Berlin-based duo Brigade have carved a distinct path in electronic music, balancing house-heavy DJ sets with introspective, sample-based compositions.
Photo credit: Brigade – Official
Known for their meticulous approach and fondness for physical formats, the pair create records designed less for the club and more for personal spaces — textured, emotionally rich, and rooted in the spirit of crate-digging.
Their latest album, ‘Unlimited Dreams Corporation’, builds on this vision. A follow-up to 2022’s ‘Hard Times, Soft Music’, the new release digs deeper into archival material to construct sonic collages that reflect both nostalgia and contemporary unease. Out now via Laut & Luise on vinyl and digital, the record explores themes of wellness capitalism, overstimulation, and the quiet tension of modern life.
In this conversation, Brigade open up about creative routines, sampling rituals, and the future of their evolving sound.
EG: Hi, guys! Welcome to EG. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. How have you been doing? What’s the beginning of the year looking like for you?
Brigade: Thanks for the invite. Yeah, we’re good. At the moment we’re just letting the dust settle on the album and already making plans to go back into the studio and see what we can be doing next.
EG: First of all, congratulations on the release of your sophomore studio LP, Unlimited Dreams Corporation. How are you feeling about this one? What has the initial reception been like so far?
Brigade: It’s always a bit difficult to judge how folks are reacting to a new release, but we did get a whole lot of very nice messages from people. So as far as it has reached us, the reception has been pretty good. Personally, we are very happy with how everything turned out.
EG: So, what can listeners expect to find on Unlimited Dreams Corporation, musically speaking?
Brigade: It’s definitely a home listen. Maybe even something for headphones. It’s electronic music but not at all clubby. We think it’s our most hip-hop-influenced release so far. We’ve been told we name-drop a little too much, but if you like ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space’ by Spiritualized, then maybe you’re gonna like this one.
EG: How did the concept for Unlimited Dreams Corporation come to be? It does feel very tongue-in-cheek, given the current landscape…
Brigade: We honestly forgot where the title initially came from, but it was in a random note on Niels’s phone and all the ideas kind of grew from there. We wanted to create a general concept but not push it too hard or overexplain. We like to think of it as a kind of David Cronenberg meets Brian Eno type of world.
“It seems everyone is really worried about technology, but we like to think that people will always find a way to be creative, and other people will always connect with that”
EG: In which ways does Unlimited Dreams Corporation differ from 2022’s Hard Times, Soft Music? How have you grown on a personal level and as a creative outlet since then?
Brigade: We now live in the same building, which is kind of funny. Niels quit smoking, Julius is still working on that one. On the creative side, we’ve realized that we want to split up all our club stuff from all the home listening stuff. So we now are touring with this hardware-only dub techno improvisatory liveset as “polo ev_,” which has been a lot of fun. Also, that frees us with the “Brigade” project to really focus on this hip-hop/jazz album thing.
EG: Many of us are familiar with the concept of crate-digging, but you guys take it to the next level… What do those sessions look like for you? What’s your creative process like when going for bits and pieces?
Brigade: So the crate-digging is usually done completely separately from the actual songwriting process. Whenever there’s a free minute, we’ll be searching for sonic material so that when we get back in the studio we already have a library of material for us to jump off of. We’ll then find some snippet that we like as a starting point and work from there—though that original snippet hardly ever makes it into the final track.
EG: What would you like the listener to take away from the album experience? What would be the perfect setting to enjoy the album to the fullest?
Brigade: Drifting into a dreamless sleep and waking up as a new and improved version of yourself. All this while listening to the album in an endless loop.
EG: Given your expertise, what are some of the biggest challenges artists will face in the near future? Is there any piece of advice you have for your colleagues in that sense?
Brigade: Oof, good question. It seems everyone is really worried about technology, but we like to think that people will always find a way to be creative, and other people will always connect with that. Find like-minded friends, make tunes with them, and organize events together.
“Drifting into a dreamless sleep and waking up as a new and improved version of yourself. All this while listening to the album in an endless loop”
EG: What’s next for Brigade? What milestones are you looking forward to now? Where can your fans catch you next?
Brigade: As we did with ‘Unlimited Dreams Corporation’, we’ll take some time off to gather new music and ideas. However, we will definitely start working on the third part of the Dog trilogy to conclude this era. Who knows what will come after that? Probably an ambient micro jazz album. Or, we might work on a business coaching program. Or open up a dog school.
EG: Thank you so much for your time, guys! We wish you all the best in the future. Take care!
Brigade: Thanks a lot!
Brigade’s ‘Unlimited Dreams Corporation’ is out now on Laut & Luise. Stream and download here.
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