In occasion of their new project ‘Moscow 21’ EP, out on Dubfire’s imprint SCI+TEC, we had a chat with Floog and Mahony on the current status of things, future plans and their opinion on our beloved Romanian sound.
Hi guys, welcome on Trommel. This joint collaboration is looking very promising, can you tell us how everything started?
Mahony: George and I have known each other since way back. I was always asking him for advice regarding studio things, since he was more experienced than I was at the time. One day I asked him if he wanted to make an edit with me, for a Moby track. He liked the idea and we jammed in the studio. We loved the final product and since then decided to work together on a few other projects from time to time, which lead to this release.
Floog: Yeah, that’s right. Mahony got an idea about this edit, and when he talked to me about it at a party in Bucharest we decided to go for it. The idea was to put a more interesting club approach to a Moby track. In the end the track actually for transformed into a track we ended up doing ourselves, as we didn’t feel the original samples from the Moby track as they were a little too mellow. We realized soon that we ended up with a pretty good dancefloor track and that was then signed to The Other Side, a label owned by our friend Maher Daniel. This was a sign that our collaborations had a future
The EP as whole looks very interesting. Moscow 21 has some dark shades, but at the same time keeps a captivating flow – when in the studio what was your final goal and what did you want to achieve?
Mahony: When we work together in the studio the first thing we think about if the quality. We want all our tracks to be really good, and playable for many artists not just a handful or one specific genre.
Floog: Yeah, that’s important for us. Sometimes it happens that we need to modify the tracks after we have tested them out in the club because we are not 100% happy with certain elements or feel it could be better. To achieve the best quality is the main importance to us, and then we work from there. We want people to enjoy what we do.
Dubfire labels released in the past works of several important artists – can you tell us more on how you landed on his label, and how does it feel?
Floog: We have known Ali for some time now, and we have become really good friends with him over the years. Mahony did some show for his SCI+TEC label at BOM Mexico and also at Heart in Miami. He played one of the tracks ‘Waiting 4 The Day’ and Ali asked what it was….the rest is history I guess!
Mahony: Ali is a great friend, and an important mentor to us both. We respect him so much and everything that he has done for us and many others. When I played some of the shows in the USA, it was amazing – so I wanted to drop some of the new music, unknowing that he would then want to sign it….so it was a simple process, but of course, it’s not always going to be like this. We we’re lucky with this first release but hope it’s the start of more.
Romanian sound is more than a thing since years now, with several important producer looking in that direction as well as a huge amount of local talents growing everyday – what is your opinion on this steady but solid evolution?
Floog: Well we can’t be happier about it! Romania has actually had an amazing scene for many years, but I think it’s a small place and sometimes it takes time for these gems to be discovered. Many now famous Romanian festivals which have got some international recognition have helped expose some of the Romanian talent, which has no doubt been a huge benefit to getting our sound out to a larger audience.
Mahony: I believe we are also part of this evolution, if you can call it that. Its extraordinary to see the enthusiasm that is still there with new names coming out every year, adding fresh variations of sub-styles and beats. Its like a box of chocolates – full of nice surprises, but one that never ends
What plan do you have for the future?
Mahony: We have another collab project actually on Hector’s label Vatos Locos and also some other edits which we have been working on, they should get some plays the next few weeks to test on the road. But can’t just say who they are for yet!
Floog: Whilst we collaborate together, and plan to do more, we are both also still solo artists, and I have a live show which I am working on now. We do actually plan to start performing together also, where its going to be like a hybrid show, with Mahony DJ’ing and myself as a live performance, so keep your eyes on more news for that later this year.
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https://www.facebook.com/floog.music/
https://soundcloud.com/floog-music
https://www.facebook.com/mahonydj/
https://soundcloud.com/mahonydj
Floog & Mahony’s debut collab EP ‘Moscow 21’ on SCI+TEC is out on the 10th August
Pre-order: https://www.beatport.com/release/moscow-21/2340931
