Formerly known as Mozaik, AVTEL’s transition to their new name represents their desire for independence and artistic freedom. With a strong focus on visual elements inspired by old engravings and initials, as well as epic and cinematic music, AVTEL creates a unique artistic direction that captivates listeners.
Photo credit: AVTEL – Instagram
Blending electric melodies and percussive rhythms, AVTEL’s distinctive sound takes listeners on an introspective journey, evoking powerful emotions. With years of experience and collaborations with renowned labels such as Sapiens, Kinetika, Eklektisch, and Moblack, AVTEL aims to establish themselves as influential players in the global electronic music scene.
In an exclusive interview with EG, AVTEL shares insights into their creative process, the inspiration behind their highly anticipated first EP ‘The Advent,’ and their vision for their brand new label, Gloire Records.
EG: Hi, guys! Welcome to EG. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. How have you been? Where are you right now?
AVTEL: Hi! Everything is going well for us, thank you! We are currently at home in France. We are taking advantage of this quiet period to work on new materials and the development of our new label, Gloire Records.
EG: First of all, congratulations on the release of your new EP, ‘The Advent’! You must be very excited to share this one! What has the initial reception been like so far? Have you been able to test these in a live setting yet?
AVTEL: We are very happy indeed and also excited because this EP represents the start of a new adventure for us. The tracks have been finished for several months, and we have played them many times throughout this year. The reception from the crowd was super positive every time we played the tracks! We also had awesome feedback from other DJs/producers, friends, and big names. We couldn’t start better!
EG: ‘The Advent’ is much more than just an EP, as it signals a new phase for you as AVTEL. Why did you guys feel the need to move forward from your Mozaik moniker?
AVTEL: Mozaik was a project more oriented towards Afro-House music, and we felt that, with time, our music style and taste had changed. We couldn’t find ourselves in this project anymore. So we created AVTEL (pronounced “Otel”) with the intention of having music that is more electronic, powerful, and epic but less organic. Changing our name was also a reason to build a new image, starting from scratch with a solid artistic direction. It was something we were missing with Mozaik.
EG: So, what’s ‘The Advent’ all about? Is there an inspirational trigger driving these cuts? What can your fans find here?
AVTEL: ‘The Advent’ is very symbolic for us; it’s literally the birth of a new project. With this first EP, we’re laying the foundations of our new imprint, Gloire Records. ‘The Advent’ is the first chapter of a trilogy that we will continue in 2024.
“Offering an introspective journey and conveying strong emotions”
EG: And ‘The Advent’ is out now via your newly launched Gloire Records imprint. Congratulations! What can you tell us about Gloire Records? Why did you feel the need to launch your own imprint? What can we expect from the brand?
AVTEL: Thank you very much! For a long time, we wanted to take control of our music, our universe, and manage our own releases. It’s always very frustrating to wait for feedback from other labels when you send in your demos or to wait months or even a year or two for tracks to be released. That’s why we created Gloire Records, and we are very proud of it! It’s a great achievement and a feeling of freedom for us! For the moment, we’re going to concentrate on AVTEL, and when we feel that it will be time to diversify, we’ll sign other artists, of course. We’re very keen to discover new talent, and we’ll support their music as best we can with our label. The spearhead of Gloire Records is: offering an introspective journey and conveying strong emotions.
EG: By the way, you guys are brothers, right? Was the musical connection always there? What’s your chemistry in the studio like by now?
AVTEL (Matt): Yes, we’re brothers, 6 years apart. We have been making music for a long time, and we have the same musical sensibility. I’ve been a DJ since I was kind. Our parents were music lovers, and there was always music on at home, in the car…etc. I started learning to mix with my father’s hi-fi turntables, a vinyl turntable, and a ‘BTS mixer’ that my mates gave me for my 12th birthday. I used to mix for friends and at private events as a kid, and as soon as I turned 18, I started working as a resident DJ in clubs. That was in the early 2000s, a time when I was mainly playing house music, and it was really cool, spending time at the record store, where there was really great music! As soon as Alex was old enough to go out, he’d come and see me mixing with his mates. At the same time, Alex was playing piano in his room, learning by watching YouTube tutorials. Many years later, we focused on production with Ableton Live, and 7 years ago, we finished and released our first tracks under ‘Mozaik.’
AVTEL (Alex): Matt said everything! We lived as kids in a very musical environment, and as a younger brother, I developed a taste for dance and techno music that my older brothers used to listen to at that time. My interest in music was more about the process of producing music. Listening to the first Daft Punk records was a true revelation for me, my brain was full of questions: how do they make this sound? this melody? this groove? this kick, etc. I had too many emotions with these guys, and I wanted to be the guy in the studio who recreated this kind of emotions. Then I started to learn the piano by watching YouTube tutorials (it was the beginning of YouTube, and there was not much content). After that, around 2009, a friend sent me a copy of Ableton Live, and I seriously started to get into music production by reading articles, watching YouTube tutorials, and masterclasses. It was like an obsession, I wanted to learn everything! Finally, with time and experience, you start to have a better sound, to develop a sound signature and finally sign on labels. Being a producer is a long but wonderful process!
EG: Now, speaking about current trends in our scene… How do you feel about the rise of these huge LED screens and cinematic visuals? Do they enhance the narrative, or are they just taking too much attention away from the music?
AVTEL: We have clearly entered a new era; all the shows are incredible, and we cannot say the opposite. Visuals are very important today; people no longer just want to go to see a DJ mixing. But we wonder about the place of music… We have the feeling that music and dance are really becoming a detail (almost secondary?). People’s attention is focused on the giant screens and filming behind their phone screens. There are too many screens, and it’s killing the vibes of feeling the music! The connection and the communicative energy between the DJs and the public are lost; we find that a bit sad. We have to find the right balance between too much show and not enough and not forget the music!
EG: The incorporation of AI in electronic music seems to be on the rise, whether it is on the music, the album covers, and beyond. Do you have a particular stance on this?
AVTEL: AI is a fascinating subject and allows us to explore new creative directions. There are positive and negative points, and you have to accept to live with the times. For ethical and aesthetic reasons, the replacement of human creativity by algorithms worries us a bit… but we are also convinced that the human way of creating art is something unique in relationships with the mindset the artist is in. We are not sure that an AI can make a “happy mistake” (for the moment..!).
“We have to find the right balance between too much show and not enough and not forget the music!”
EG: Finally, can you provide some insights into what’s next for AVTEL and Gloire Records? What’s in store for 2024? Where can your fans catch you next?
AVTEL: 2024 will be a very productive year for us. We plan to release the second and third chapters of the Trilogy as EPs on Gloire Records. We also have a lot of tracks finished a long time ago; it’s time to share all this new material with our community! And of course, we stay open to other opportunities, and we will continue to release our music on other labels.
EG: Thank you so much for your time, guys! We wish you all the best for the future. Take care!
AVTEL: Thank you, guys. It was a pleasure talking with you.
AVTEL’s ‘The Advent’ is out now via Gloire Records. Stream and download here.
Follow AVTEL: Spotify | Soundcloud | Instagram
