Music is cyclical. This is not an opinion, but rather solid fact supported by years of evidence. One of the neat things about electronic dance music is how the changes it goes through is easy to track. Unlike the majority of other popular genres like rock and rap, dance music revolves around singles and the occasional EP. The nature of constantly making new records, playing them for a few months, then discarding them forever makes for evolution at a breakneck speed.
This being said, an impasse is right around the corner. Years of being fed similar sounding house records, primarily in progressive and electro house, is causing a rebuttal. The people who swore by the “jump up and down” sounds are finding themselves tired of the same old, and are venturing out of their comfort zones to new horizons. While there are a couple genres to mention that have been making headway in America; like hardstyle, Melbourne bounce and of course trap, these still fit the mold of intense, extra hyped dance music. The one genre that gets bodies rocking in a wholly opposite direction is deep house.
There are a few mainstream folks that dabble in the deep. Disclosure‘s album has some influences from it, Kaskade drops it at Marquee and Duke Dumont scored a number one hit single in the UK with “Need U (100%)”, a record that takes a cue from moody 90’s house music. The icing on the cake is Tiesto‘s new Club Life After Hours, which focuses on deep house and its close counterparts like nu disco. Tiesto played the likes of Tube & Berger, Monkey Safari and Him_Self_Her on the inaugural run, with this new show possibly becoming the platform to introduce the American youth to this genre out of the spotlight. While the most popular genres are becoming stagnant and faced with growing negativity, the future of deep house looks bright. 
Enter Notize. This past winter the young Denmark native struck gold with his record “Blizzard”, turning the heads of deep connoisseurs, myself included. After hearing the track on YouTube, I reached out to him for an interview on Be The Rave this past January, and since then he has consistently exceeded my expectations. With a new track titled “Worth The Pain” due out at the end of August on Provoke, I felt it was time to catch up. Outside of discussing his new work, I also talked to him about his thoughts on the state of deep house, his influences, and a few out of the ordinary questions. See the interview after the jump.
It is nice to hear from one of our deep house favorites at Your EDM. Can you tell us a little about your background?
Hey man, great catching up! Well.. I was born 1995 in the Northern region of Denmark, a city called Aalborg, and I’m still here ha! From a very young age I got embossed with music and especially electronic music caught my fascination from the very beginning… My brother is 10 years older than me, so when I was just in kindergarten, he was at his rave and club age, so every time he would go out, he always brought home new and exciting music that was stuck on my mind already back then haha! It was music such as underground techno to psychedelic trance and house. So I guess it’s in my roots.
Why did you choose deep house as your genre to produce?
I have been experimenting a LOT with my sound over years, and til this day I still am. I’m not locked up to some forced genre and sound. I don’t want to limit my creativity so I just go for what’s in my musical mind and heart. As it is right now, I have gone really deep, but also disco-ish cause it’s inspiring me. I tend to make happy beats also though.
A popular theme in deep house, your music included, is to pitch down the vocals. Why do you do it and why do you think so many artists like to?
Great one! Some people say that Cyril Hahn set it off, but I believe it’s been here forever, Cyril’s “Say My Name” went to be a giant hit, so I guess many got inspired, not to blame them cause it most likely sounds fucking dope. Personally I do it to get rid of the original scale the vocal runs in, and make it deeper. And I gotta admit I’m kinda addicted to it, though some of my new tunes have no pitching haha.
Your most recent work was remixing “The Funeral” by Band of Horses. Why did you choose this song?
I first got the idea by watching the movie 127 hours with James Franco (Amazing one, watch it) and the track was featured I guess. But I forgot the idea… but then some commercial in TV has featured it as well, and then I just went directly to my room and made the whole track with my headphones believe it or not (My studio is out of the town I live in at the moment). I did the track in one night and then made a sound-check when I got to my studio. The original song is amazing and the band is as well!
You’ve come a long way since the last time we spoke, talking about your track “Blizzard” a little over six months ago. How have things changed for you in 2013?
That track lighted the fire to be real. The response I got on that track was surreal, and it still is man. I feel so blessed with those supporters out there! But now “Blizzard” is finally getting its release and I’m thankful, it has opened a lot of doors for me for sure.
Do you have any thoughts as to why the majority of festivals are not booking deep house acts? Is it because those artists prefer clubs?
Deep house I guess, is in a wage period. Deep house acts are all ready playing festivals this summer as far as I know and I believe that soon there will be a probable takeover for that matter, cause chicks fucking love deep house. Not saying that a takeover is a good thing, people must not be over saturated, but the biggest Danish radio station (P3) is playing both Claptone and Ben Pearce mixed with the usual pop tunes already here, so it’s only a matter of time.
Deep house is starting to break out of the underground here in America. Recently, Tiesto launched a deep house radio show called Club Life After Hours. Nervo is also doing a deep house collaboration with Marco Lys, one of the remixers of your new track. Do you foresee deep house becoming the next big thing in dance music? What will the future hold for deep house?
Like I said, I’m kind of afraid that deep house will break out soon, there are always pros and cons about trends but what I’ve learned about trends is that they die shortly after premiering. I’d rather hear deep house in my radio at the moment than the commercial hands up music going on right now though. I can’t deny I think it’s funny that Tiesto establishes a new radio show with deep house when it’s about to get popular.
Who are your idols and influences in dance music, whether in or out of the deep house spectrum?
Everything inspires me. I find new inspiring artists almost every day, but a guy that flipped me over was when I discovered Flume, not that he is doing deep house really. There are so many artists that have caught my fascination lately, just need to look for them, they’re out there!
Your next release “Worth The Pain” is coming out on Canadian label Provoke. What can you tell us about it? Was there anything new you tried when making it or a challenge you had to overcome when producing?
Yeah! So excited for that one, well it’s a tune called “Worth The Pain” that I did a couple months ago. It has got somewhat of a UK sound I believe with small vocal cuts from Diana Ross and other Motown heroes! I made the track when I got home from school exhausted as hell laying on the couch one day, however when I got some coffee and finished that bassline I was ON! It has received amazing response so far both by fella DJs and supporters! Thank you!
The remixes for “Worth The Pain” are by Patrick Daniels, Damn Kids and Marco Lys. Why were these three artists selected?
Darren the label manager for Provoke was in a hunt for the right guys and these artists seemed like the right ones with a variety of banging tech house to deep house and ambient hip-hop by Damn Kids. I’m really happy with the outcome of this EP, the guys have done such a nice job on the remixes.
Do you have an opinion on the always controversial DJ Mag Top 100? Do you have your own Top 5 for this year’s list?
It’s bollocks and is a commercial popularity poll haha.
Finally, if you had to pick a charity to support, which would it be and why?
I’d say NDCS right now, which is a charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people. I can’t imagine a day as a deaf person suffering with all this wonderful music in this world they cannot get to hear.
Hear the “Worth The Pain” original track by Notize along with the remixes from Marco Lys, Damn Kids and Patrick Daniels respectively below. The tracks are out now on Beatport here.
