From the early career stages in an Amsterdam attic studio to being called “a breath of fresh air”, “producers to watch”, and “future superstar DJs”, the importance of commitment and patience is once again underlined by the prime example presented right before your eyes: ANOTR. Consisting of 21 year olds Jesse van der Heijden and Oguzhan Guney, ANOTR are the house-meets-techhouse revelations of their time. After hours and hours of hard work and tweaks to reach undisputed perfection, the first eye-opening works of the Amsterdam based sparked the interest of record label Armada Music, subsequently leading to the release of summer anthem ‘Strobe’ on Defected records breakout label DFTD in early October 2015.
Why Anotr, rather than Another? Aren’t the Dutch into Es?
ANOTR comes from the previous project we worked on. We were ready for a new sound, that’s why we started with a clean slate as ANOTR. Next to that, we’re always trying to find something special when we’re making our music to make our tracks stand out from the mass.
What’s the best and worst thing about making music with someone else?
The best thing is that when you’ve been working on a project by yourself for ages and get tunnel vision, there’s always an extra set of fresh ears to take a different view on the whole project. The worst thing is that you sometimes get a creativity overload. With some of our
projects there’s too many ideas for one track.
Do you have any strange studio rituals, regular studio snacks, local hangouts when you take a break for food/coffee etc.?
When we get in the studio first thing we do is clean up the mess we made the night before and were to lazy to clean. Afterwards we make ourselves a coffee and a tea with mint, ginger and cinnamon. When we’re doing a marathon studio session and stay in late we usually smoke
some good Moroccan hash to really get into the music.
2016 was your breakthrough year. What were the highlights?
One of the highlights was our first ever overseas gig at Egg, followed by gigs all across Europe and South America. Next to that, going from no one knowing your music to seeing artist you look up to supporting your music.
What are you looking forward to in 2017? And what releases can your fans look forward to from you?
This summer is looking to be our best one yet with loads of sick festivals. Next to that we’re releasing a ton of music this year so keep your eyes peeled. A few of the tracks that are going to be released soon: ‘Funk Phenomena’, Sante’s ‘Acid Rain (ANOTR Remix)’, the vinyl only ‘Bad Horn’ and many more.
https://soundcloud.com/avotre/avcd004-acid-rain-anotr-remix
Tell us something about each of you that the public don’t already know?
Oguzhan used to be a breakdancer when he was younger and I used to be bald just a few years ago, ha ha.