Meet Parallells
The two brothers of Dutch origin travel the world enriching themselves with the latest trends and different cultures. They both live in Amsterdam where they opened their studio Klassified Records. These two nomads often go on trips, in search of new sounds and images, which manage to transcribe under an air of electro. Parallells took their musical adventure even further by discovering different cultures, tribes and their specific sounds. Recent episodes include recordings with local Moroccan musicians “Gnawa”, Azerbaijani culture while immersing yourself in Huichol culture in the Mexican mountains; episodes that will see the light of day this year. Their combined musical backgrounds and ever-evolving taste captures the sensibility of imagination and constantly explores the connection between ourselves and the future.
We caught with Parallells to chat about their travels and latest projects.
You are on the road all the time, do you like this Nomad lifestyle? Does he inspire you for your creations?
In 2019, as our artistic project began to grow, we travel a lot for our performances and never had time to enjoy the places we were going.
Travel has calmed down since last year and this has allowed us to focus on the essentials and limit our travel to large projects such as our short films “A Day In”.
These experiences where we immerse ourselves completely in a new culture inspires us a lot for our creations. This is the reason why we try to stay several days or even weeks in one place. This gives us time to meet the locals, soak up their traditions, visit their secret places and bond with them and their environment.
It is really these trips that inspire us the most in our creations.
Tell us about your best trip, the one where you met outstanding, inspiring people?
In January 2020, just before the world closed, we set out to meet the Huichols in the sacred mountains of Mexico. This trip was very memorable, because it brought us back to earth, taught us humility and respect for nature. We recorded their musicians, walked up their sacred mountain, met their Marakame (spiritual person), walked through their sacred desert and even received our own names in Wixarika (indigenous language).
With the number of emerging DJs inspired by the same style of music, how do you innovate?
By remaining as authentic as possible and always looking for a story that resonates and has a positive impact on our societies. We are always on the lookout for adventures to experience and to tell.
Having both studied music, we collaborate a lot with other musicians with whom we play live.
How do you see the global music scene changing with covid 19?
It is believed that Covid19 has been very painful for the artistic world and that many artists have had to find alternatives. We are already seeing several artists announce their retirement / retirement
However, the artists who have been able to persevere in this crisis will come back stronger and with even more impressive projects. Free time allows you to refocus and innovate. We can’t wait to see what everyone has created during this pandemic.
What is your ritual, your means of escape, that little trick that makes you recharge your batteries?
We read a lot, meditate, eat healthy, listen to a lot of music at home.
A little walk to the market, a little vinyl of Chet Baker while preparing a full brunch, a game of chess with a small glass of wine in the evening, is a typical Sunday escape.
What do you want to see change after this particular year?
We would like to see many more collective actions to save the environment. It is necessary that a huge awareness be made about our actions, and that our governments and our societies make the ecological transition their number one priority.
What’s next?
We did an acoustic version of our track ‘Blooming Flower’ which comes out at the end of April on Agoria’s label, Sapiens, with remixes of Blond: ish and Whitesquare. Then the big project of the summer is our first album “A Day At” which brings together all the compositions of our videos, which we have re-worked. The album comes with 3D animations, several videos and a new concert with our group of musicians.
