Today we want to present you two producers that, for years, are continuously bringing fresh vibes to hard dance: Alex Moerman & Paul Gorbulski, better known to the world and music industry as Crystal Lake. This eminent pair has been consistently proving their worth with unique, vivid and energetic productions. In the previous years, they released fantastic big room tunes like “Stick ‘Em” along with the distinguished Hardstyle artist DJ Isaac or “Roots” in Maxximize Records, edited by Blasterjaxx… But they kept their hardstyle “roots” with underground releases like “Right Here Right Now” too! In addition, they collaborated with the legend Headhunterz in a series of incredible tunes: “Live Your Life” (the most famous), “Say Goodbye“, “Into The Sunset” and “The Universe Is Ours” (personal favourite).
The special characteristic of this magnificent duo is that their music is unpredictable… But it always keeps that “hardstyle” electro touch. Progressive, electro house, even psy-trance… They experimented with a lot of genres, while always keeping their original signature sound. Two of the most versatile artists in the scene!
This duo also excelled at festivals. They played their nifty gigs at Defqon1, Summerburst, Mysteryland, Decibel; to name a few.
Live Your Life
Live Your Life, an album by Headhunterz, Crystal Lake on Spotify
To kickstart 2018 with efficacy, Crystal Lake has unveiled their latest release at inHarmony records, a label recently launched by the renowned Producer Andrew Rayel. Christened as “Space People”, Crystal Lake has confirmed that their newest production is a product of their never-ending inspiration for Science fiction, time travel and last but not the least, space. “Space People” is a brilliant amalgamation of rumbling Psy-Trance and dominating Hardstyle. With an uplifting breakdown and roaring drop, the release strikes with the right amount of intensity and power, while presenting another further aspect of their unpredictable geniality.
Space People
Space People, an album by Crystal Lake on Spotify
We had the chance to ask them some questions, submitted by fans! Let’s start the interview with Alex and Paul!
1. “Crystal Lake” is an artist name inspired by the notorious camp of the movie “Friday The 13th”. What are the reasons behind this choice? Are you horror movies fans?
That’s correct, Since the both of us are friends from a very young age (much before we started making music), we used to watch all the Friday the 13th movies together and scare each other. Therefore it was a very natural choice for us, we didn’t even know what type of music we were going to produce when this name came up. Just knew it was something that both of us felt part of. And yes, we are horror movie fans… Paul in particular, he even has his own “Horror Paul” Facebook updates in which he reviews his latest selections.
2. You always tried to explore new genres outside the hardstyle world. Can you tell us more about your experience with EDM beside hardstyle? What are the differences?
Well, we started our musical journey with Trance, then moved to Early Hardstyle in 2004, then Dancecore, then Hardstyle, then Progressive House & Bigroom and now back to Hardstyle again… crazy! This journey of styles was a self discovery trip which we had to take in order to find out what music we enjoy producing best. Each genre had it own experiences, good and bad alike. But if we had to put this in one sentence it would be that although the big and more commercial market of EDM offers bigger shows and stages, you really have to be following or creating your own trends constantly because the crowd there is more mainstream and will always search for the latest buzz it is also very tricky because it keeps changing and it was very hard for us to focus on our music as artist due to that. The more underground scenes might be a little less “shiny”, but there you can truly express yourself and build yourself as an artist.
3. During your career, you achieved important objectives! We can’t forget the legendary collaboration with Headhunterz “Live Your Life”, or, in hardstyle terms, the wonderful “Your Style”. What’s your most important production, for you?
“Welcome To The Zoo” was probably our most important track, it was our first track to be signed in the Hardstyle scene, we came as newcomers from a different scene and signed our first release on what was then the hottest label around. The label was Hard With Style, run by Headhunterz. This also set the ball rolling for the future which you already know of 🙂
4. What are your future plans? Can we expect more surprises by Crystal Lake in 2018?
Our plans for 2018 are focused on melodic, cinematic and powerful hardstyle, combining everything we have learned over the years and focus more on solo singles this time. We feel like it’s our time to show what we can do on our own.
5. Your latest release, “Space People”, is already going well! Can you talk about its idea, the choice of releasing it under inHarmony Music, and the reasons behind its fascinating mood?
“Space People” represents our vision for Crystal Lake, it’s the first among many upcoming singles which combine our love for sci-fi, space, time travel and cinematic themes. We made sure to have that big cinematic vibe in the breakdown, kind of like they have in the classic movie “The 5th Element”, which we also both love. Regarding inHarmony, we were approached by them to do a remix for Andrew Rayel’s “Heavy Love”… The remix we made was quite aggressive, so we weren’t sure if they would take it or not, but they really liked it and therefore we decided to offer them “Space People” as well. It was also important for us to release this single on a label which specializes in trance as well as other genres.
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