MUMBAI: One of Netherland’s most promising electronic acts (it’s a big deal to make a name for yourself in the Dutch electronic scene), DubVision played an hour long set in a familiar Indian location, in the last week of December. Although associated with Progressive House, DubVision packed the Iron Stage arena at Supersonic ’15, Goa, with an electronic and melodic set list, ensuring everyone enjoyed the chilled out balance between House and vocal melodies. Since the release of ‘Hollow’, the thumping bass made way for groovier basslines, although their tracks could easily be identified as DubVision’s. Victor and Stephen acknowledge the knowledge EDM fans in India have acquired, and the duohave travelled from Delhi to Chennai observing the same. DubVision sat with radioandmusic.com an hour after completing their set for Supersonic, and although Stephan was (let’s say) too tired to contribute towards the interaction, Victor shared their opinions on the EDM bubble, the sound they’ve been working on, and their bets on the genre’s future.
How would you describe your set at Supersonic, Goa?
In India, we have been to Pune, Goa (for Sunburn), Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and now we return to Goa. The set was good. We always love coming back to India. The crowd here is always crazy. We had an early set, but gradually the crowd kept coming and it got busier and busier.
Related Post
What do you make of the electronic scene in India?
First time we came here, it was smaller. Last year, we played in Sunburn, and now Supersonic. The crowd really knows our songs and what to expect. The crowd is educated and remains open-minded to the new songs. It’s definitely growing.
What are the aspects you look forward to during collaborations?
Ah, that’s difficult. When it comes to purely EDM, we love artists like Axwell or Zedd. They are not only DJs, but they are ‘artists’. When artists of other genres are involved, like Coldplay or Years & Years, the focus remains on good vocals and the desire to collaborate extends to artists who can create a show around their sound.
How do you decide on the ‘outro’ of a track?
That’s the hardest part of making a track. An artist has 100 ideas on how to end the track. With us, usually, it depends on whatever that gives us goose bumps. And when that feeling goes away, we finish it. Sometimes, we get help from other people, and their inputs help a lot. As an artist, after a certain while, playing the kind of music we do, it becomes difficult to see the difference anymore, especially when you’re stuck in multiple projects.
A lot of DJs put out their tracks and then come back and work on it depending on how the audience receive it. Does the technique work with you?
Yeah, a lot of DJs do that. But it’s hard for us because we are too much of perfectionists to play a song that is not finished yet. It’s like painting- You do not put an unfinished painting out for people and improvise on people’s reactions. What we do is finish our paintings and show it to people.
When was the ‘a-ha moment’ for DubVision?
Well, back when I was still studying and Steve was working as an architect. And we had been doing music for 2 years. We took our stuff and went to Spinnin’ Records, and they turned us down. They liked our idea, although asked us to work more on it. When we returned with ‘All By Myself’, they really loved our stuff and then it took us over a year to create more music. We have been making music for 7 years, but we have been International DJs for only 2 years. Later, Axwell picked it up and he played on one of his tours, and since then it’s only getting better.
Artists you are currently obsessing over?
Axwell, Steve Angello are making great music. The quality of their music tells you every sound they create has a purpose. It sounds complete. Then, artists like Zedd and Calvin Harris who ensure they produce something more than conventional EDM sound. 3-4 years ago, EDM was getting repetitive, and nowadays, these DJs have taken the scene to another level with pop collaborations and what not. We are very inspired by DJs like Zedd.
Any complaints regarding the EDM scene?
A lot of DJs have started to realise the EDM bubble is bursting. Two years ago, EDM was everywhere. Wherever you go – USA, Europe, Asia, clubs, private parties, festivals – EDM was all over the place. You go to Vegas and you’d find all the top 10 DJs perform at a hotel every other night. The industry has realised that EDM artists are asking for a lot of money. So, the focus has shifted to quality music over popular names. EDM is going to stay, it may return to being the underground scene, or how it started. But people still care.
Your take on the argument- ‘saturation of electronic music is killing the genre’?
Yeah. Go to any party or festival, it’s the similar popular tracks getting remixed and fans do not want that. The key for any DJ is to maintain the balance between being commercial and staying true to their sound. Fans like to be surprised. It’s hard to find a balance, as I said. Half of the fans attend the show to listen to the popular tracks, while others want to get surprised.
What are your plans for 2016?
New music will be out on 4 January titled ‘Sweet Harmony’ on Musical Freedom. In March, we will be releasing more music under Afrojack’s label. And then, our big project, a concept around DubVision. March will see DubVision with new sound, branding and logo. We cannot discuss a lot about that right now, but it would be out sometime next year
