Reported by Andy Force /  05-06-13 17:47 

When Tribal Village appeared on the map in January earlier this year, our city’s subterranean music culture was rejuvenated with an amazing adventure, one that commingled our psychedelic family, resonating through social and spiritual dimensions.

Back again for a second instalment, Tribal Village is regrouping this Saturday! Re-energised by the sun’s rays, and enthused by the homely reception of their first gathering it is time again to reunite the tribes in the spirit of collective endeavour, and kindle the creative magic that binds our community.

Taking centre-stage for this unique epilogue, Tribal Village welcomes Techyon into the fold of London’s restless electronic underground. Techyon have emerged from Portuguese roots, influenced by a diverse array of electronic and instrumental music styles. Their sublime progressive sound displays a powerful finesse with its earth trembling basslines, but capturing also an airy, wistful bliss through an accomplished range of melodic structures.

What motivates you to make music? Do you have any personal philosophy that drives you?

Techyon’s motivation to make music is the energy generated in the creative process that when passed to those who hear it, can transform the way people deal with reality. For us music is a channel to express who we are… and what we are in the universe.

We have a very special and personal philosophy that is to be always ourselves and to let our identity flow in the music. This principle led us to create our own motto: “the purpose creates matter and matter holds the key to our evolution”. These words reflect a bit of our philosophy.

Was music a part of your childhood? Who were your early influences?

Music was always present in our childhood, in many ways and styles. For example, Ivan´s father used to have this disco in Portugal and since he was 12 years old he went there to see how it worked and started to learn the art of DJing at that time. So by 15 years old he already knew how to mix with some old vinyl techno and house tunes. Pedro, when he was younger, was a lead vocalist in a heavy metal band and also played drums in other bands.

As we also work with acoustic bands, we’ve been influenced by many styles. Pink Floyd is a good example of a band that influences our creative process. We can’t say that there is a specific style that influences us, as every genre has something interesting, but jazz, blues, tribal, also heavy metal and electronic music were and are very present in our lives.

How did each of you find yourselves in the crazy world of trance music and parties?

We found ourselves on the dancefloor of a party in Portugal in ’98, and since then we became very good friends. Soon after that time we started a journey through the world, looking for inspiration for our project. The first experiences of the TECHYON team were born in a home studio in Thailand back in 2001. We began to play at small parties around Thailand and India, trying to pass our message through music, to the world of trance.

Can you remember the first time you DJ’d or performed in front of an audience? What was it like? How did you feel?

Yes, we remember very well, it was an amazing and unforgettable experience in Thailand; we both felt that adrenaline mixed with some cold in the stomach, but at the same time it was a great and expansive feeling!!

Out of all the music on earth you could be making, why have you landed in the psychedelic progressive sound?

Well, we landed here because we love music and the old school trance experience. The fusion of our influences and culture lead us to this kind of progressive trance, and as ancient culture and quantic physics always fascinated us, we tried to apply some of these concepts to music… so that’s why we assume TECHYON as our quantic progressive project.

You have a debut album out! What inspired you to come together to work on this project, and did you achieve what you set out to do?

Yes, we have our debut album called NG-101 out!! Yeaaaaahhh!!!

As we’ve been friends for many years, and we also work together as sound engineers recording bands and doing mix and mastering works, we share many visions and opinions in sound, music and in what is behind the music. By this way, it became inevitable working together, as being together is already an inspiration.

We are very happy with our début album! It seems like the purpose of the album was achieved, as people started to question about quantic physics in music, others got interested in how ancient cultures expressed themselves through sounds, and the energy frequency that we wanted to create through this album is definitely getting its shape.

Where did the name NG-101 come from? What does it mean?

NG-101 is like a symbol that contains many different types of information connected to us, planetary and cosmic beings.

It starts with the fusion of our energy in the Mayan calendar that is the Kin 101. There is also a galaxy group called M-101, which are three galaxies that share the same centre and we feel very connected to this beautiful galaxy group.

NG is like the adaptation to the energy that we all make part of, and that makes us capable of generating self-sustainable energy in this new time pattern of this great cycle we are crossing. 101 is also the binary code that is present in our lives nowadays… Macro to microcosmos in its deepest form.

What makes the Techyon sound?

Techyon music is based on sacred geometry, and Fibonacci sequences applied to some patterns of our harmony and rhythms, it is the reflection of how the Cosmos works. Quantic ambiences that lead us to parallel universes, giving us a powerful sensation of a time travel through dimensions at Techyon speed, amplifying our notion and perspective of multiple realities. For us to make our sound, we only use analogic machines and acoustic elements, this way we can reach very specific sound textures, which are, in part, responsible for the unique taste our project has.

Can you tell us a little bit about your solo projects?

Our solo projects are running well. Ivan’s psychedelic trance solo project is called Holophonik, and has this old school taste combined with new technologies. The result is an amazing sound experience that connects the old-skool, with today’s trance scene. From the fusion of Holophonik and Braincell, was born Holographic Brain, another astonishing psychedelic project Ivan has with Ralph (Braincell/Rastaliens). Parallel to these projects he also has Existence (with Paulo Oliveira from Spectra) and Ahnk (with Pedro Ghira); this last one is also progressive trance with an acoustic taste given by some analog instruments.

Pedro Stones’ solo project is called Keysense and he explores more like deep progressive, combining a variety of sounds and acoustic instruments. It’s released on Laboratory, so soon you’ll be able to listen to it.

How is the creative process different from producing on your own, to working with someone else?

It’s a bit different producing on your own because you’re able to get deeper in some aspects but at the same time you have only your own point of view at the creative process, and it gets lonely sometimes.

When you work with someone else, you see things that you don’t see alone, so you explore other things and share different points of view, it gets more interesting and fun. But both ways are great and important.

You’re playing at Tribal Village on the 8th of June, is this the first time you’ve performed in the UK? What can we all expect from you on the eve?

This is not our first time in UK, but as always, we are very motivated and excited to play at Tribal Village. We are preparing a special and new live set, and we expect an amazing evening full of good vibes and loads of fun!

What are your plans for the rest of this year, and what does the future have in store for Techyon?

The rest of the year for us is gonna be great! We are working hard for a bright future. There’s a lot of parties and festivals that we are gonna play at, like Freqs of Nature and Antaris Project in Germany, Cosmic Gate Festival, Freedom Festival, Refresh Festival and Insomnia festival in Portugal, Baktun Festival in Honduras, Shivaneris Festival in Brazil; and some parties around Europe and South America.

We are also working in collaboration with really great artists to release the NG-101 remix album next year, as well as some fresh new tunes for EPs and compilations around the world.

Thank-you Ivan & Pedro, see you at Tribal Village!