Cosmic Tone – New Album Interview

Cosmic Tone is no newcomer to the Psytrance world. Roi Nissan has been creating and releasing for more than 17 years and has just released his 7th (!!!) album in Iono Music. It’s a very musical album that is full of color and feel. We talked with Roi about his years of making music and about the new album.

Listen to “Cosmic Tone – Resources” while you read:

Q: Hi Roi, new Cosmic Tone album is here – tell us a bit about it.

A: Yes, this is truly a new album for Cosmic tone. The album includes 9 tracks – psychedelic full on melodic material suitable for the dance floor and also to listen to in general. I worked on this album for about two years and I wanted to tell a story that would suit all the times, with futuristic looks and sounds.
The name of the album is “Resorces” and I called it that because it took a lot of resources to create it. The album was printed as a physical CD and also sold as online downloads in all platforms and was printed on USB with more sounds and information about Cosmic Tone and the new album.

Q: You’ve been creating and releasing psytrance music for more than 17 years, with 7 albums behind you, and yet it seems you’ve been away for the last few years and went under the radar. What have you been up to?

A: It’s both true and not true. I continued to create and play gigs all over. The music was released on singles and EPs. The performances gigs were not the same, as I have been busy doing mixing and mastering for many artists. That a lot of my time and slowed the creative process. I also Became a family man with a wife and children, so of course keeping the same schedule as was before was not possible.
But I felt that I wanted to do something significant that would leave a mark so I worked on this album. I really think the psytrance world needs singles and EPs, but they disappear very fast and don’t really leave a mark. So while “under the radar” I worked hard and suddenly came out an album, and then everything gets more meaning.

Q: So… who is Cosmic Tone? What does the name mean?

A: Cosmic Tone is Roi Nissan, a psytrance artist that since 2000 has been creating music that is aimed to played during the sunrise. It’s happy music accompanied by psycho-dynamic sounds with psychedelic melodies.
Today I’m also a mix and mastering sound technician and work with many labels all over the world. The most important thing though is that Cosmic Tone is a family man. I mean, Cosmic Tone is me, Roi Nissan – it’s part of me. Even if I try to make a distinction between personal and business it is impossible. As I said, this is a part of me, and anyone who knows me personally feels me in the music I create.

The name Cosmic Tone tries to convey a an intention for creating a cosmic sound, something that is beyond this universe. I’ll can also tell you that at first I chose the name Electric Tone, but it was upgraded a few days later to Cosmic Tone because that’s what I felt while creating the sounds.

…the psytrance world needs singles and EPs, but they disappear very fast and don’t really leave a mark. So while “under the radar” I worked hard and suddenly came out an album, and then everything gets more meaning.

Q: In what way is the new album different than your previous releases and what is still the Cosmic Tone element that is present in all of your music?

A: It’s hard for me to really say what’s different in this album. I love them all. I can say that in this album I have invested a lot more thought than into the previous ones. I put a lot of emphasis on the sound production so that everything will be accurate. I tried to bring an all-time style to this album and it took me longer to finish it. Of course, this album also has elements of Cosmic Tone, even if I wanted, it is very hard to change the “color”. I think that every artist has his “color”, and while the style can change, not the color. You will always feel the touch of Cosmic Tone in my sound and music.
I keep making my style- happy psy full on music.

Q: Can you tell us about the creative process of the album?

A: The work on the album took me around two years, while during these two years there were releases of singles and EPs in many labels all over the world. At the beginning of 2018 I and my label Iono Music (Based in Germany) decided that it was time to finish a Cosmic Tone album and so it was. We aimed for the beginning of 2019 and all of 2018 was about creating and building it. I always got and still get full support from my label to do everything the best way I can.

More Cosmic Tone:
On Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/cosmictone
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cosmictone

6. We love the concept presented with the album including the graphics
and animations – can you tell us more about it?

I can tell you that the artwork on the album took about 6 months to create! I know a very talented graphic artist named Piu Le, She’s Mexican but lives in Israel. I asked her if she could do something different, like painting, and she did not think too much and said yes. These days most of the works I see are digital works with a certain symmetry and I had to do something different. Like in the music, also in the graphic side I wanted to return the colors to the different, the strange and the beautiful, just like it used to be. For me the psytrance world is about strange colors that activate your imagination. That’s how I know it.

Get “Cosmic Tone – Resources”: https://www.beatport.com/release/resources/2482698

From that I decided to also arrange videos, because it’s beautiful and also because I think the audience deserves to see something beautiful with the music. I did not want to bore the watchers with just a picture.

7. A favourite question we like to drop on everyone – Do you remember the first party you went to? Were you hooked at once? Any cool story to tell about it?

A: It’s hard to say what was the first party I played. I started at a very young age. At first I was called DJ Nissan and just after a couple of years I set up a studio and started creating music and created a Cosmic Tone.
But I’ll tell you about and important party, after which signed with a record company and from there it all started.

Cosmic Tone in an underground party, 2003.

I just returned from the Far East, Thailand, India and Australia. I lived there for two years, and when I came back I started to create music and it did not take long and I started to play as Cosmic Tone. I played in very big party in the North of Israel with around 1400 ppl. It was a pure party.
I remember that I took all my studio to the party (not as today when people take 2 USB sticks). It was great party and people really liked my set a lot. When I finished my set a guy came to me and said that he really loved what he heard and that he would be happy to connect me with a record company. He gave me a business card and left. The next day I phoned the record company and a guy named Homsy answered me and we arranged to meet. The meeting was positive and it was decided to continue working together, and so my relationship with Trancelucent started. Homsy has accompanied me for years and to this day he is with me in everything I do. Today Homsy is the director of the booking agency Sonic Booking , and also part of party organization Groove Attak and a media manager, and we are still working together! Imagine 20 years of working together, that all started after one party.

8. If you have to choose one track that represents what is Psytrance for you, what would it be?

A: It is very difficult to define a whole world of music and style in one track, but I will say that one track that means something to me is Yahel – Voyage. It was kind of a starting point for me. At the time is was played everywhere and in every set, and in general, I think it is an amazing track that is just built correctly.

Of course I am talking about the very distant past and today the music has changed greatly. It’s also funny because I create a very different style from Voyage, but still it was the one that did it for me.
Later on artists started doing remixes for this track and some of them came to me for mixing and mastering, and I remember that I really enjoyed working on them and closing the circle.

9. Future plans for Cosmic Tone?

A: To keep playing and creating music. Keep on working on sound and mastering. I also try to help the younger musicians in everything I can, even if it is to give good advice. And most important – to make the audience and fans always smile and feeling good.

I want to end this interview with sharing an advice with younger artists. Hopefully one day you will become successful and famous – Never forget where you came from and where you’re going. Just flow, stay yourself, but more professional !!!