Lian Gold is a melodic techno & house DJ/Producer from Tel Aviv, Israel. Growing up in a very musically-influenced home helps her thrive and excel during music sessions. Her music style combines different electronic elements: trance, progressive house, techno, psy, along with an ethnic touch and meaningful conscious message. For her part, Erika Krall is a music producer, DJ, singer and songwriter from Tel Aviv, Israel. Her music combines elements of progressive house, dark techno, indie dance, and deep house, as well as it is influenced by middle eastern music. And now, they’ve decided to embark on a new adventure as collaborators, throwing all they have inside the melting pot for a brand new experience behind the studio and the decks.
Following the release of ‘Tik Tak’, their first collaboration ever, we caught up with the blossoming duo to learn more about their backgrounds, views on music, and expectations for the future.
Electronic Groove: Hi Erika! Lian! Welcome to EG! We’re excited to have you with us. How have things been going this year? How are you doing? Where are you guys based right now?
Lian Gold & Erika Krall: Hey! Thanks for having us! We both are from Tel Aviv, Israel. This year, you know, hasn’t been easy for DJs in general. A lot of our tours got canceled, but at the same time, thanks to that, we had a chance to spend more time in the studio to produce, produce, produce… Also, this year we met and started working together! So, overall, it was a good and productive year.
Electronic Groove: Let’s kick this one off! Congratulations on the release of your ‘Tik Tak’ collaboration! What has the initial reception been like so far?
Lian Gold & Erika Krall: Thank you! Actually, we are very happy with the final result and a lot of DJs seem to agree with us. We have already received support from Miss Monique and some other great names.
Every time we play the track at the party, the crowd loses control. ‘Tik Tak’ has its happy vibes to it, and it always adds something special to an underground party. It’s not something you expect to hear, but at the same time, we think that we managed to combine several electronic genres and add our “girly” charm to it, so it fits every party.
Electronic Groove: Where did the inspiration for ‘Tik Tak’ come about? Is there a story to it?
Lian: Of course! We were thinking a lot about the direction of our collab, because we wanted to keep our unique styles and on top of that to create something new. I usually stick to melodic techno and Erika is making a deep and progressive house.
Erika: Exactly. So, we started playing with the sounds, sending each other some ideas until we found a loop that caught us both. Apparently, it wasn’t a deep house or melodic house thing. It was something more indie and progressive. Hard to explain. So, we finished the track and a few days after that, Lian called me in the middle of the night saying: “we need vocals on it, make it cool and do it right now”. So, I listened to the track a few more times and the lyrics just came into my head. It’s about time and rush and it calls out to people to chill occasionally, to forget about everything, and enjoy the moment.
Electronic Groove: What was the creative process for ‘Tik Tak’ like? This is your debut collaboration, right? How did the chemistry flow in the studio?
Lian: Honestly, we don’t spend a lot of time together in the studio. Both of us like our own studios’ chairs and setups and we use different DAWs. I prefer Ableton, while Erika likes Cubase more.
Erika: Yes, we usually send each other stems and work simultaneously on a few different projects. Obviously, we still meet in one studio and work together, as well as we are always on the phone. We talk every day for at least an hour- 40 minutes are dedicated to ideas, sounds, inspirations, and 20 for general chit-chat about life.
“We started playing together a lot. The first few times were not so smooth, but now we know each other’s styles and libraries better than our own”
Electronic Groove: And how did you guys connect? Was making music together one of the first things that came about? Or did that thought take a while to develop?
Erika: First came music, then it grew to something different and special. We knew each other from the scene for a while but never actually talked, only maybe through comments on Instagram. I had a few Lian’s tracks in my library and always enjoyed playing them but never thought of the actual collab. Until I got a call out of nowhere…
Lian: Ha-ha yes. One day I saw a promo from Erika and remembered that she is a part of a community ‘MuzaBeat’ for female musicians that I created a few years ago. I decided to give her a call and offer to play B2B with me at one party. We started playing together a lot. The first few times were not so smooth, but now we know each other’s styles and libraries better than our own. So, after a number of successful B2Bs, we decided to make a track together. In about two months of collaboration, we created 7 tracks, and ‘Tik Tak’ is the first one!
