Cosa Nostra Interview – Psychedelic Mafia
The name Cosa Nostra has been popping up a lot lately with releases on TIP Records and remixes to Astrix, Infected Mushroom & Yahel. We caught up on email with Asaf from Cosa Nostra to learn more about the duo.
While you read, check out some Cosa Nostra music on this playlist:
Q: Who is Cosa Nostra? Why did you choose that name?
A: Cosa Nostra are Asaf Krizer (Xanex) and Nir Shinberg (Psyro), two best friends above everything else, and music addicts! The name Cosa Nostra is ״OUR THING״ and it was taken from the legendary Sicilian mafia, we grew up on Scorsese and Coppola movies and loyalty and friendship has always been our thing and all of our friends will agree on that point! So we hope for their sake 😉
For guys that… became DJs at elementary school it was obvious that when we will grow up we will be on stage. That was the dream…
Q: Tell us a bit about your music – what can people expect from a Cosa Nostra track. What do you aim to achieve with your music?
A: Well, our music is a combination of full on and psychedelic trance, but you can say that we have no rules and no limits, we make ONLY concept tracks with the most bizarre graphics and “out of the box” ideas behind our tracks looking for gimmicks in our music. We hope that 20 years from now when you will hear our tracks the music is still going to sound up to date.
Our main goal is that when you hear our track you will know for sure it’s Cosa Nostra. We truly believe that we are here to tell a story through music, it’s our main meaning and of course to see the crowd dance when we are on stage is our orgasm no doubt about it.
Cosa Nostra at an Israeli underground party (Photo: Amit Azriel)
Q: What is happening these days with your project?
A: We are working in the studio trying to create new anthems all the time… after the huge success of “El Mariachi” and “Electro Panic” remix we are thinking about “El Mariachi 2” and we have some serious releases soon…remember the name: “1000 Acid Trips”…this one is going to rock! We are working consistently on bringing our sound to the highest level you can imagine.
Q: You do a lot of other stuff within the scene in Israel. Can you tell us about it?
A: We have been DJing under the name “Xanex” and “Psyro” for many years and I have been producing parties hosting artists from around the world for almost 20 years…that’s what keeps me young. I founded the legendary Tel Aviv party line BWB (Big Wednesday Block) back in 2006, and also been involved with other Israeli productions such as Tsunami, Global Warming, Different Behaviour, Lala Production & TIP Festival. These days I am mostly dealing with his new baby: COMMUNA, a line of parties in Tel Aviv.
I found myself driving my car and a convoy of 20 cars driving after me searching the party
Q: Do you remember the first party you went to? What was the effect it had on you? Any juicy story to share : )
A: We both have been going to trance parties from early age…15-16 or so…it was a period in life that all that mattered was trance parties…the music drew us inside and stole us from the outside world. For guys that played on different instruments and worked with software from early age and became DJs at elementary school it was obvious that when we will grow up we will be on stage. That was the dream…
One memory is a party at Beit Govrin in Israel inside a cave… We got there after hours and hours of searching, no one knew where to go. I remember we stopped at a gas station and for some reason everyone was thinking that I have a clue where the party is so…I found myself driving my car and a convoy of 20 cars driving after me searching the party hehehe…in the end we found it and got into the cave. DJ Dede was playing that day, the floor at the cave was so slant and everyone was dancing and falling all the time 🙂 Many years later when me and Dede became friends I reminded him of this party…he was shocked I remembered it hehehe… A great period in life it was.
Cosa Nostra @ Communa party in The Block in Tel Aviv (Photo: Albert Lalamaiev)
Q: What is your ultimate Psytrance track of all times (we know it’s hard, but still…)
A: Well, because we are two, we will give you two tracks: Hallucinogen – Gamma Goblins & Man With No Name – Teleport.
Q: Future plans for Cosa Nostra?
A: We only hope to keep on doing what we LOVE and to go up and up עמת play at the biggest stages there are… to get energy from the crowd…well, it’s the meaning of “living the dream” for us!