Protonica – Symmetry – Interview
Protonica are back with a new album. The German duo are known for their positive melodic psychedelic trance, and if you had the chance to experience a Protonica set after sunrise or before sunset the experience will surly stay with you. We used the occasion to talk to the guys and take a peek into the world of Protonica.
While you read listen to Protonica Symmetry full album mix:
Q: So who are Protonica? And we were always curious where does the name come from? Does it have anything to do with the beautiful classic Human Blue track by the same name from the groundbreaking Progress in Trance compilation?
Ralf & Piet: PROTONICA is Piet Kaempfer and Ralf Dietze from Berlin, Germany. A connection to Human Blue’s Song Protonica does not really exist. The origin of the name PROTONICA refers to physics – protons are electrically positively charged particles. Building blocks of the atoms, from which all matter is composed. So that means we stand for electrically positively charged trance music that pervades everything. So that we can speak better, we have added the letters “ica” as an extension and so PROTONICA was born. 😉
For me, proper Psy-Trance is a piece of music that builds up slowly, then merges into the main part with a melodic hookline to end with a successful release. The piece should not be stressful and contain no big and tedious breaks, so you can follow the sounds well and push along – float with the spirit. Just as it already means: TRANCE
Q: Do you remember the first psytrance track you’ve heard and really got you hooked on it?
Ralf: It’s not that easy to say, because when did Psy-Trance music start exactly? Before that, it was rather Acid-Trance, which turned into Goa-Trance. I can remember that in 1993 I heard stuff from Noom Records, like “Commander Tom & Ray Boyé – The Encore (Acid Remix)” and “Oliver Lieb – The Fall”. A little later, around 1995, it was maybe Goa- or Psy-Trance. My first Psy-Trance record might have been this: “Simon Posford & Nick Barber – Angelic Particles” (1995) by TIP Records.
Q: Tell us a bit about your journey from those moments to become a psytrance producers and how was Protonica born.
Ralf: In my former hometown Halle (Saale) I had a radio show called “Waschmaschine (washing machine) – Mixed Styles” with my team at the radio station “Radio Corax”. Musically we played Ambient, Chillout, Minimal Techno & House as well as Psy-Trance and other stuff – as the name implies: Mixed Styles. Every two weeks on the show, various DJs played live, which I personally selected and invited to the show. Among other things, we also had artist features by Gabriel Le Mar, Pete Namlook (rest in peace!), Apparat and Anthony Rother. Piet had applied for this program in 2003 and I invited him. He brought home self-produced music, it was two Goa-Acid trance pieces. I liked these very much and they touched me emotionally. Since I myself already produced music at that time (rather hobbymäßig), I asked Piet, if he feels like trying to create something with me. He did and we found that we worked well together. That’s how it started – our duo was born – in 2004 we gave ourselves the artist name PROTONICA.
Q: New album, a third one, called “Symmetry” in Iboga Records. Tell us a bit about it.
Piet: It has become a spacey album! We worked hard for about two and a half years and did not make it easily. The reactions on the dancefloors in Europe, America and Asia make us optimistic that our new album will be an equal successor to the previous “Form Follows Function” album. It was important for us to further develop and refine the typical PROTONICA sound without losing our character.
Ralf: We have focused on making the songs harmonize well with each other while also each having a different sound character. You can expect a collaboration with Liquid Soul and another with Ticon, as well as two remixes. We did a remix for Ace Ventura & Captain Hook’s “E.B.E” and the other for Atmos’ legendary track “The Only Process”.
Q: Can you tell us about the creative process of the album?
Ralf & Piet: We would say that the creative process was to do justice to a certain artistic claim. The artistic aspect has been to make all songs of the album sound contemporary, so fresh and crisp, with a decent shot of Psy-Trance sauce. ☺
Get Protonica – Symmetry: https://www.beatport.com/release/symmetry/2593955
Q: What is different in this album and what do you feel is always present in your music – the “Protonica sound”?
Piet & Ralf: We have chosen the songs’ specific sequence so that you can listen to the whole album in a good flow throughout from beginning to end: introduction with the following main part and the downturn with a chillout song “Blue Sky”. As a bonus, there is also an album DJ Mix, which is available on most streaming platforms. Typical is our very own touch, which probably our fans can best describe.
Q: If you have to choose one track that represents what is Psytrance for you, what would it be?
Ralf: For me, proper Psy-Trance is a piece of music that builds up slowly, then merges into the main part with a melodic hookline to end with a successful release. The piece should not be stressful and contain no big and tedious breaks, so you can follow the sounds well and push along – float with the spirit. Just as it already means: TRANCE or fall into a trance. Passing over or passing into an altered state of consciousness through sounds / music. I spontaneously remember the following songs: Ace Ventura & Lish – The Light (Astrix Remix), Protonica – Floating Point (Morning Mix) and of course Protonica – Gravity (smile).
Piet: Human Blue – Protonica ☺
Check also our interview with Gaudium:
https://trancentral.tv/2019/06/gaudium-confused-miracles-interview/
Q: Future plans for Protonica?
Piet & Ralf: We’re working on a remix for Shadow Chronicles aka Protoculture’s song “The Matrix”. Further collaborations are planned with Ace Ventura and Zen Mechanics. The rest is still secret (smirk). Get ready for new music from PROTONICA – See you on the dancefloor!
Thank you for the interview!
More Protonica: http://www.protonica.de http://www.collidr.de
