Greetings Jarkko and Miikka! First of all thanks for making this interview possible! Okay, so let’s begin. How are things these days for Labtracks?
It's all good. Our newest release just came out on Nellie Recordings and even hotter stuff is coming up! We're getting more exposure little by little and enjoying music so it's looking great!
Can you share to us how you guys formed Labtracks? I’m pretty sure there’s an interesting story behind it.
First of all we were born in the ghetto... no, seriously. We started making music back in the day, actually much before the alias "Labtracks". It was all kind of things, not necessarily electronic music (yes we made some hiphop-songs). The name "Labtracks" wasn't created until the beginning of the year 2005. The name doesn't have any special story or background in it, we just figured it out during some session.
As producers, how were you able to come up with the very progressive sound of yours?
At first we were pretty much going along with the Dallas Superstars - style, but that eventually changed when the house / club music trend changed towards this day. But we don’t usually like to do exactly what everyone else does in the progressive house scene. We tend to mix in elements from 80's, trance and french house and combine it to progressive.
When not in the studio or in clubs, what do you enjoy doing?
We obviously like to listen to music. In addition to that we enjoy sports, gaming, computer- and audio - related stuff.
Let’s talk about music once again. Can you guys name your current top 5 tracks?
In no particular order:
1. Empire of the Sun - We Are the People (Jimmy2sox Remix)
2. Labtracks - Broadway (Nights Out Mix)
4. Supermal - Bigger Than Big (Lifelike Remix)
5. Janet Jackson - Make Me (Moto Blanco Club Remix)
Speaking of artists, who were the producers and musicians who have made a big impact on your career as artists?
There are quite many so here's just some of them: Daft Punk, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Dallas Superstars, Pryda, Michael Cassette, Mischa Daniels, Dave Armstrong, Cassius, Dinka, Supermodels From Paris, JS16 and various artists from the 80's.
If you guys were given a chance to play a show in any place of your choice, where would it be? Also, who among the producers would you invite as a co-DJ in the show?
Some big city would be a great location since our productions usually have that "city night" - theme. Maybe Paris, Berlin or New York. And of course Helsinki. We would probably take some of these guys with us as mentioned above, or some artists with the same kind of style. It doesn't matter that much, since we like so many!
What unique routines do you do prior to or during producing?
Some refreshments like Cola. We take brakes to listen to some other music than our own (but everyone does that!). We tend to produce during the evenings and nights and leave the important parts of mixing for the next day when our ears have had some rest.
What else do your fans need to know about Labtracks?
What you need to know is that we just released some great stuff on Nellie Recordings and our next one is going to be bigger! And the next will be even bigger and so on! So expect great things from us! Other than that there isn't much to say, we let the music speak for ourselves. Oh, we have too many clips of songs that'll never be finished. And the rendering of Space Odyssey 3001 lasted for 7 hours! And we had to do it 3 times! For some unknown reason.
For the last question, what can we expect from you guys in the near future?
Pretty much what we said in the last question. Hopefully we'll get to spin some gigs in the near future. Some collaborations are highly possible (remixes as well of course) since we already have many musical friends and contacts in this scene of house music. Expect some BIG CITY HOUSE from us!
I, Miguel Libre, would like to personally thank you guys— Miikka Vaartela and Jarkko Saikkonen— for this interview! Thanks for your time and effort! I will definitely continue supporting your works. May you guys have an awesome career ahead!
Thanks to you as well. We will continue to support your work!
