Heatbeat releases first artist album 'Global Monster' [Interview]

Argentinian production duo Agustin Servente and Matias Chavez have been making music as Heatbeat since 2006. Since then, they've caught the attention of dance music fans and major industry heavyweights like Armin van Buuren, partnering with him on multiple releases on Armada Music. But now, they've embarked on something that's a first in their careers: releasing a full length artist album. Entitled Global Monster, the fifteen-track LP explores the big room style trance that Heatbeat has helped make Argentina famous for, as well as new explorations that we might not have seen from the before in both lighter and harder styles. They collaborated with contemporaries like Chris Schweizer and Bjorn Akesson, but really allowed the album to speak to their world as Heatbeat. We got to chat with the guys a bit ahead of their release, whose single "Secret" is out now along with Global Monster itself.

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EARMILK: So with making an artist album, of course you have to start somewhere. What albums have influenced you most in your career?

Heatbeat: The Verve's Urban Hymns, Daft Punk's Daft Club, Linkin Park's Meteoria and Paul Oakenfold's Tranceport.

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EM: What made you decide it was time / you were ready to make a full album?

HB: As an artist, making your first album is something truly special. You want everything sounds as pro as you want and try to show your art in the best way possible. We wanted to show people what Heatbeat sound is all about, delivering 15 tracks to show our passion and take fans on a musical journey.

EM: How was this different than what you've done before?

HB: Doing an album gives you the chance to explore and experiment on new sounds. Like our track "Magial Owl Princes" which is trance but with down-tempo betas is a perfect example: when you release a single, it's not easy to do something like this. Even we made some dub step beats on "I Can't See You" with Leonie Meyer, we were combining it with trance music.

EM: Can you tell us a little bit about one or two of your favorite tracks?

HB: Agustin's favorite track would be "Secret" that features Quilla. On that one we had the inspiration of our old classic "Roses Never Cry," and made a vocal with the track, which turned out a great combination and a truly trance track. Matias's favorite is "BuenosAurus," a track meant for the dance floor, with a great bassline and stunning riff. Really dark and powerful at the same time.

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EM: You're very well known within the trance music community. With this album did you try to stay within a genre?

HB: Yes: trance music. For us it's all about that genre. But we also love to experiment with it , combining it with different genres – from techno to electro, down-tempo to uplifting music.

EM: What was the hardest thing about making an album vs a single?

HB: I think the hardest thing is that we took two years on do this, but you still have to drop some singles at the same time so we can still show people our music periodically. And we had to decide which singles would be in the album along the way, and which wouldn't. But the results are really positive, and we are really happy with it.

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EM: What's something that you'd like people to get from listening to Global Monster?

HB: Forget about genres, BPMs, just close your eyes and listen to our music. This is a way to say thank you for so many years of support.