I would like to boldly declare that Gin & Gin (aka Mattias Grane & Simon Pettersson) are Sweden’s next big thing in deep house. With their smooth, unconceited productions with signature melancholic piano chords and floating atmospheres this guys are getting ready for one massive takeoff. Without any further ado, here is their latest exclusive mixtape mixed especially for HMWL. Enjoy! 

Tracklist:

1.     GIN & GIN – TONIGHT (I NEED YOU) (ORIGINAL MIX)
2.     ERYKAH BADU – ON & ON (DISKOBEISTET REMIX)
3.     SOMETHING GOOD – STARS (ORIGINAL MIX)
4.     GIN & GIN – UNTITLED 1
5.     DICKYSTIXXX – SOMEBODY WHO LOVES ME (ORIGNAL MIX)
6.     GIN & GIN – UNTITLED 2
7.     SUB FOCUS – CLOSE feat. MNEK (FRIEND WITHIN REMIX)
8.     PATRICK TOPPING – FORGET (ORIGINAL MIX)
9.     LENA CULLEN – TIMELESS (SHADOW CHILD REMIX)
10. LA FLEUR – KATTFLICKAN (JESPER RYOM REMIX)
11. HUXLEY – REAL feat. JACK WILBY (ORIGINAL MIX)
12. SAMUEL SARTINI – YOU’RE NO GOOD FOR ME (ORIGINAL MIX)
13. ISAAC TICHAUER – CHANGES (ORIGINAL MIX)
14. HI 2 HAT – LOVIN YEAH (ORIGINAL MIX)
15. FRANKIE KNUCKLES – THE WHISTLE SONG (JDH TRIBUTE REMIX)
16. JONAS RATHSMAN – HOPE I’M WRONG (ORIGINAL MIX)
17. ARETHA FRANKLIN – JUMP TO IT (GHOSTS OF VENICE MIDNIGHT DUB)

Gin & Gin Inteview:

Tell us about the Gin & Gin project? How long have you guys been in the music scene, together and individually? 

We’ve been in the music scene individually since our teens. Both of us played in punk and hardcore bands long before we could grow any beards. In different parts of the country though. When we got to know each other some years from now that was some sort of common ground, among many other things. We had the same roots musically and philosophically, so to speak, and we had both ended up in electronic music through our own mazes and bumpy musical journeys. At the time we got to know each other one of us was running a successful club concept and was part of a local dj crew called Sweat Collective. Soon both of us were part of that collective but not before long we would decide to go our own way. Through some long nights, a lot of alcohol and even more music listening, a special friendship developed that could only result in the forming of Gin & Gin. Actually we were sitting down listening to Bonnie Prince Billy’s ”I see a darkness” one late night with a thirst for a drink. We had two bottles of gin but nothing to mix it with, so we just mixed gin with gin, hence the name, and said: let’s make some house music – just the two of us. This was around 2012. The rest is mythology.

According to Gin & Gin and Gin & Gin only, what will the electronic music sound like in 2015. In Sweden and Internationally? Is there a certain sub-genre or specific type of sound that you feel is growing stronger? Or maybe a certain retro-wave coming back?

There’s a lot of soul searching going on. People studying the history of house music back to the early 80’s and further back.

If you play in a pop band you most likely have some sort of relationship to the Beatles. If you play in a metal band you probably have some sort of connection to Black Sabbath. And so on. But people in house and electronic sometimes lack that kind of historical perspective to their own music making. Some wouldn’t even recognize a classic Chicago house track as house music. Or that House’s mother is called Disco and that Disco’s mother is called Soul. But if there is something going on right now, it probably is an awakened curiosity for history: djs and producers backtracking the chronicles of house and techno and combining their findings with their own crisp cuts.

Then there’s the classic contradiction, that the more possibilities you have to create something unique the more you tend to lean towards conformity. People today have endless opportunities to create sounds never heard before right at home on their laptops. All the software and plugins you could dream of within arm’s reach. Still a lot of music just sounds the same. While producers with greater limitations gearwise might force themselves to break boundaries in more creative ways. So yeah, further up the road we might hear more innovative beats and sounds from people leaving the standard “limitless” setup behind.

If you would spend 2 hours DJing at a small, cozy summer festival on a tropical island, which artists’ tracks would you most certainly play?

If we were to be obvious we would most certainly jam some grooves from, let’s say, French Express and Soul Clap. Definitely that new track from Hnny – Most Really Pretty Girls Have Pretty Ugly Feet. Maybe some Todd Terje. And you can’t really grow tired Tensnake’s Coma Cat, can you? But on the other hand, if the vibe was all summery and oiled up, then we might go a little evil on the floor. There’s a darker side to Gin & Gin, at least that’s what we try to tell ourselves, ha ha. So if it became to cosy maybe we would start to spin some Burial and Zomby. Or even just put on Depeche Mode’s Violator in its entirety and light up a smoke.
As all other creative movements, the electronic music societies tend to grow around big cities (like Stockholm, Paris and London) where many musicians live temporary or permanently, gather, create collectives and inspire each other. You on the other hand produce fantastic deep house out of Linköping population 140,000. What is the electronic scene and heritage like in Linköping? Do you believe one has to be in a big city to grow as a DJ / Producer? Or does location not matter at all anymore thanks to modern technology? 

There’s always something fun going on here. We’ve been throwing parties and holding residencies all around town, together and individually, for a good run of years. And right now our very fine friends of the dj crew Funky Loco are creating excitement with an ambulating club concept filled to the brim with funk, disco and classic house. There’s also an association called Monokrom who have their own industrial building called Framtiden where they organise parties with all kinds of underground electronic music. Sadly they have to leave the building this summer though.

Otherwise it’s what you could expect from a small swedish city. Everybody wants to be a rock star. Most djs are into popular edm and progressive trifles, preferably with a hard style drop. Or something that sounds like Nickelback but with a beat on top. It simply does not interest us.

Location doesn’t matter for the sake of making thrilling music. There are no restraints to access music from the whole world as long as you have an internet connection. Influences are infinite if you have an open mind and follow your bliss. But that’s old news.

On the other hand, the environments you live, love and work in probably affect the music you make in some way or another, together with a myriad of other aspects.

Then of course there are perks of living in a big city hypewise for djs. Better physical networks, word of mouth and synergy effects, and all the clubs and venues that we don’t have in Linköping. But we won’t move though, we just love to hate it too much.

What does your studio set-up look like?

Seriously, like nothing. An out of date PC where we try to play the piano and figure out chord progressions on the computer keyboard. It’s a jam everytime.

What does the next 12 months look like for Gin & Gin?

Right now we’re working on a couple of official remixes. We have some bootlegs and edits in the pipeline as well, which we will push out via our new freebie label Holy Sweat. And we are also composing some originals, of which at least one will be released on Stockholm Beat Connection Records. Then there’s this fantastic new band from Linköping called Garden who we are trying to work out a track together with. And we hope to do as many gigs as possible. There’s nothing we enjoy more than playing together. Catch us gin the mix!