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Etapp Kyle - Addicted Podcast #021

<b>Etapp Kyle – Addicted Podcast #21</b>

We have another Ukrainian in Addicted series! Chernivtsi-born Etapp Kyle is without any doubt this season’s sensation. Having delivered the latest installment of Ben Klock’s own Klockworks imprint, the young artist seems to have reached his career’s peak moment so far. Not everybody knows though that even before that we had been developing a strong friendship with him (he even played at our anniversary party last year, alongside Perc and DVS1). Needless to say that we’re surely happy to have his mix in the series. Give it a try – you won’t be disappointed.

• We first heard your current artistic name only couple years ago, when you all of a sudden emerged within the scene seemingly out of nowhere. What was happening before that and what your background was still remains a mystery for most of us. Tell us how the Etapp Kyle project came to life and what it was preceded by.

• As far as my memory goes, I’ve always been interested and somehow involved in music. For instance, I used to take piano lessons and took part in the choir during my childhood years. I always knew music was an important part of me, but, on the other hand, for many-many years this thought was accompanied by a feeling of unexplained emptiness. It all started getting clear around 2004 when I went to a night club for the very first time. It wasn’t only electronic music that I had a chance to listen to that night, but that was enough for me to understand it was my thing. After that I became absolutely sure this was something I wanted to dedicate my life to. All day and all night I would dream of having learnt how to play records! A year flew by, and I was already occasionally playing around in my hometown, but… the very same feeling of emptiness came back as well. Thinking of that in retrospect, I now understand it was still the time of quest for me. I was actually upset by the fact I couldn’t find a place in my town where people would simply be enjoying getting together and listening to electronic music. Moreover, I couldn’t even find the right people who would be interested in that too. And – please get me right – I’m not talking about something extremely underground now. In the end I stopped DJing and, having spent few more months as a club manager, quit this thing at all. This was a tough time for me indeed, but it was then when I started making first steps in producing my own music.

• You are known to be affiliated with Moscow’s very own super club «Arma17» now. How did that relationship form? As far as I know, it is exactly «Arma» where several key events of your career took place, isn’t it?

• I intentionally decided to leave that subject for now rather than talk about that as part of your previous question. Obviously, without «Arma17» Etapp Kyle simply wouldn’t have been where I am now. It’s an amazing story and I’m happy to finally shed some light on this. Back when I was working on my first tracks, I used to spend time on a semi-private web board where people shared their favorite music, their own production efforts etc. One day I came across rather interesting playlist for the mix made by another board member. I decided to give it a shot, and – after numerous listens and appreciation of the music – got in touch with the guy directly. We spend some time in conversations, and I gave him one of my own mixes that I was still recording at home for myself and my friends. The guy’s name was Kirill Kharitonov, and he is now one of the closest friends of mine. At some point he told me it would be nice to book me to Moscow one day – he didn’t have that many details listed in his profile back then, and my first impression was a bit skeptical, to be honest. I wasn’t even sure if he actually lived in Moscow! However, we occasionally found each other on facebook afterwards, and it turned out that he and his friend Nikita Dedik had something to do with «Arma17» and – what is more amazing – had been telling all the other guys from the club about myself and how nice it would be having me play there. I also have to express huge respect to Natalya Kaplinskaya (Abelle) and Alexey Shelobkov (Beekeeper) for their attitude and for not being afraid of taking risks. None of the people I listed here had actually heard me in the club before, but that didn’t stop them from booking me, as music itself was the only thing that mattered for them! In my opinion, this is exactly what makes this wonderful club so successful. I will never forget my debut set at «Аrma17», since it wasn’t only the first time I played there, but it was also the first time I actually attended a club of that scale – this might sound cheesy, but that night did change my life! The very same night I met some other wonderful people, particularly Sergey Shirokolov and Inga Isupova (who also happens to work as a manager in «Аrma17» now). Later on Sergey and Nikita came up with their own project «do/nothing» and launched the event series called «AUX» where I happily hold residency now.

• You are the fourth person, besides DVS1, Benny Rodrigues and Marcus Intalex, whom Ben Klock decided to sign for his label Klockworks. Do you consider this a life-changing experience for yourself? How long did all the preparations for Klockworks 10 take place?

• It’s still hard to believe to be real! And this record has an interesting story behind as well. Around a year ago when Ben played in Moscow, Nikita gave him a CD with a bunch of my demos – back then I couldn’t even imagine those would end up being released. It’s Klockworks, for God’s sake! Again, as in case with «Arma», music appeared to be the main thing that was put into consideration. It also has to be stated that preparations took a hell lot of time, and we have faced a series of random obstacles during that time. I wouldn’t be able to take care of all the things myself, so I can easily say it were Nikita’s efforts to larger extent that made this record possible.

• This Autumn appears to be a breakthrough time for you in terms of the gigs, both confirmed and soon-to-be-scheduled. Tell us about what is being planned for you at the moment.

• I don’t want to reveal too many details, so I will only mention selective events currently being planned. I’m preparing myself for gigs in Tokyo, Moscow and Ibiza. This year the ENTER. series run by Richie Hawtin at «Space Ibiza» underwent some changes. For instance, I am going to play a rather experimental selection of music for the special room there called ENTER.Mind. I feel nervous and excited, to say the least.

• Describe your mix for Addicted Podcast. What was the idea behind it?
• While compiling mixes, I always aim at keeping the overall flow that unifies all the tracks put together and thus try to tell a certain story. Since these mixes are mainly listened to at home, in the car and so on, it is always important for me not to go extra rough as if I was going to destroy the dancefloor in the club.
  Owing to some thoughtful questions, I hopefully managed to reveal some of the key moments of my career, so I’d like to use this opportunity and dedicate the mix to my family and all my friends, to thank them for believing in me and permanent support. Thank you!