Electronic Groove: Do you guys have some sort of ‘blueprint’ to follow in the studio? Do you each work according to your strengths and weaknesses?
Erika: I usually start classically with kick and bass. Sometimes I have a melody in my mind, so I build the track around it, and sometimes, if it’s a song, I start with chords and vocals. I would say that my main strength is coming up with unexpected and creative ideas. I like recording samples from something that is not originally created for music, like bottles of water, or cutlery to mess around with my vocal recordings. I also have a big collection of small musical instruments from all over the world. Those that you can buy in a gift store. When used properly, they can give you some amazing sounds. Finishing up the track is probably my weakness. I usually get bored quickly and switch to a different project.
Lian: Personally, I start with the melody and its sound design. I am a perfectionist. I can spend hours and days on one loop before I know it’s perfect. After the skeleton of the track is ready, I really enjoy adding effects, tweaking the sounds so they sound different and not monotonous. Exactly what Erika doesn’t enjoy doing so much. That’s why we work so well together!
Electronic Groove: Speaking about music…What were your first musical interactions like? How did you get into electronic music? Was there a particular record that pushed you to explore electronic dance music and production?
Erika: For me, there wasn’t a record that pushed me. Growing up, I have always been a “music freak”. I loved to listen to unknown rock bands, read about artists’ biographies, imagine the colors and the essence of the life that one song represented. I grew up mainly on rock and jazz, but I listen to everything, except for hard-core mainstream music. At 10 years old I begged my granny to buy me a guitar and she did. I started playing and writing songs. Writing, until today, is one of my favorite things to do. At the age of 18, I started to realize that it is not enough. Writing and singing songs can’t represent everything I want to say with my music. So, I started learning production. Little by little, I learned from the best and from YouTube. I am still learning so much every day, but now I do it in my studio, which I built, and not in the kitchen with some old headphones.
Lian: I have always been connected to music. Since I was little, I played the piano. I never actually learned music, rather picked it up from my mom, who used to play a lot. When I was a teenager, I started making mashups and even got a lot of support from DJs back then. Just like Erika said, I felt that it wasn’t enough, and I wanted to create something that is truly mine. I was inspired by Armin van Buuren, Eric Prydz, Deadmau5. So I downloaded Fruity Loops and spent all my nights figuring it out. After that, I switched to Ableton and started finding my own sound. I think that hard work pays back.
Electronic Groove: How would you define your sound today? Where do you wanna go sonically in the future?
Lian Gold & Erika Krall: Our sound today, together or separately, is the combination of different genres and emotions. We work hard every day to be better producers and to have more creative ideas. As for the second question, we agree on this one. We want our music to resonate in the souls of listeners. We put a piece of ourselves in every sound that we create and want people to hear us in our music, as well as to find something unique for themselves. Music is a living being, there is no right or wrong understanding of it. We want to give our listeners the freedom to perceive it the way they feel the need to.
“First came music, then it grew to something different and special. We knew each other from the scene for a while but never actually talked, only maybe through comments on Instagram”
Electronic Groove: What else can we expect from Lian Gold & Erika Krall in the future? What new milestones are you looking forward to in the coming year?
Lian Gold & Erika Krall: We like working together, as we said before we have already produced a lot of tracks together. We are not planning to stop our collaboration and are planning to bring more exciting tracks to the music scene. Expect us a lot of music this year, together and separately, different genres and lots of awesome collaborations with super talented artists.
Electronic Groove: Thank you for your time guys! We wish you all the best for the future!
Lian Gold & Erika Krall: It was an honor! Thanks for having us today.
Lian Gold & Erika Krall’s ‘Tik Tak’ is out now via HOLY. Purchase your copy here.
Follow Lian Gold: Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud | Spotify
Follow Erika Krall: Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud | Spotify
