Ey-yo! New music coming out on Camp Trip Records!
AIRGLO’s “To The Stars” EP
Release date: August 1, 2020
Airglo “To The Stars” EP Release & Interview – Camp Trip Records
Musicality in EDM is something that is hard to come by. The robotic screeching, stuttering basslines, and endless repetition of whomping rhythms can even make it unrecognizable as music to many newcomers. This is why it’s so crucial that we make room for artists like Mikael Oganes, also known as Airglo. The classically-trained-musician turned drum and bass producer understands the importance of composition and the soulful effect of using live instrumentation.
Airglo’s musical prowess and love for all sounds made him the perfect artist to launch Camp Trip Records with. His new three-track EP “To The Stars” is a sonic exploration of drum and bass, embracing both atmospheric and heavy sides of the genre. Ahead of the very first release on Camp Trip Records, we sat down with the LA-based producer and musician to talk about his creative process, his background, and what’s next for him in terms of collaborations.
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Tell us about your musical background. How was your transition moving to the US?
I was born in Moldova, I lived in Armenia, and then I lived in Israel because my parents traveled a lot. I have been practicing piano since I was eight, and I went to a pretty serious art school for high school. When I was in college, I went to Germany to play music competitions. After I won, a professor from USC in LA offered me a full scholarship to study classical music for two and a half years in their arts program.
I landed in LA in 2008, I remember the day because it was the day Heath Ledger died, and I remember seeing pictures of The Dark Knight everywhere. I lived in Long Beach for a while before I met a girl and fell in love. We ended up getting married and having a kid, then got divorced. After that, I moved to Texas for a while and played in a metal band. We went to the South Pacific and played shows all over the world, and then finally I decided to come back to LA to be with my son. Since 2016 I’ve been permanently in LA.
What got you into Drum and Bass music?
I always listened to Drum and Bass growing up.I remember listening to Dillinja’s remix of Björk’s “Cover Me” and was like whew! That harp is so mysterious! I loved it. I must have been like twelve. I was also a metal head. I would listen to bands like Incubus and Korn, but I always listened to drum and bass because it kind of felt the same, energy-wise you know? I was always very hard into Prodigy, and I kind of made the transition from there. When I came to LA, I was looking for a drum and bass party. I was heavily into techno, because all of my friends were into techno and LA is really THE place for that. One night we walked into The Dragonfly during one of the Respect parties, and it was fucking awesome. We were just chilling with people and dancing our asses off. Then we started going there every week. We hung out with Gridlok one night too. It was cool that the artists would come out and talk about music with everyone.
Do you still have industry connections overseas?
The connections that I have in the industry overseas are all classical music-related. So yeah, if you want to go and play a beer fair in Germany? I got you. Want to play a local church? I got you, haha. With an orchestra? Easy. When I was there, I was focusing on my musical academic background, which I was kind of excelling at while at the same being a total metal head and not really liking classical music. Since I graduated, I haven’t really pursued that style at all.
What do you think live instrumentation adds to electronic music?
There are some cool things happening with technology in music these days, but at the end of the day it also allows people who don’t know shit about music to feel that they’re musicians just because they’re curating tunes. For me, there are two kinds of musical types: the musical connoisseur, who knows music, and then real musicians – the creator.
I am a 100% musician. I love playing music, I love playing instruments, and I love jamming with people. It’s the coolest thing at a party when everyone is just chilling, and you start jamming… there’s a spontaneity in it. The ability to manipulate an instrument to your liking gives you more freedom.
When a DJ is starting their set, they don’t know where they’re going to go or how they’re going to progress. Their part of the spontaneity is how they transition. They also create the atmosphere and sonically the experience is way more intense. I find that bridging the gap between instruments, where there is a sort of dialogue in musical language and using the elements of the sonic sheer force of the electronic world makes the experience even more intense. It allows you to fly in a way that just DJing can’t. Especially with EDM, it’s such a dictated form that stirring the pot and offering something free maybe takes the minds of the listener a bit confused at first, but then if it’s done right it’s actually unique and fresh. Sometimes in LA, during some events where there is a very strict approach to electronic music, they’re only looking for proper drops. The first approach is to pull back, but then you take them on a journey or start adding beautiful musical textures and you see people actually enjoy it more. At the end of the day, electronic music is ruled by the DJ format. I don’t reject any form of musical expression. I studied it, I love it, and it has its place, I just like pushing the envelope. What else can be added?
What I’m working on now is creating drum and bass live on the fly using a kind of looping rig. By myself or with my buddy Stash, We have been jamming, recording, and then cutting the best parts and turning them into tracks, house, disco, nu-wave drum and bass nothing is off the table. Luckily repetitiveness is a big part of the electronic music genre. You can find a really nice loop and you sample your own stuff and that way you don’t have to pay royalties or ask for clearance and slowly but surely grow your Sync library. Which is $$ baby.
Do you think more “EDM” artists will move in this direction?
