Decades of defining the sound of the scene and witnessing its evolution. The true essence of it all lies in the musical vision of artists like Marc Romboy and Timo Maas, who today score yet another milestone in their illustrious musical career with the release of ‘Yume no yōna’, their new track that incorporates artificial intelligence in the vocal and is available now via DSK Records.
Let’s get to know this iconic duo in detail!
MARC ROMBOY
Let’s start with the basics. How were your first steps in the electronic music industry? How did you go from record collector to label manager?
Do you have one night time to hear the entire story (laughs)? Well, I try to be brief. My partner back in the days and I, we have produced our first tracks in the beginning of the 90s and sent them to cool labels like Harthouse, R&S and Music Man. A guy called Hans from a label called See Saw contacted us and signed the tracks and released them. And through him we got in contact with Music Man/NEWS in Belgium who signed our first label called „Le Petit Prince“. They pre invested into the pressing costs of the vinyl records because at this time we didn´t have any money to do such in investment. I´m still grateful that they believed in us and gave us the possibility to enter the music business.
Being a person with such a long career and s o much experience, even at the legendary Roxy club in Amsterdam we are curious to know…What is your vision of today’s scene? Where are we heading and what’s missing in comparison to the good old days?
I´m not that kind of guy who likes reminisc. At the end of the day it´s always about producing music which has something magical, something outstanding folks can touch and move. Nothing has really changed, maybe the way of distribution and the matter of fact that there are people who might be blinded by follower and like number in the socials. But numbers and algorithms are not crucial. Crucial is the heart and the love to the music and thank god, there are still many people around feeling like this.
Your last EP ‘Music Made for Aliens’, brings us closer to different sides of the genre, from bright progressive and housey tinges to darker and faster tracks. What is the message behind this new release and what can we expect from you in the next ones?
My album is a hommage to the early techno days and my definition of techno. Many people who are new to the scene may think that techno is what you can see in the top 100 list of music portals but my definition and I know about what I´m talking is different. Techno music is of course pumping 909 beats but it´s much more than this. To me it´s alien a like sounds on top, music you don´t hear on the mainstream radio, music aliens would love, you know?
TIMO MAAS
What is the story behind the title “Yume no yōna” and does it have a special meaning for you?
It´s a Japanese expression and means “Like a dream“. We have made the vocals with artificial intelligence. Timo came up with a Japanese vocal sample we both loved but it was a recording owned by another artist. So, the idea was born to create a Japanese vocal sample ourselves. And although we were close to Düsseldorf, a town with a huge Japanese community we decided to go the way via artificial intelligence.
First of all, we wrote with Chat GPT a funny story about ourselves being hijacked by aliens to play at an illegal festival on a foreign planet. Afterwards we asked Chat to translate the story into Japanese which took kind of five seconds (smirks) and at the end we went on a webpage which generates vocals though entered text. The entire process took us maybe ten minutes and on the one hand we had a lot of fun because of our phantasy freaking out but on the other hand it was a little creepy, too.
How did the idea of using a vocal sample created entirely by Artificial Intelligence for this new track come about? How did this tool influence the creative direction of the track and how has it differed from the production of other songs?
Once the vocal was ready, we started with creating the instrumental frame. Due to the fact that the vocal sounds pretty dystopian the musical atmosphere adapted to the feeling. We love the track a lot and we are happy that it´s coming out on the label which is also our agency, DSKonnect (both smile)
After such an innovative release…What is your opinion on the future of electronic music and how do you see it evolving in the coming years?
We are looking forward. The AI tools to make music will become much more supportive but at the end of the day the idea and the innovation are what counts. There must be a good initial idea to make good music. And of course, the fun in the studio, this is actually the most essential factor of making music which moves yourself and the people out there.
ABOUT ‘YUME NO YŌNA’
What is the story behind the title “Yume no yōna” and does it have a special meaning for you?
It´s a Japanese expression and means “Like a dream“. We have made the vocals with artificial intelligence. Timo came up with a Japanese vocal sample we both loved but it was a recording owned by another artist. So, the idea was born to create a Japanese vocal sample ourselves. And although we were close to Düsseldorf, a town with a huge Japanese community we decided to go the way via artificial intelligence.
First of all, we wrote with Chat GPT a funny story about ourselves being hijacked by aliens to play at an illegal festival on a foreign planet. Afterwards we asked Chat to translate the story into Japanese which took kind of five seconds (smirks) and at the end we went on a webpage which generates vocals though entered text. The entire process took us maybe ten minutes and on the one hand we had a lot of fun because of our phantasy freaking out but on the other hand it was a little creepy, too.
How did the idea of using a vocal sample created entirely by Artificial Intelligence for this new track come about? How did this tool influence the creative direction of the track and how has it differed from the production of other songs?
Once the vocal was ready, we started with creating the instrumental frame. Due to the fact that the vocal sounds pretty dystopian the musical atmosphere adapted to the feeling. We love the track a lot and we are happy that it´s coming out on the label which is also our agency, DSKonnect (both smile)
After such an innovative release…What is your opinion on the future of electronic music and how do you see it evolving in the coming years?
We are looking forward. The AI tools to make music will become much more supportive but at the end of the day the idea and the innovation are what counts. There must be a good initial idea to make good music. And of course, the fun in the studio, this is actually the most essential factor of making music which moves yourself and the people out there.