Interview || Gostan Speaks Klanga

Exclusive Interview With Hot Newcomer  Gostan

Hello, Gostan Thank you for taking time out to do this interview with us. It is a huge pleasure.

How are you doing? And what’s the one thing you love the most about winter?

Hi Think In Electronic, being interviewed is a real pleasure for me too. I am good thanks, I am very excited about my first official release of the Klanga’s EP. Haha, I like original questions like that. The thing I love the most is the Christmas atmosphere at the beginning of winter. I love skiing, so that’s another reason. But it’s absolutely not for the cold. I am more about chilling on the beach and surfing in the summer.

1.     This is a staple TIE question, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear South Africa?

When I hear South Africa I think about surfing first, because I love surfing! Even though I don’t have the opportunity to live close to the beach and practice a lot. I am from Paris, so it’s quite hard!

2.     Can you tell us a little more about who you are? If you weren’t making music what would you be doing?

I am a 23 years old French guy. I live in Paris and I love this city so much. I am still studying, it’s actually my last year at school, and I study civil engineering. If I was not making music, I think I would have worked on creating a startup, because I love building projects. I am really hoping to make my living through music, but if it doesn’t work out then I will work as an engineer in a building construction company.

3.     Everyone all grow up with ideas of what we want to be when we older, Have you always wanted to be a DJ/ Producer?

I’ve not always wanted to be a DJ/Producer, one year ago it was still just a hobby and now it’s getting more and more professional. I am really happy about that. Before ‘Klanga’, I was thinking about creating my startup. Becoming a real DJ/Producer was like an impossible dream, and it’s now becoming true, so that’s absolutely incredible. I know I’m very lucky!

4.     Your musical journey started at a young age. For 7 years you were playing the violin. How did you start playing the violin and what other musical instruments can you play?

I started violin at the age of 6 because my friend started playing violin, and I wanted to do the same! I really enjoyed it. The thing I liked the most was playing in an orchestra. Unfortunately, the violin is the only instrument I can play... but I plan on learning the piano in the future because it’s very important for producing, as sometimes I spend hours just to find a nice piano chord progression.

5.     At the age of 16 you decided to turn to electronic music. Do you remember the first electronic song you heard that made you say I want to make electronic music and is there a reason why you turned to electronic music?

In fact, I didn’t start electronic music because I was listening to it. I started music thanks to my uncle who had received music production software for Christmas. It seemed to be cool so I tried it, and since that moment I never stopped producing music. Little by little I turned to electronic music. If had to talk about one particular track, I would say “Deadmau5 – Strobe”, which is a perfect track in my opinion. 

6.     You sound in the start was very underground and now your sound is more focused on chill house with strong melodies. Why did you change your sound?

Before making chill-house I was only listening to progressive house music, so I didn’t know all other genres. In fact, I discovered Chill-house and Deep-house styles thanks to DIMMI who is in my engineering school. I really liked it, and I started to listen artists like Bakermat, Klingande and more. I decided to produce some tracks in this style, and it worked! This genre allows you to develop melodies throughout the track. I feel more free with Chill-house music.

7.     How would you describe your sound in 3 words?

Catchy, warm, varied.

8.     There’s really something special about the feeling that you get when listening to a chill house track. What do you love the most about chill house?

Yes sure, Chill-house is very powerful. What I love the most in this style is the freedom it allows for the melody creation process. You can focus on the melodies a lot more than in progressive house, in my opinion. You don’t have to create an incredible build-up or a powerful drop to make people love the track. You just need to make music you like, record the melodies you like and share it with people. It sounds more natural as well and it’s easier to add real instruments. I think Chill-house fits better with my personality, but I still like progressive-house!

9.     What is a typical day like in your life? How do you go from idea to finished product?

A typical day in my life is to wake up to go to school (and I hate getting up in the mornings haha!) Then after school, I come back home and sometimes produce for several hours (sometimes all night long.) Before starting making music I don’t have specific ideas in my mind, it just comes naturally when I play on my MIDI Keyboard. I start by making the drums, then I play some chords progression, and then I look for a catchy lead loop. Sometimes it’s great and sometimes absolutely not. I don’t exactly know where my inspiration comes from.

10.  Your recent track Klanga is purely amazing. What was the inspiration behind the track? And what does the name mean?

‘Klanga’ is the first or second chill-house track I produced. I was in Germany when I produced this track so I got an inspiration from there, with typical saxophone tracks really famous in Germany like ‘Vaandag’ of Bakermat or ‘Sonnentanz’ of Klangkarussel. About the title of the track, I just gave this title to the project because it reminded Klingande and Klangkarussel and I kept this name, because I think it had a nice sound to it.

11.  Klanga comes with massive remixes from new names. How did you decide on whom you wanted to remix the track? And which remix is your favourite?

Yes I am very happy with the whole EP because we have very very nice remixes in it. I don’t have a favorite one because all are very different from others. The Pep & Rash one is very clubby, it’s future house. The one by Henri is more tropical-house or chill-house. Every remix has its own sound. It was a choice to get a large panel of styles when I asked for the remixers, so I contacted producers from different genres.

12.  Tell us more about the video. What was the concept behind the video?

The historical speech “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” of JFK used in ‘Klanga’ spreads a timeless and universal message of peace and freedom. We wanted to keep this atmosphere in the video clip shot in Berlin. We can see people riding their bikes throughout the city and without any barriers, that symbolizes freedom, and the Berlin wall that appears in the video clip reminds people of the past, meaning that times have changed for a better world.

13.  Djing is something everyone can learn but producing is way trickier. Do you  have any musical training, and do you remember the first time you sat down to producer a record, how did the record turn out?

Playing the violin for 7 years developed my musical sense. I love music and especially producing music that is the most important in my opinion. When you love something you want to learn everything, and keep practicing and try to get better and better. I remember the first time I produced; it was during Christmas when I used music production software for the first time. I just superimposed several prefabricated loops of the software and I really enjoyed that, even if I’m sure the track was absolutely horrible!

14.  What one track out in the musical universe do you wish you had produced?

It’s a very hard question because there are so many tracks I love and that I would like have produced. I would say “BANKS – Brain”, this track is incredible, it’s so powerful. 

15.  You still young, how long do you see yourself doing music? Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

I hope I will be able to make music all my life. I hope one day I will become a famous producer. I have so many tracks to share with people, and live performances are really addictive. In all cases I would like to work in music industry later, even if it’s not as a producer.

16.  Do you plan your sets before a gig? How do you prepare and overcome the nerves?

I always plan the intro of the set and I make a large selection of what I really want to play during the set. I improvise during the live performance depending on the crowd. I am not so nervous before playing live, but I really look forward to it. It’s so wonderful for me. Maybe that will change when I would be performing in front of thousands of people!

17.  Which words or phrases do you overuse?

In English I use “dude” too much and I think the next level will be to add “you know” at the end of all my sentences you know...

18.  One place you need to play before you die?

On an Australian beach!

19.  Name one thing your fans don’t know about you.

I love surfing.

20.  So we are always looking for new artists to support tell us who we should be listening to and where we should go to find the best music?

You can check the new artists of chill-house movement like Mozambo, Kungs, Lost Frequencies and tropical house like Matoma, Henri Pfr… there are lot of French YouTube channels like “Get the Sound” which are very nice to discover new artists.

Do you have any last message for your fans..

I have lot of tracks coming guys, stay tuned!! Hope to see you live as well :)

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. We hope to see you  playing in South Africa soon :)  Layla and Yasmin

Thank you too

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