Trance duo and Euphonic Records label heads, Kyau and Albert have been producing music together since the mid 90s and it’s been quite a ride since then.
Back in 1996, the pair released their debut collaboration, ‘Let Me In’. A few years later, Kyau and Albert were recognized by WEA, which began their venture into dance music. Having support from the likes of Paul van Dyk, Tiësto and many others, the duo launched towards success. This, along with having several successful tracks on their label Euphonic Records put them at the top of the list in their industry.
More recently, Kyau and Albert have released their album, ‘Neverlost’ and have been touring all over showcasing this fantastic new production. Before their performance on a yacht in NYC, I had a chance to catch up with the boys and asked them some questions about their upcoming music, the trance industry and more!
The following transcript has been edited for readability.
FMF: Hello, this is Nadine with Fresh Music Freaks. I am standing here with Ralph Kyau and Steven Albert. These two legends, Kyau and Albert have been producing music individually since 1990, which is before I was born. Most recently they’ve actually been working on the album, ‘Neverlost’, which is absolutely phenomenal. It’s a 13 track album that just goes from progressive to uplifting. You name it, it’s on it. I have to ask you guys, what went through your minds during the creation of this album? What inspired you?
Steven Albert: Probably a lot because it always takes a very long time to produce an album. More than a year or so probably. And within a year you have a different state of mind. Sometimes you’re euphoric, sometimes you’re more melancholic. This all comes into the album.
Ralph Kyau: I think the nice thing about an album is that you don’t produce in the same way you do with a single. It’s more like you can show all your sides, all your different views from different perspectives. And I think that’s the good thing about doing an album.
I agree with that. I feel like your personalities come out in each track individually. Speaking of tracks, which are each of your favorite tracks on the album?
Steven Albert: I don’t have a special favorite track from the album. The tracks on the album are already filtered from a lot more tracks. So these are my favorite tracks!
Ralph Kyau: Yeah, I think the same because we put the tracks we really love [on the album] and show some sides of us. All of them are our favorites. I’m often surprised because on our last album, ‘Matching Stories’, we had a German-English track m where Steven was singing in German for the first time; called ‘Mein Herz’. We personally thought the idea was really great and unique. When we released the album, we got a massive response; not only from German fans, but also from people here in the US and overseas, somewhere else. Last weekend we played a festival in Prague and people were even singing along to the track — and that’s really cool.
That’s awesome. I’m definitely super glad that you guys got into producing trance music and you guys have been doing it for a long time. But, what if you guys never got into producing music? What would you be doing now?
Steven Albert: I have no idea. I would probably be a software engineer because I was studying this before.
Ralph Kyau: I also did IT work for one year at a music software company. I don’t know, maybe at my age, I wouldn’t do IT anymore. I would do something with nature because I love to be outside in the green.
You’re in the right place now then because we’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean. So, we’re definitely in nature right now! You guys have been in the trance scene for a very long time. You’ve literally seen it from the beginning up until now. You’ve seen trance develop.
Ralph Kyau: I’ve seen, about 16 years ago, Paul van Dyk was playing to almost no one in an underground club in Berlin — not on the main floor. I was really amazed by this music and at this time nobody knew it was trance. It was a kind of techno, but he did it in an emotional way. It was like you were hearing music, which just washed over your body and you didn’t know what it was.
Steven Albert: That’s called emotion, right?
What’s your opinion on the debate over what is and is not trance?
Steven Albert: For me trance is all about the emotional melodies, which come together with a cool groove. This, for me, is trance. It can be fast, it can be slow. There can even be broken beats. I like the way the melody goes in trance — it‘s a euphoric-melancholic thing.
Ralph Kyau: I think this is the main impact in trance music. It’s very different than other genres in electronic music. To do a proper trance track, from the composition side, you need to have more experience, more knowledge about musical processing. You know what I mean?
Absolutely! Trance is basically the classical music of the electronic genre. That’s my personal opinion. You guys have been touring for the new album recently. What can we expect from you in 2019?
Steven Albert: We just released our collab, ‘Come Home’ with Aly and Fila. We have a new track on ‘Anjunabeats, Vol. 14’. We are also planning to release some other new material.
Ralph Kyau: There’s also other collabs planned and done and there’s so much music in the pipeline. As you know, we own Euphonic Records and we are planning to release a compilation called ‘Euphonic 300’ at the end of the year.
I’m excited! I cannot wait for your new music. I have two more questions. Who is the better singer and who is the better dancer?
Steven Albert: As I’m singing on most of the tracks and I haven’t heard Ralph.
Ralph Kyau: Stevie is the better dancer and the better singer. *laughing*
Alright, so Ralph doesn’t do any of that, he just DJs and produces.
Ralph Kyau: Basically, I never really tried to sing, but I did try some rap.
Steven Albert: Yeah, he did some spoken vocals in the beginning and I’ve heard him singing on stage along to the tune. So maybe it’s time for Ralph to take over the lead vocals.
Ralph Kyau: No, no, it’s not time. Let me tell you something about Stevie’s voice. He has a very unique, remarkable and special timbre.
Steven Albert: This can be you too. Try it!
Ralph Kyau: He has a special timbre. You hear a Kyau and Albert track — even the collab with Aly and Fila — everybody knew it was us, because of Stevie’s voice. I don’t have this timbre. If I had this timbre…
Steven Albert: But you have a different, special timbre. Everyone would know, this is Ralph from Kyau and Albert. Let’s try this!
Tonight, we should have a rap battle between the two of you. We shall see, the night is to be continued. This is Nadine signing off with Fresh Music Freaks. Have a great night!
*Featured image via Kyau and Albert*
