Do you remember where you were when you first heard ‘Pink Houses‘ by Answer42 back in 2009? I was walking down the street listening to an episode of Trance Around The World on my iPod, and it quite literally stopped me in my tracks! Since then the Anjunadeep aces have gone on to wow the world of progressive house with their uniquely warm, uplifting sound and in a very short space of time have become one of its leading lights. They’re also 3 of the loveliest, most down to earth and friendly guys in the business so it’s both an honour and a real pleasure to have been given an insight into the world of Answer42 as we talk early days, their name, their musical style and inspirations, studio setup, their production tips and more!

Hi guys! First things first – how did you guys get together and start making music as Answer42?

We originally started as X-Tence back in 2006, and at that time we were producing mainly trance. Our first works consisted of several remixes for the American singer Amuka, and some of them ended up into the popular Billboard Dance Chart. In 2008 we started to move into progressive trance with a project called Mooka (different name, but same people), which attracted some interest from James Grant at Anjunadeep. At the end of that year we produced the first Answer42 track (Pink Houses) and we signed it with them.  Since then, we’ve kept Answer42 as our main alias and have started to develop its sound.

Where did you come up with the name Answer42 – are you big Douglas Adams fans?!

Definitively yes, we are big fans of Douglas Adams and his work. We were considering tons of possible names, but when “Answer42″ came up, it completely blurred out the others. It felt very simple, funny and deep (ok, maybe not that deep, Deep Thought!).

I’ve been hooked on your uniquely warm, uplifting sound ever since I heard ‘Pink Houses’ – but how would YOU describe it in your own words? And has it changed since you started out?

Thanks for your kind words.

Of course it’s not easy to classify our own work. However you might call our music “Tropical Trance”.  Our strongest initial influences were mainly trance and progressive house and funk.  Through the years we have added some more influences that now range from italo-dance to nu-disco, but still incorporating a strong trance component.

How did you get signed to Anjunadeep, one of the biggest progressive house labels in the world?

In 2008 we released a relatively successful remix for P8 – 1986. The release popped up in the Beatport charts and we were enough lucky to be noticed by James Grant.

Who would be your dream artist to remix, and who would you most like to remix one of your own tracks?

We really like the sounds that are currently coming from Jody Wisternoff, PROFF, Shingo Nakamura and Jaytech. We would love to remix or be remixed by any or all of them.

What are your Top 5 tracks right now?

In no particular order:
Dusky “Stick by this” (the whole album)
Soundprank – Beginnings
Jean Jacques Smoothie feat. Tara Buschm – 2People (Dcup Remix)
Luca Lombardi – Nowhere People (I-Vision Mix)
Dimo feat Michael Inge – Orbit (Answer42 mix)

You recently started a blog to share your production tips – what would be your top tips for aspiring producers?

Be unique. That’s the most important thing for us: there’s definitively too much mediocre and generic music around these days. Keep an eye on our website to get more production tips in the future!

What studio setup do you guys use yourselves?

Our studio is FL Studio based, but we have a hybrid approach involving external gear such as Virus C and Novation synthesizers. However we are moving more and more into the digital domain due to time and logistical constraints.

Can we expect any live Answer42 gigs anytime soon?

Unfortunately we don’t have any gigs scheduled right now, but hopefully in the future!

Recently you posted on your Facebook page: “Exciting things are coming up”. Anything you’d care to share – what are you currently working on and what’s coming up next?

We have just got the master back of our new track! We are sorry but we cannot reveal much about it right now, however it is going to be something new and different from our usual sound. Our sound so far has been mainly synth-driven, but we are now injecting much more samples. Somehow we are trying to merge nu-disco and progressive house, so you can hopefully expect something innovative!

We’ve also got a remix of an older track from an awesome artist, and this is going to probably be released as a bonus track next year.

Our latest remix for “Dimo feat Michael Inge – Orbit” has just been released on Usefull Records, and it’s incorporating nu-disco with progressive house and some tasty vocoding. Go check it out!

Lucy, thank you very much for the interview and good luck with your website!

Thank YOU guys – as a massive fan since the very early days of Answer42, I can’t wait to hear what’s coming next!

Follow Answer42 at:

Answer42 official website
Answer42 on Facebook
Answer42 on Twitter
Answer42 on Soundcloud

And check out their remix of Dimo ft Michael Inge – if you like what you hear, buy a copy on Beatport.