Brooklyn born producers, Espinal & Nova linked up on a solo gig during a summer afternoon boardwalk party in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Having a similar style, yet different flavours, the two eventually teamed up as a powerful duo, exposing the best of both their musical talents and passionate mindset. Their new single Homies is without a doubt a track for serious movers. DMC grabs give with the guys…
Your most recent release Homies comes out on SOUP NYC on Friday 26 July- what sounds can we expect to hear in the single?
There’s a BIG build up and a whole lot of groove in the track! We’ve been holding onto this one for a while and we are really happy to put it out with our boys at SOUP
For those that may not be familiar with the term, can you give a definition of the term ‘Homies’ ?
Your friends are the ones who will tell you how bad ass your music is and how every track you put out is a weapon, your homies are the ones who are straight up with you and aren’t scared to tell you that your shit is trash and try and help you LOL
Can you remember the first tracks you produced when you started out? How did you feel about them then in comparison to now?
The first tracks we put out together was an EP on Nervous Records a few years ago. We’ll always love those tracks because they really kicked “Espinal & Nova.” They made us more than just two kids from Brooklyn that liked to spin back to back. They’re not necessarily records we would play now in our deejay sets, but will always be special to us.
Do you have any other releases scheduled for 2019?
Yes we do! We have scheduled releases on SOUP(obviously), Undr the Radr, Nervous Records, No Excuse Records, Farriswheel Recordings, Exit 32 and a few more we have to keep under wraps for now!
How do you like to work together? Will one of you come up with an idea and send to the other remotely or do you go into the studio together?
An amazing part about being in this NYC scene is that amazing music is so accessible. So there are times where one of us will go out to a show hear a new artist or just be in the place where you would least expect to find inspiration and want to get to work.
Joe (Nova) just got back from a trip to Africa with his family and it was almost as if he went on a musical retreat like f%#ing Kanye West. He had his phone out voice recording anything and everything to sample lol.
We have a pretty good relationship where we do a good job at feeding off of each other. Working alone can get boring at times, we are lucky to have each other.
We read that in terms of software, you work on Ableton, but what other things do you like to use when creating a track?
As we mentioned in the last question, we use anything we can that can be relatable. We use live instruments, we do a lot of sampling (crazy what you would find on the Internet) and we’ve had the pleasure of working with a few very talented vocalists.
The life as an electronic music artist can be lonely and at times stressful. Do you feel working as a duo has benefitted your mental health and can you describe some times when you have really appreciated having each other there to overcome problems?
It’s tough because working in this industry can be really stressful and we are lucky to have each other. We’ve been overlooked many times in the last few years but we just keep working harder.
What do you do to relax when you are not creating music?
We still work full time at the moment. Danny is also a dad, so when we aren’t working, and he’s not with his kid we are grinding.
Do you have any gigs lined over the next few months that you are particularly excited for?
7/26 – Circle Line Summer Series Boat Party with Roger Sanchez
8/4 – HQ Beach Club with Camelphat
8/13 – Funktion House LIVE Stream
8/17 – Boat Trippin’ with our SOUP boys and Stacey Pullen
9/1 – Headliner Nightclub with Oscar G and Cocodrills
We’re also waiting to confirm probably the biggest show of our career. So be on the look out!
Final question so let’s make it random- if you had to eat one cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Sunday sauce. Don’t @ us
