What happens when you take two powerhouse electro house producers, Astronaut and Far Too Loud, and put them on a track? You get war.
War is an aggressive track with an emphasis on its hard hitting drops. It’s easy to see this song being dropped in the peak hour of a club when everyone is up and dancing. If this track leaves any indication of what these two producers can do together, I wouldn’t be surprised to find them working on more collaborations in the future.
In support of the new tunes, Your EDM got the chance to speak to both Astronaut and Far Too Loud and ask them a few questions.
For Astronaut: You guys are one of the most remixed duos I’ve ever seen. How does it feel to hear so many different interpretations of your music so frequently?
Astronaut: We are so lucky to have so many friends that are able to take something that we’ve written and put their own spin on it. We’ve had some amazing remixes back so far, we couldn’t tell you our favourite!
For both: How did you guys get together and decide to make the ‘War’ collab?
Astro: We’d been talking to Oli for a while about getting in the studio together and making a track, but it wasn’t until we connected in our home city of Bristol, UK one time after a show he had that we put some dates in the calendar and decided to get to it! We haven’t made a whole lot of collaborations as Astronaut so it was great to be in the studio with another producer and get some fresh production ideas to add to our workflow.
FTL: Yep, pretty much what they said. They sent over a jam they’d started that I thought was cool. I developed it a bit more and then we got together and wrapped it up in a couple of days.
For Far Too Loud: This year, you’ve been hitting the international festival circuit pretty hard. How does travel affect the creative process? Do you need to be in the studio, do you manage to get any work done in the air?
FTL: I tend not to work on tracks whilst I’m away as I really do prefer being in the studio. If I have spare time when I’m travelling I use it to make DJ edits and mashups. Travelling a lot generally does have a negative impact on productivity, but sometimes it’s useful to have that time to leave an idea and come back to it with some fresh inspiration. When it comes to being on planes, I probably spend most of my time asleep!
For Astronaut: Concerning Disciple Recordings, are you always actively looking for new artists, or are you more focused now on branding and developing the artists you have?
Astronaut: We’re always on the look out for emerging talent, but we’re also not looking to sign the whole world. (lol) I think it’s much more important for labels to develop the small roster that they have before taking on new challenges with new acts.
For Astronaut: You guys recently moved to Los Angeles. How has the new local affected your interaction with other producers and industry members that call Los Angeles their home?
Astronaut: Right now I couldn’t tell you! We arrived here about four weeks ago and before we had a chance to get settled I was straight off to Australia for a couple weeks to play some shows! I got back yesterday so we’re super excited to get back in the studio and focus on writing some brand new music now. America is an awesome place and we’re stoked to be living in such a great city.
For FTL: You’ve been producing for almost 10 years now but have experienced a much greater level of exposure in the past few years thanks to labels like Never Say Die and Disciple. Have you come to appreciate the increased notoriety? Has it changed the way you approach your productions?
FTL: I’m always appreciative of notoriety, big or small. If someone is enjoying my music that’s cool. It doesn’t link to my approach to music making though. As always, I make what I feel like making, whatever interests me.
For Astronaut: Each of you have been producing for a long time, as well, but Astronaut itself is only a couple years old. How is it being veteran producers with a new name?
Astronaut: Veterans? Thanks! haha! I think you have to fail and experiment a lot to finally succeed and for me, Astronaut has been the most exciting journey out of any musical project I’ve been involved with in the last seven years. Hard work pays off!
For both: Where would you like to see EDM going in the future? In terms of production value, sound design, trends, etc. What are your general thoughts on the scene?
Astronaut: I think electronic music as a whole has lost its soul and emotion somewhere over the last few years… Five years ago a large percentage of music I would hear would captivate me in every way possible – but now a large percentage of music I get sent sounds like they’re entering a ‘who can make the craziest noise’ competition. Don’t get me wrong though, creating gnarly bass sounds is one of our passions, but there is a real hunger from people to get connected with music on a deeper level again… A lot like it was in the late 90’s!
FTL: We’ve seen the rise of big room and trap, some of which I like, but I want to see more crossing over between these and harder bass styles. Must Die’s track “Hellcat” is awesome…it’s like hard big room. Or the new one from Diskord, “Go Hard” mixes sick dubstep basses into trap with overall great production. This is what I want more of.
For both: What software do you guys use for production, and why? Do you have any favorite plug-ins or synths?
Astronaut: We actually produced on Logic for a good five or six years before switching to Ableton a couple years back and that really changed everything for us! We’re huge fans of all of Ableton’s stock plugins and anything that Fab Filter makes!
FTL: Like the Astronaut guys I recently switched to Ableton, but from Cubase. It’s certainly a lot quicker to lay down ideas, but it feels very stripped back and there are some features which I miss from Cubase. You can’t have it all I guess. For plug-ins, anything from SoundToys, Native Instruments, DMG Audio, U-he and Audio Damage gets my attention.
