A common passion for the warmer sides of electronic music, a meeting by accident and a studio session ten years later are just a few of the ingredients that led to the musical project we know today as Alsi. This is part of a story about a long friendship built around electronic sounds, a story developed from a nice chat we had with the guys on a sunny November afternoon.
The friendship built around electronic music between Alex aka Limpid and Silviu aka Einzig started during their highschool years, around 2002: “we realized that we have a complementary attitude towards mixing at first” Yet, 10 years passed from exchanging ideas behind the decks to their first Ableton recording session together. In terms of our ever speeding society, it sounds like a long period of time, yet it was worth waiting: no less than 3 tracks out of the first 6 tracks produced under the Alsi moniker are released on vinyl. Be it on Colourful Recordings, Brahe or their newly born imprint, Presence, it’s the sick, addictive groove that captures your whole attention when it comes to the Alsi signature sound, softened here and there by deep Rhodes strings.
If a journey can be a feeling then that’s it. With this idea into their minds, Alex and Silviu start pouring musical sketches and ideas into their machines, careful enough not to lose contact with the golden age of house music: Inspiration comes from our legacy from the 2000’s era where producers experimented with all sorts of deep basses and synths. We are keeping that perspective but refining the wild grooves from that era and adapting that style to the more “softer” ears in current years.
They’re not alone into this quest of reviving that mood as other Romanian artists draw inspiration from the 2000s’, yet each one of them comes with their own vision. When we look at Limpid and Einzig, all seems related to feelings: We start from a feeling! Let’s say we are in a mood (that lasts a few weeks usually) of making trippy hypnotic music; then everything we do will transpose to that, every element will go in that direction. Kicks, hats, bass, and the others follow the mood.
As to make their musical ideas work together into a seamless flow, they have to move the communication to a deeper, more intuitive level: The idea is the mood and we disappear each in his instruments and don’t talk until it’s done, we “know” what we have to do from the first kicks and hats. From the first kick to the final touches is a short trip that usually lasts one or two studio sessions, counting 3 to 24 hours. Their studio accomodates four drum machines, three synths, some digital instruments and a modular combo.
“The dream studio is a very tough question because the answer keeps changing every month.”
Six years have passed since their tracks were played by the Arpiar guys. Now with their first EP on their very own record label set to be released in November 2018, it’s time to talk about what has the future reserved for Alsi: The Alsi productions will change, 100% on that one. There is need for change, there is need for evolution and adaptability. We will move towards (slightly) more melodic productions for the next period.
Going back to the roots of this insatiable hunger for electronic music, we asked Limpid & Einzig to pick a few influential labels and they came up with a rather interesting list: from the classics Low Pressings and Alola to the refined Amphia and the colourful Metereze, we feel close to many of these in various ways.
As usual, to draw a conclusion we come to music. Serving as a soundtrack from their early experiences with electronic music, turning later into inspiration, here is a short playlist created by Alsi, straight from the memory vault:
Jasper Dahlbäck – What Is The time, Mr Templar
Rei Harakami – Glimglim
Peace Division – Beatz In Peacez 3
