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echno DJ & producer Cyprusian talks to LSA about his creative process and future plans!

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Tell us about how you got into DJing and music production?

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love to party. Get me to a dark loud environment and I'm just happy. I started playing around with Dj’ing when I was a kid. Did a friends birthday party when I was about 10 or 11. Put a mixtape in to play a few hours in to go chase after some girl haha. As a musician, I didn’t really appreciate the “role” of the DJ. So I had some lessons with London Sound Academy to learn how to use the industry-standard equipment. I still remember my first lesson with Gabriel, he asked me “what do you hope to gain from these lessons?”, to which I said “I want you to show me where the art is in Dj’ing”. And boy did he haha.
The ability to take the raver on a journey, make them feel, travel and get lost in the sonic waves of frequencies is such a profound sense of achievement and responsibility. It's so much more than just pressing play. You control everything with what you do. The energy, the flow, the crowd. Sometimes I wish I could just dance with the crowd to my set without the barrier of the “booth”.
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Production-wise, I’ve come a long way since I wrote my first song at age 9. Creating is just a different sense of freedom in this world and to be able to share it with the world is just sensational. Call it my legacy if you will (as cheesy as it sounds) but somewhere in the world or the internet, long after I’ve departed this world there will be little time capsules of who I was.

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What is your creative process and where do you draw inspiration from?

My creative process revolves around speed. I use Logic Pro X as my DAW, and it is most important to me to be able to get what’s in my head into the DAW as fast as I can. I usually build a track around the lead melody, but sometimes if I create a bassline that I really like ill build around that. I use very few samples in my music and if I do they are vocal snips, effects or atmospheric elements. This bits that take me a lot of time to create from scratch and are not the main protagonists of my track.
My biggest inspiration comes from raving. Seeing how people dance, what they react to in a track, the smiles, the sweat, the hugs, the touching, the kisses… I want to create music that moves people and not just their feet. This is why I record my own vocals because I have something to say. I never make music thinking “oh this will sell” or “this could be a Beatport hit”. My thoughts are “this track will shake the dancefloor” “this is a 7am banger for the strong who can last until then”. Other sources of inspiration are obviously tracks from producers I look up to and events in my life and those close to me.


What is your style?

Cyprusian is a techno artist. This is the sound that resonates the most with me. Also as a fan of heavy rock, I think the minor keys and darkness in the tracks is what pulls me their way. I love melodies in techno tracks so I don’t tend to play a lot of the more hypnotic tracks although they do have a time and a place for me.
Generally, I play/ create depending on how I feel. That way the passion really comes through. Obviously, I stick to the genre at the event :p but I have been known to throw a few curveballs.

On your latest release with LSA you have worked with DJ Zafrica, 3than and Eserex. What do you like about their interpretations of your single Rukus?

I love remixes. This was the first time I had someone remix my track and at first, I want sure how I felt about it. I was worried it would take the attention away from me, because you know I'm a right diva haha (really not). But it's super cool, if you think about it the original track gave the guys certain feelings and they used their creative influences and style to represent that. So how can you not love that right?
DJ Zafrica stayed true to his dark and heavy sound, but still used the uplifting elements from my original mix. 3than gave it a nice bouncy tech house kind of vibe and Eserex gave it a more prog feel with some pitch variations in the samples and nice harmonies.

What have you got planned for the future?

Well as I can’t party or play any gigs at the moment, i'm just creating more and more tracks. I have a 6-month residency with Ibiza Club News and looking to start live-streams on Mixcloud now. Im really enjoying the musical journey and Im embracing how it comes with open arms. Good and bad, it's part of what builds you as a person, artist, human. I would love to release more on LSA as they have a special place in my heart.

Thanks for the interview peeps!

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Posted 
Oct 7, 2020
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