They are already doing it, but I feel like some add this “live thing” as more of a shtick. The problem is, if you look at any of the big festivals, whenever the DJ is playing, he is one teeny tiny thing in the middle and then you have this giant stage and crowd. Even though you can see him on the screen, still it’s not really about the DJ at all, plus setting up these live rigs is a major headache. If you have 5 minutes to switch from a DJ to a DJ and your choice is between a tiny USB or 24 Outputs – I bet you’ll go with the USB.
It’s about that experience enjoying the waves of the crazy speakers just blowing through you. I think the best way to communicate with people at the end of the day is through the content of what you’re actually playing. No one cares how. My ultimate musical ambition is to figure out a way to create the music on the fly just musical fluid flow and moving through you. You never have a playlist. You just create on the spot. I don’t think a lot of people have the courage to challenge themselves to pull off something like that. To let go of caring so much and just fly. I tried to do full improvisational sets with some friends in the past (Fluxu8) and always had so much fun, but it didn’t go anywhere.
Because of the shut-down, now is a time for brainstorming how we can improve our scene. In the next few years, what’s something you’d like to see emerge in the music/event scene?
I mean, I’m an audiophile. All of the things I’d like to see are in speaker design or technology that I can use. I would love somebody to come up with a speaker that goes lower than 30 Hz.
I would love someone to be able to get the membranes of the speakers thicker, so you can press the subs harder.
I also want to go to a place where the music is perfectly tuned to the space. I’d love to see a device or a program that analyzes whatever space you’re in and tunes the speakers to it. Something that uses AI or 3D mapping.
Another idea that came to me at Camp Trip is some kind of electronic dome that contains the sound, so you can have crazy loud parties without sound complaints or cops being called. When I was looking at the pit around the main stage, it looked like a half bowl, and I was thinking it would be tight if there was also a dome above too so we could bump it even louder!
Also, somebody please come up with WIFI cables. I’m sick to death of cables.
What inspires you, both musically and otherwise?
Well, I’m actually kind of a psycho because I walk around all day humming to myself– haha. My brain has this ability to twist words and come up with jingles all the time. For example, today me and my buddy Stash had this thing where we were repeating phrases in an erratic language that made no sense. It just sounded weird. My brain just gets stuck on certain lines or melodies and I walk around all day and can’t let it out. When I’m driving around all day and “adulting” or doing mundane stuff, my brain is literally just generating ideas for songs. You should see the amount of voice memos I have saved on my phone.
The best thing for me is to unwind and sit down at the piano and just go. Because I have the training, I have the ability to start creating musical colors and emotions from scratch with my fingers. Then all I have to do is make sure I record it, go back and cut it, and loop it. Done, next tune! I learned to not cherish the tunes too much. Before I would sit on a tune for a year and constantly redo it. Finishing tunes became easy, when I realized you never finish your tunes, you just move on.
Tell us about this release on Camp Trip records and who you’re currently collaborating with. What is next for you, specifically?
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the drum and bass community is very slow to accept anybody new. Keekz of Camp Trip, was the first guy to really approach me and involve me in what he was doing. We have been talking about forever that I needed a platform. I’m in the position, as a producer, where I’m constantly creating. It’s nonstop. And I’m tired of sending records to larger labels and getting the cold shoulder or no response at all. I’ve had tunes that were signed last year, and I still haven’t heard anything about when they will be released. So, when I heard about the Camp Trip Records launch, I was eager to be the first one! I have had these three tunes laying around for a while waiting for someone to pick them up.
The first song is “Machine” feat. twin sisters Camile and Carmen (known as CXC) they are my favs! Love working with them – I probably have like 14 tunes with them by now, the second one is called “You” feat. Kaja, who has an incredible voice, wish we worked more, but she is busy. “You” went through fourteen renditions actually, and I just re-did it again recently to make it sound a little more liquid. The third one is titled “Boom” by myself and Stash the Groove Bug, who is mainly a hip-hop producer and also makes house. We started that one completely random, I remember dropping it in TX at the Basshead Society show and it was fucking magical! I miss touring!
Because of the amount of content that I put out, people are starting to show more interest in working together. I’m more mature production wise. Collaborating is much easier now. Having easy access to talented people is one of my main goals for gaining popularity. I just passionately love what I do and I think people can sense that. The focus is UP and I don’t have time to prove myself to people who doubt me. I just want to make art and connect with different talented musicians.
Any other shouts you’d like to give?
Shout outs to Richie Wraith, amazing guy! Mentor and Musical powerhouse – he is low key the grey eminence of LA Dnb producers. I have conversations in the works with Chief Jesta, Taelimb, Exile, Macabr3, MC Woes, Dre and Armanni Reign, Bobby Duque and a couple of more heavy hitters, which I can’t say yet… I’m also doing some music for films… things are picking up and I really like it! That’s it. That’s what it’s all about: making more tunes and not bullshitting around. Collaboration is the best way.
