From the beginning, Sven & Sven were connected to electronic music. Since 2005 they have played together as Pornbugs, the deep-tech-house project of the guys, with an extreme dancefloor-oriented sound. In January 2006 they started their own label project called Bondage Music, which was founded as a panel for ambitious sound from deep-house to deep-tech. The label has been a real influence in the global electronic dance music scene today. The vision of Bondage Music is based on bringing authentic, quality, and honest dance music. Dance music, which is making you move and bringing you in contact with the heart and a deeper place in your soul. It’s all about experiencing and catching those great moments on the dance floor. Bondage-music releases music on vinyl and digital and has resident artists like Mihai Popoviciu, Markus Homm, NTFO, Sascha Dive, Dilby, Pornbugs, Frink, Alex Ranerro, Cristina Lazic.
To celebrate their inclusion in our EG Podcast with their latest mix, EG caught up with Pornbugs to learn more about the drop of their ‘Juvania / Mudita’ EP, their chemistry, origins, and much more.
EG: Hello guys! Welcome to EG. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us today. Where are you based right now? How have you been?
Pornbugs: Thank you for the invitation to the interview. One of us lives in Berlin and the other in Leipzig, a distance of almost 170 km, but we see each other regularly, it’s only a 70-minutes train ride.
We are doing great. Summer is finally here and you finally have the opportunity to play regularly again after the two difficult Corona years. We’ve had some great gigs this year.
EG: Congratulations on the release of your ‘Juvania / Mudita’ EP! What has the initial reception been like so far?
Pornbugs: We are very happy with our new EP, since July 4th it’s been available on vinyl, with two exclusive remixes that are only available on vinyl. The reactions so far have been very good.
EG: ‘Juvania’ and ‘Mudita’ sound quite peculiar. Do they mean anything? Where did the inspiration for them come from?
Pornbugs: ‘Juvania’ is a Spanish female name that we heard on one of our travels at some point. We somehow liked it and that’s why we wrote down the title.
‘Mudita’ has a deeper meaning, in Buddhism, there are four aspects of true love: maitri, karuna, mudita, and upeksha. “Mudita” (empathetic joy) is what goodwill feels when it encounters happiness: It wants the happiness to continue. The pleasure that comes from delighting in other people’s well-being, that what the word means and that was what we tried to transport with our track.
EG: And what can your fans find on this release, musically speaking? Is there an element that sets this one apart from your other releases? Why did you guys decide to go with Bondage-Music for this one?
Pornbugs: There is nothing completely different from our past releases. ‘Juvania’, a deep and sophisticated subtle groover, with its deep bass setting the tone. A filtered vocal hook loops around while trippy percussion adds a textured vibe, while the gated vocal adds a sparkle to proceedings.
‘Mudita’, with its moody rolling groove, and spoken style vocal that adds a little bounce to this workout, while some dubby elements are sprinkled nicely. The breakdown is a hypnotic and cosmic vibed affair, as the spoken word plays with your mind before returning to the track with a real throb.
On the remix duties, we have some nice interpretations Rhadow from Romania, and Nicola Brusegan from Italy. On the digital part of our EP is a remix from Alexander Matchak, who gives ‘Mudita’some skippy percussion over a phat bassline and house flavor. Deep and deadly goodness for late-night vibes that need a real swagger.
Why did we release the EP on Bondage-Music? That’s an easy question to answer; Bondage-Music is our own label and we try to release an EP twice a year. That’s not always easy, because we have a relatively busy release schedule on our label.
“We complement each other very well and it still feels really good when we play together. It’s like a challenge sometimes, when one of us plays a track, then the other feels compelled to somehow top it, it is difficult to describe“
EG: Let’s rewind to your origins for a bit. How did you get into electronic music? Was there a record or live show that pushed you down the rabbit hole?
Pornbugs: We were both inspired in the mid-90s by the techno sound of artists like Jeff Mills and Sven Väth, by clubs like Tresor in Berlin, and the beginnings of the Loveparade.
We first met on December 16, 1995. We happened to be driving together in the same car on our way to a bigger party in Germany. Since then we have become friends. Making music and DJing actually came a few years later.
EG: What is your chemistry like in the studio and behind the decks? Do you play on each other’s strengths and ‘weaknesses’? How did the connection for Pornbugs come about?
Pornbugs: One of our first gigs was at Nature One, where we DJed at the campsite just for fun and played for 7-8 hours. That was the birth of our DJ project. There we realized that we have similar tastes in music and that we complement each other very well. Our duo wasn’t always called Pornbugs. Instead, we had another project (called I.D.O.G. & Crypton) from 2001 to 2006, where we were more involved with the trends of techno at the time. However, over time, the techno sound in Germany had changed and with Pornbugs we wanted to express ourselves more and create a sound that has more soul in our opinion. A sound that has more groove and which moves into the house direction.
We complement each other very well and it still feels really good when we play together. It’s like a challenge sometimes, when one of us plays a track, then the other feels compelled to somehow top it, it is difficult to describe.
EG: As you guys said, Summer is here! What are your plans for this season?
Pornbugs: Oh, there’s a lot happening this summer. We are definitely looking forward to our two Bondage-Music boat parties in Prague, one in July and the second in September. Then we play some nice festival gigs, e.g. at the 3000° Grad Festival in northern Germany and the Ponderosa Festival in France
EG: These past few years gave us all a chance to slow down and reassess. What would you like to see more and less of in our scene?
Pornbugs: Personally, we would be happy if the scene were less superficial and more considerate of each other. I think that was a positive effect during the Covid period, that’s how we felt. The slow down felt good, even if it wasn’t easy for many people in the scene.
“We were both inspired in the mid-90s by the techno sound of artists like Jeff Mills and Sven Väth, by clubs like Tresor in Berlin, and the beginnings of the Loveparade“
EG: What else can we expect from Pornbugs in the next few months? What new milestones are you looking forward to?
Pornbugs: There are some things we are looking forward to. On Bondage-Music, at the end of October, Markus Homm’s first artist album will be released, which is a big milestone for us and we are very excited that he will be releasing it with us.
After our EP, two new remixes will be released soon, one on the label Ohral and one on Bondage-Music for Alex Ranerro’s new EP. There will be more stuff from us near the end of the year, as we try to stay busy. 😉 Then we are happy that we will finally return to South Africa and also to South America. We have a particularly close relationship with Brazil.
EG: Thank you for your time, Sven&Sven! We wish you all the best!
Pornbugs: Thank you for the interview with you and for the opportunity to do a mix for Electronic Groove. Hope to see you soon!
Pornbugs’ new ‘Juvania / Mudita’ EP is out now via Bondage-Music. Purchase your copy here.
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