me: Hello guys! Here are a few questions that I'd like you to answer.

Me: What are your sources of inspirations when you produce a record?

Ralph Kyau: It can be everything. A great club night, a wonderful morning...

Steven Albert: Also sometimes you play around in the studio and, by mistake, you find something great.

What do you think sets Kyau & Albert apart from other trance producers/DJ?

Ralph Kyau: Hard question. Definitively that Steven sings all male vocals in our singles. That's very unique.

Me: Can we expect Kyau and Albert to come here in Montreal (Canada) in the near future? It's been a while since the last time you did!

Steven Albert: It would be great to come back, but there's nothing planned at the moment I think.

Ralph Kyau: The best thing to do would be to check out our website at www.kyauandalbert.com or go to www.facebook.com/kyauandalbertofficial to stay up to date with gigs, radio show playlists and more.

Me: Do you guys have any "rituals" you do before starting a set?

Ralph Kyau: We love to drink a beer and we love to listen to the DJ who plays before us.

Me: Besides your upcoming album 15 Years of Kyau and Albert, what can we expect to be released from Euphonic in 2012? Any surprises for us?

Steven Albert: There are new singles that are going to be released on Euphonics in the future by artists such as Stoneface & Terminal, Ronski Speed and a few more. There will be, of course, new Kyau & Albert singles, including a new collaboration with Marc Marberg.

Ralph Kyau: We just finished a remix of Ronski Speed‘s single as well.

Steven Albert: Also, there's going to be a Kyau & Albert collaboration with Paul van Dyk that will get released on Vandit this spring.

Me: I know we're a little bit early in 2012 to ask this, but which song(s) has gotten you the best crowd reaction so far this year?

Ralph Kyau: Dennis Sheperds‘ single with Talla 2XLC called 'Two Worlds' is big in our sets since January.

That song is amazing, here is the official video.

Me: What do you think about music blogs? In your opinion, are they helping or hurting artists?

Steven Albert: In my opinion, it's definitively a good source for music lovers.

Ralph Kyau: Luckily we don't get a lot of bad critics on the internet, but if it happens, it happens. As we all know, taste is a very strange thing and as an artist you cannot make it right for everybody.

Me: Thank you for your time and congratulations on 15 years of awesomeness!

WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER

What’s up ladies and gents? We haven’t posted anything for a while so here’s a little music to brighten your week. And, especially for Will, there’s gonna be a bit of everything, not just trance.

Before we get to the music though, I think this picture on the right is pretty self explanatory. Steve Angello is coming Friday at the Telus Theatre. Tickets are 30 bucks and totally worth it in my opinion. Also, according to Justin, there should be a guest appearance by Axwell which would be insane. But you didn’t really think that the night would end there I hope? The same night (or morning, whatever you fancy really), Sean Tyas is playing at Circus Afterhours and its only a few blocks away and 15$ entry. So basically, you get to see two of the worlds top 50 Djs in one night, you’d have to be crazy or Wei to miss it.

So this first track is a new release and I just can’t stop listening to it. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I like almost everything that Mysto & Pizzi do. If you haven’t heard of them yet, go check’em out on Youtube, they’re hilarious.

Malo (Mysto & Pizzi Remix) – Avicii

Let’s face it, it just wouldn’t be one of my posts if I didn’t have any trance in it.

Painkillers (Stoneface & Terminal Remix) – Kyau & Albert

Good Dreams (Barnes & Heatcliff Remix) – tyDi

Hands to Hold Me (feat. Cristina Soto) – Tritonal

By the way, Armin is having a vote on his website for the song of the year. If you’re like me and you look for any reason not to study, there’s  a huge list of great tracks you can check out. Oh and if Stoneface isn’t the best Dj name I just don’t know what is.

This next track I did not like at first, I found it kinda boring but I just could not get it out of my head.

I Can’t Stop – Flux Pavilion

And finally, this final track is getting kind of mixed reviews. It’s a weird mix between trance and d&b. Mostly, if you liked the original trance version you might not like it but I still find it sick. There cannot be enough mixes of this song.

On a Good Day (Metropolis) (J Majik & Wickaman Remix) – OceanLab vs. Gareth Emery

Aight so I don’t feel like ranting on Dj Mag since Justin took care off that in brilliant fashion so here’s a picture of the wisest most badasses lemur there is.

I’m really in a trance mood so here’s a little something something.      Since life is awesome, here’s some awesome music to compliment it.

Martin Solveig & Dragonette – Hello (Michael Woods Remix)

Jochen Miller – uPad

Both tracks featured on Gareth’s podcast, although Jochen Miller’s is a bit unconventional for him, it’s still baller. Oh an I’m not a usually a big Michael Woods fan but this is a massive, massive track. Just massive.

I really looked a long time for this next Myon & Shane54 track because although it was featured on A State Of Trance a while ago, I couldn’t seem to track it down so i had to settle with a rip. Very good nonetheless.

Myon & Shane54 – International Departures (Classic Anthem Mix)

Soundlift – Empty Streets (Daniel Kandi Remix)

And finally, if you’ve been to any kind of raves/concerts this summer, for sure you’ve heard at least one of these tracks.

