Lost Arcade is an electronic music duo composed of Felipe Callado & Ryan Papa. The pair perform their music live incorporating deep, melodic house, underground progressive, and techno.
The pair met over a decade ago in Brazil and quickly forged a strong friendship. During this time they co-ran the independent record label, Stigma Recordings, which received support from many high profile DJ’s. They have both forged successful DJ careers, performing all around the world and headlining many of the best venues and club nights, particularly in South America.
Fast-forward to 2020 and the idea to collaborate on some music quickly developed into a new project under the name of Lost Arcade. Despite the limitations of working remotely, streaming from Ryan’s studio in Sydney to Felipe in Paris, a handful of loops and ideas developed into a forthcoming artist album along with a number of EP’s, signed to Brazilian imprints, Triade Records, Fluxo and Gooseneck Records.
From the very beginning, Lost Arcade aimed to forge its own unique sound that combined and amplified the pair’s DJ experiences and intimate knowledge of club music. The partnership has pushed both artists beyond their comfort zones to strive to create something that is both meaningful and timeless.
We had a chat with Lost Arcade to talk about their latest musical projects.
Electronic Groove: Hi Felipe & Ryan, how are you today? We are really happy to have you here with us. Where are you guys based? How were lockdown and the whole pandemic situation for both of you?
Ryan from Lost Arcade: Thanks for the invite. It has definitely been an insane year. Due to all the lockdowns, Felipe has just returned back to Brazil after spending a number of years living in Paris and I am still in Sydney. Australia has been very lucky compared to many parts of the world although still had quite strict lockdowns at different times.
EG: So, let’s start from the top. How did you guys meet? How was Lost Arcade born?
Felipe from Lost Arcade: Ryan & I met in Florianopolis, over 10 years ago, when he was living in Brazil. We had a lot of mutual friends in the club scene that put us in touch and have been friends ever since. We worked together on the label Stigma Recordings for a few years and had always spoken about writing together. During the lockdown we finally both had a lot more spare time to make that happen. We started working on a few projects and that quickly evolved into a record!
Electronic Groove: What are your expectations for this project? How would you describe your sound?
Ryan from Lost Arcade: We are both really proud of the music we have finished to date and really looking forward to doing a lot more. Many of the ideas came together really quickly despite the limitations of working remotely. In terms of sound, our sound is quite melodic but very focused on the dance floor. We wrote a lot of stuff strictly with our live show in mind.
Electronic Groove: We know that you, guys, are a live act. Can you tell us who does what on stage? How did you arrive at that formation? Why did you guys settle on being a live act?
Ryan from Lost Arcade: Due to all the travel restrictions, we have been unable to do anything live. We now have enough material for 1.5 – 2 hour shows which is one plus side to being stuck in the studio. In terms of playing live, we wanted this project to challenge us both and push us out of our comfort zone, and we figured playing live instead of DJing would do that. It also helps us create a unique sound for the project that isn’t me and isn’t Felipe on its own.
“We wrote a lot of stuff strictly with our live show in mind”
Electronic Groove: So far, we’ve heard ‘Rose Moon / Aldebaran’, which we know are singles from your upcoming album? What can we expect from that?
Felipe from Lost Arcade: The album is all finished and scheduled for release on March 30th, 2021! We have another single from the record called ‘Holding On’ coming out on February 23rd that features an Australian singer, Matt Young on vocals. We have an amazing remix of the song from Vincenzo which is super cool. He is such an incredible producer and one of the first people we both had in mind to do it. There will also be some more remixes of the songs to come so stay tuned for that! After the record, we have a number of other songs we will release as EPs/singles.
Electronic Groove: What is the creative process like for you guys when writing a track? Is there some sort of blueprint, or is each track a world of its own?
Ryan from Lost Arcade: With the limitations of working remotely we aren’t able to just jam on gear in the studio and bounce ideas of each other like we would if we were in the same room. Often we have an idea in mind for the live show and sometimes that eventuates, other times the idea drifts off into something completely different. We quickly learned that the best results came from allowing the songs to dictate the direction they should go instead of us forcing them. Felipe is incredibly patient on the other end of the line while I fumble around on keyboards and tweak synths that is for sure. We do a lot of bouncing down of clips of the tracks and keep building upon that.
Electronic Groove: We know you guys have your own imprint, Lost Arcade Records. What can we expect in the near future? Will we see releases from other artists as well?
Felipe from Lost Arcade: At this stage, the label is simply an avenue for us to release our own music we want along with remixes. In the future it may develop into releasing other artists – we will have to see.
Electronic Groove: What would you like to achieve next year? How do you envision the return to clubs and festivals?
Ryan from Lost Arcade: Definitely keen to release more music over the next 12 months and ideally do some shows if it is safe and possible. It will be amazing to have clubs and festivals back and hopefully that happens sooner than later. It has been such an insane time for so many people – shout out to those on the front lines in hospitals helping those badly affected.
Electronic Groove: Thank you so much for sharing this moment with us. We wish you the best going forward. Have a great year!
Felipe from Lost Arcade: Thanks a lot for having us!
Ryan from Lost Arcade: Cheers guys!
Lost Arcade ft. Matt Young – ‘Holding On’ will be out on February 23rd.
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