#MusicInTheAir Podcast hosts this week :
AGMA
For the first #MusicInTheAir Podcast of 2022, Villahangar welcomes a new duo of artists popular on the electronic scene that comes from Russia, Agma: born in Russia in the city of Volgograd – former Stalingrad -, at the moment they live in Moscow.
The beginnings? A love for electronic music at a young age, “probably from the very first Depeche Mode vinyl record”, and then they soon began to practice with djing, and at the same time to try to write electronic music, around 2007-2008.
The duo is characterized by a unique sound: their live performances transform each set into a special meditation, where each sound and ethnic mantras evoke a certain atmosphere, with great potential.
A name supported by world stars and with releases on major labels: names such as Lost On You, Go Deeva Records, MauHouse, Supermatic, Oko Recordings.
For example, their releases “The Mountains” were in the Beatport Top 100 in the Melodic House & Techno section and were supported by artists such as Hidden Empire and Erly Tepshi. The remix of their track by Iberian Muse & Wurtz was played by Cercle’s artistic director in India with H.O.S.H.
“Caravan of the Sun” has entered the Miami Classy 2020 with artists such as Simone Vitullo, Monoky, Tanit, John Candy, NoBe, Afxs, Drubon, Pietro Pizzorni, Nicolas Simonelli, Mr. Morek, Dyab, Enhe. The collection was supported by Beatport in the Exclusive section – Afro House – and entered the TOP100 of the releases reaching the 11th place.
AGMA ft. Parg “Tell Me” took #18 in the Hype Top100 in the Melodic House & Techno section, and was Best Hype on Beatport for the month of July.
And for the future, big projects in the pipeline for this year – including Villahangar – because they say: “We would like to publish our music more often. We are currently working on an EP for Villahangar. We are also working on a remix of the track “Cheese & cheese” by our friends, which will be released on Aboriginal, I hope we will be on time by the deadlines. New Year’s Holidays and a great deal of shows require a lot of our time.”
DJs, producers, and more: Agma is also A&R Manager of the record label Hey, Location!, and Team & Residents of Solar.system in Moscow.
How would you define your musical style and which musical genres influence you the most?
Actually, it’s quite difficult to give a set answer to this question – as we like music of various genres. But most recently we’ve come to the conclusion that we want to create music without paying attention to the fashion canons, so that the music we create can be listened to and played at any time – be that in 5, 10 or 20 years, as there are many examples of such musical compositions that I could recall. As a musician, you want your music to last forever.
As for the DJ performances, you can hear music ranging from melodic techno and organic house to groove deep house in our sets. We play what matches our mood in order to convey this mood to the audience, but you can almost be sure to hear memorable ethnic motives in our sets.
For example, what could you tell us about your release Laroz & Agma – 25K (Original Mix) on Mau House, Laroz’ label?
We are good friends with Laroz, initially we planned to remix one of his works, «24k», which is also in the EP, but after starting to work on the remix we’ve changed it beyond recognition, and soon after sending it to Laroz, he said that since it didn’t resemble the original anymore, we continued to work on it together as the original «25k» track.
What could you tell us about your release on Go Deeva Records?
There was a release on go deeva a long time ago – I remember that we had one unsigned track, and we sent it personally to Simone Vitullo, he appreciated it for what it was and offered to release it quickly as a part of his compilation, we agreed.
What could you tell us about Hey Location and your role as A&R Manager? How long have you been in this role?
We were at the origins of the creation of this label, initially we were residents as well as being in the label’s team. But a year ago, a tragedy happened, and one of the founders of the label, a musician and our friend Mr. Basic was killed. So, we’ve made a decision with the second founder J Divnaya to continue the label’s work, and I had to learn all the intricacies of A&R in a short time, as well as to work with distribution.
What do you think about the Muscovite electronic music scene? What do you think are the differences with Europe?
The electronic scene in Moscow is drastically different from the entire electronic scene in Russia, it is the epicenter of music – and, in my opinion, the electronic scene here is quite similar to the one in Europe. We have a lot of foreign imports and people are quite knowledgeable when it comes to electronic music. There’s also a bunch of Russian musicians have proven themselves in the European market. If it were not for the pandemic, there would definitely be way more parties and events with the foreign artists headliners & imports.
How were last summer for you? Have you had any DJ sets? Do you have dj sets planned at the moment for the future? What are your plans for the present and the immediate future?
Last summer was a busy one – not counting the pandemic, we performed a lot in the south of Russia. We have big plans for the next year’s «Hey, location!» branded parties. We also have a permanent «Mix Afterparty» location now, where we’re planning to host some great artists & imports, we’re also planning to do massive summer events. As for the label music, many high-quality releases are planned for the next year. Well, from us personally, expect more releases this year. Peace to everyone.
#TRACKLIST
01. Stavroz – To Be In Mara (AGMA Edit) / Laut & Luise
02. M.O.S – Kara / Melody of the Soul
03. Timujin – High Scheherazade / TrueColors
04. Viken Arman – Aragatz / Denature Records
05. ID – ID
06. Makebo, Amonita – Matangi / Rubicunda
07. Keybe The Soul Brothers – Magnolia / Alt Orient
08. Nhii – Medina / Kamai Music
09. Elfenberg – Kigelia / Stil Vor Talent
10. Kermess – Nostalgia (Mira, Chris Schzwarzwalder Remix) / LNDKHN
11. Dj Shaman, KURAI CLAN, Eva Moloko, Andrew Shartner – Skazka / Baikal Nomads