Mr. Pit – Sky Traffic (Personal favourite, no doubts homeboi)

Marc Marberg vs. Kyau & Albert – Megashira

Piece of advice, don’t fuck with ninja lemur…

We’d been talking about it for weeks now and finally, last weekend, we went to New York for the Electric Zoo festival that took place on Saturday and Sunday. I know its a bit late, one week that is, but i got lazy. Just to put you guys in context, it was from 11am to 11pm on both days, with four stages and (usually) all of them jam packed and it was non-stop craziness. The weekend started on a great foot when Justin decided to bet with me that we could not get from Montreal to New York on one tank of gas. It took some insanely good driving on my part, some drafting behind trucks for extended periods of time and putting the car on neutral while going downhill but at the end, with the tank empty and Justin begging me to exit and put gas before we ran out, we made it safely to the hotel. But anyways, enough laughing at Justin for the time being and here’s a list of the Djs we saw and a couple of their tracks.

 Day 1

Glenn Morisson

First Dj of the weekend and he was pretty good. Got to give him credit, although the crowd was pretty at the start because it just opened, the guy was having fun nonetheless.

Contact (Deadmau5 Remix) – Glenn Morrison

Gareth Emery

It was only our second set of the day but it was without a doubt one of the best of the whole festival.

The Island Part 1 (Dawn) – Pendulum

On a Metropolis Day (Myon & Shane 54 Mashup) – Gareth Emery vs Oceanlab (REPOST)

He’s probably my favourite producer at the moment and it can only get better with his new album upcoming. Don’t forget to check out his single Sanctuary from Justin’s last post.

Markus Schulz

It was my second time seeing him although the first time was cut short by boring friends at Bal en Blanc and i must say there is a reason he is  in the Top Ten of Dj Mag. 

Rain – Markus Schulz (REPOST)

Perception (feat. Justine Suissa) – Markus Schulz (REPOST)

Mainstage – W&W (REPOST)

Yeah yeah, a lot of reposting but they’re sick tracks, trust me. Once I get the live set I promise to make the most of it.

Fake Blood

I was pussy last time he dropped by Montreal and to be honest it’s a shame I missed him

Stuck on Repeat (Fake Blood Remix) – Little Boots

Rusko

Anyone order a bass Panini?

Lick the Lizard – Reso & Rusko (sorry for guys talking, its the only version of the song that I know of).

Massive. Played a lot of reworks of his classics, so much fun. Actually got to fight until I got to the front and it was worth all the fighting.

Benny Benassi

What to say about Benny? Probably the only disappointing set on the weekend. In his defence, there were technical difficulties during his set but when he came to drop Spaceship (his track of the summer) he got on to the table and pumped up the crowd just to mix out of it. Disrespectful. Table mounting should not be used except for awesome drops.

Spaceship (feat. Kelis & Apl de Ap) – Benny Benassi

Don’t like his sound usually but this track is addictive.

Axwell

Ok so I never really listened to Axwell before and lord was I wrong. Here’s one of my favourite tracks of the moment.

Teenage Crime (Axwell & Henrick B Remode) – Adrian Lux

Alright so basically we have no choice but to repost this but this song song was played 7 times : Dirty South, Markus Schulz, Axwell (twice), Armin and I’ve forgotten all the rest because seriously everyone played it, EVERYONE.

One – Swedish House Mafia (REPOST)

Oh by the way, here’s Justin going crazy:

Day 2

D. Ramirez

The first Dj really worth mentioning and probably the only one who has a haircut that can rival with Rusko’s, which one is worst I really can’t decide.

System (Deadmau5 Remix) – D. Ramirez & Mark Knight

Cosmic Gate

Yeah we went to see them again, and like usual they were beasts.

Not Enough Time (feat. Emma Hewitt) – Cosmic Gate

Man On the Run (Nic Chagall Remix) – Dash Berlin

Avicii

Pleasantly surprised by his set, unfortunately I didn’t stay the whole time because there was a great vegan restaurant and I was hungry. 

New New (Avicii Remix) –Bob Sinclar

And obviously he played Bromance and the crowd went absolutely nuts.

Bromance (Avicii Remix) – Tim Berg (REPOST)

Above and Beyond

They probably had the bet set of the weekend. They just had so much fun and were incredible. At some point Paavo would write messages to the crowd on his Mac, energy was just insane.

This track is my favourite at the moment, its off of Super8 & Tab’s new album and there’s a couple of remixes but here’s my personal favourite.

Empire (Kyau & Albert Remix) – Super8 & Tab

Sander Van Doorn

Just like Bal en Blanc he was totally awesome. At some points, these two guys were going to leave but i convinced them to stay because they should not miss out and they thanked me after, that’s right.

Hymn 2.0 – Sander van Doorn pres. Purple Haze

Major Lazer / Diplo

So Diplo tried to slip a fast one past everyone. As you probably know, he is part of Major Lazer. Well turns out, the guy we saw at Osheaga and Electric Zoo was only him and we saw him later again as Diplo the next day. Pretty baller.

Wolfgang Gartner

Probably one of the most entertaining Djs there, his set was just sick. Really. Three turntables, one mixboard and a lot of awesomeness.

Conscindo – Wolfgang Gartner & Mark Knight (REPOST)

Armin Van Buuren

What so say, what to say? Nothing much other than it was crazy. The crowd was completely insane and there’s a reason why he’s # 1 in the world. It definitely was not the best set of the weekend, but the ambiance was totally different from all the others (Oh and he knows how to do a succesfull table mount).

Mirage – Armin van Buuren

So that was basically our awesome weekend, if i had to get two lessons out of it they would probably to never trust Justin with directions and also never to lock him out of a hotel room when he’s only in his boxers and a towel, turns out he gets really pissed…