Kaspar stands for straightforward, fast-paced techno. In his young career, he had already releases on the biggest techno labels in the world. Starting with Pleasurekraft’s Kraftek over A*S*Y*S’, FE-Chrome to Codex. With all these releases ‘Black Chrome’, ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Lost’ he entered the Top 20 of the techno peak charts. His EP ‘Malfunction’ on Silent Storm even reached the Top 5 of the techno album charts of Beatport. He remains relentless in his quest to give the world more of his distinctive cosmic techno, making him one of the most promising emerging artists of the new decade.
We caught up with Kaspar to talk about his new release ‘Nova’ and other musical topics.
Electronic Groove: Hi Kaspar, how are you doing? We are hyped to have you with us today. It’s been a challenging past year, what did you make of it?
Kaspar: Hey there, despite the fact of COVID-19, very good. Yes, it was an absolute rollercoaster, I’ve never experienced so many up and downs. I tried to make the best out of it, I mean at least I had so much time to create new music and had the chance to continue my work. Luckily, Germany wasn’t hit as bad as other countries but we were still in a lockdown situation, everything closed and naturally, this meant a disaster for the live music industry.
Electronic Groove: We’d love to know more about your origins. When did you have your first contacts with music production and DJing? Do you remember the first time you really connected with a techno track?
Kaspar: I had my first contacts with electronic music when I was around 15, friends of mine started DJing and we enjoyed our first club experience. I was focusing more on music production and only later started DJing myself. I was really connected to techno from the beginning, but when I was at my first festival at the age of 16 I fell in love with the genre. It was the whole experience, not a single track.
Electronic Groove: So, you’ve just released ‘Nova’, and it landed on the nº1 spot in Spotify’s techno Bunker playlist, generating massive traction. Were you expecting something like this to happen?
Kaspar: I never expected that ‘Nova’ would reach no. 1 in the techno Bunker playlist, for me it was a special and great track, but I never expected the awesome reactions from all over the world. I’m super thankful for that and extremely thankful to Spotify. I was checking the stats every day on Spotify for Artists and kept on seeing a growing increase in streams. Not only through the App playlists but also from private users. My record label ALAULA Music also had an international DJ promotion running for this track and I saw some fantastic feedback from some big industry names.
Electronic Groove: How was the creative process behind ‘Nova’ like? Did the pandemic change or affect in any way how you create? Do you feel more comfortable creating under the current global climate?
Kaspar: I always try to bring very emotional, dark, deep, and melodic sounds to the production. The pandemic didn’t change the way I produce, in my studio Covid-19 never was an issue because it’s a retreat for me where everything seems normal. On the one hand, I had way more time to improve my productions and creating new music on the other I didn’t have the possibility to test any of these tracks in front of a crowd. I really miss the reactions which really help me with my productions. It means everything to me to see the people connecting to my tracks.
“I always try to bring very emotional, dark, deep, and melodic sounds to the production”
Electronic Groove: About the current techno landscape…What makes ‘Nova’ different from the rest of the tunes out there? How do you feel the genre is fairing these days music-wise?
Kaspar: I never follow a big trend and I always try to bring my own sound to the productions, to improve my own sound. I think the biggest difference is the break, I always try to make a very emotional break. I think techno lives from a great sound system, the people around you, and sweaty clubs or festivals which can never be replaced with a live stream.
Electronic Groove: How do you feel about the use of social media in the electronic music scene in general?
Kaspar: I think it’s very important to stay connected with your fans, social media help to interact with them, DJs, and people you met on tour or work with. But it has two sides as all of you know… For me, it’s a great tool, but I’m not that kind of an entertainer I prefer to let the music speak.
Electronic Groove: Have you had any gigs since the pandemic started? What are the restrictions like where you are based? Do you think some things will change forever?
Kaspar: All my gigs got canceled because of the pandemic, I’m based in Stuttgart, Germany we got a lot of restrictions this year. Months of lockdown where shops, restaurants, and so on were closed, you were only allowed to meet 1-5 people. It changed often according to how many people got COVID in our area. I hope one day everything will be fine and we can go on with our normal lives.
Electronic Groove: What can we expect from Kaspar for this year? What are your next goals moving forward?
Kaspar: You can expect a lot of great new music coming this year, there also will be some great collabs with amazing artists coming up. Also, we are focusing on doing more live streaming and hopefully some real gigs with a crowd that would be my biggest goal for this year.
Electronic Groove: Thank you so much for sitting down with us, Kaspar! We wish you the best going forward and hope you have a great year!
Kaspar: Thanks for having me, I wish all of you a great year and stay safe.
Kaspar’s ‘Nova’ is now available via Alaula Music. Grab your copy here.
Follow Kaspar: Facebook | Soundcloud | Instagram | Spotify
