The culmination of the summer clubbing season in Belgrade, second year in a row, is the Apgrade Weekend which will be held on the 2nd and the 3rd of September at the Kalemegdan fortress, in the trench under the Military Museum. During the two nights under the open skies of Belgrade, some of the most sought after names in the electronic scene will perform, such as the undisputed ruler of the Resident Advisor lists and unmistakable German maestro Dixon, and the world’s most wanted DJ duo Tale of Us. On the same stage are the ultimate “live techno” master Recondite and the absolute electro-heroine Miss Kittin. Local support in the most beautiful stretch of the Belgrade Fortress, will give them our internationally acclaimed performers Marko Nastić, Tijana T and Vladimir Ivković and the experienced Apgrade residents Gordan Paunović and Vlada Janjić. Two-day tickets for the entire Apgrade Weekend, are sold at the box offices of Eventim and Gigstix after the first, early price of 1990 dinars for the ground floor and 2,990 for the VIP terrace, and the following ticket prices will be higher. Tickets for individual nights are sold at the price of 1290 dinars, unless the weekend tickets get sold out beforehand. Capacity is limited to 2,500 visitors per night, and the weekend tickets will be exchanged for wristbands in front of the entrance.
Tale of Us is a duo that make up the Italian virtuosos with an adress in Berlin, Matteo Miller and Carmine Conte. Famous Mixmag proclaimed them the best DJ tandem of 2015, the same year they were runners-up at Resident Advisor’s chart, immediately after Dixon. Their DJ sets come from the world’s largest stages such as Coachella, Secret Solstice, Time Warp, and their performance at the festival Nuit Sonores is considered the be one of the best “Boiler Room” sets with over 2 million hits on Youtube. They release their impressive production on the cult labels such as “R & S”, “Visionquest”, “Life & Death” or “Minus”, and by far the most important song in the last few years, “Another Earth” set the Tale of Us at the top of the global electronic scene! This year, they started their night at the famous club “Space” in Ibiza, titled “Afterlife”, with a guest list that includes names such as Dixon, Recondite, Âme, Marcel Dettmann, DJ Harvey, Mind Against and our own home-grown, Tijana T!
Congratulations of your successful Afterlife parties at Space. What did you like about it most and what were the biggest obstacles for you while organizing a residency in Ibiza?
Thanks, that’s nice to hear and we’re not done yet! Organizing a residency is definitely not an easy thing to do. Especially because we wanted to take over the club with the entire Afterlife estethic and atmosphere on all fronts and you need to keep it interesting week after week (both for yourself as for the crowd).
The thing is that we have a great team so we’re very thankful for everyone’s work to make everything run smoothly. If we really need pin point one ‚obstacle’ or downside we’d say: the stress before the doors open to see if everything will work out fine during the night for all the artist and our audience.
You were named “DJs of the Year” by the cult MIXMAG. What are the three most important things your DJ sets can’t be imagined without?
As corny as it might sound, we need each other, that’s for sure. Apart from that we’d say the music we like at the moment.
You said that your musical evolution can be divided into three stages. Can you lay it down for us and explain those parts of your sonic journey so far?
These phases are basically an evolution of our sound. At first, we were more in the deep house movement but we realized pretty soon it wasn’t for us really. We would say we even got a little lost at the end of this period.
So then we slightly expanded our love for progressive house. That’s also when we did the Renaissance mix (2013).
Finally the release of `Another Earth’ on Minus marks the point where we started with the more melodic techno.
I guess that each one of you has his own special skill set you use in your production and DJing. What are your unique and individual traits that make you stand out and complement each other?
Carmine: Matteo knows how to make a track that makes dance floors explode.
Matteo: Carmine is amazing when it comes to melodies and keys.
You described your sound as “romantic techno”. Can you explain what is so special about that sound?
It’s a bit of a dramatic term. But what we wanted to explain is that our techno sound, still has a certain amount of melodies and melancholy. The music we produce and play will always have this. We just like a bit of drama.
Why is Berlin so great for an artists development? You mentioned something about solitude, as far as i recall.
Yes, Berlin is quite cold and grey. It’s not necessary a happy place but it’s a place that inspires. The biggest part of the year is also quite dark so it’s perfect for us to be creative.
Who and what influenced your music mostly?
Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin among others but also artists like Nils Frahm, Max Richter, Ludovico Einaudi etc Also the artists around us and Afterlife give us a great deal of inspiration.
What is the next step when it comes to your sound?
Our sound is a reflection of our creativity that is organic so it’s hard to say what will be next. We can’t predict it basically, it comes as it goes and we let it happen. There’s no point in fighting or pushing creativity.
You will be performing in Belgrade on the first weekend of September, the famous Apgrade Weekend. What can we expect from you at the Kalemegdan fortress?
The fortress looks amazing so we’re excited. It’s also nice to play with friends so it will be a good one. We’re not quite sure about our set yet but we’ll definitely play some new music that’s coming on our Afterlife label.
