Over the course of the last 21 years, Amani Friend and Treavor Moontribe have broadcasted a seemingly unending and constantly evolving mixture of psybient and psychedelic music across the globe. With their own individual roots stretching back well into the 90s, and the duo’s intrepid introduction to one another through the famed Moontribe gatherings in the American desert, their sound is an amalgam of virtually all shapes and sizes of dance-centric electronic production. Given the whirlwind of uncertainty surrounding the long haul of this calendar year, they've adapted to the burgeoning digital formula of streamed events, birthing their Beyond Borders series and serving up choice curations towards a discerning, worldwide audience.
The previous Beyond Borders streams featured a host of eclectic acts and classic pairings within the Desert Dwellers umbrella; Random Rab, Kaya Project, Bluetech, and a cast of other audio and visual artists across three distinct episodes. The third installment was especially exciting, given the inclusion of a conversation with the world-renowned mycologist Paul Stamets. In anticipation of their fourth installation to the Beyond Borders series, The Rust has partnered with Desert Dwellers and the non-profit project Unite to host tomorrow night’s digital festivities. We sat down across the airwaves for a candid conversation with Friend and Moontribe about the streams, their recent remix series, and the Desert Dwellers experience.
The Rust: Your Beyond Borders series has been a tightly curated experience thus far. What drives your first instinct on the artists you choose for each edition of the stream?
Desert Dwellers (DD): It’s pretty simple, we work with artists we know and whose music we love. We often work with ones we've released on our label or have done remix exchanges with.
The Rust: The last edition of Beyond Borders featured a conversation with the mycologist Paul Stamets; how did you end up bringing him on board for the stream? Is there a history between you?
DD: Amani has become good friends with Paul over the last few years and we've now released two tracks with his spoken word featured. We have another track with his words done and plan more in the future.
The Rust: How has your experience been dealing with the overwhelming push towards digital music events?
DD: The main challenge is getting people to tune in. The market became instantly flooded so really we just try to present something that is authentic to who we are and the scene we represent. We also bring forth a pretty diverse musical selection and don't just focus on one main style for our entire shows.
The Rust: The Breath Re-Imagined series has been extremely extensive from start to finish. Can you talk about your initial vision and motivation for the remix series?
DD: It's a tradition now for us to do several remix albums for every artist album we release. For this series though we've moved into two new music genres so we've brought on over 20 artists we've never worked with before in the slower BPM downtempo house and uptempo tribal organic/progressive house scenes. It was certainly challenging to get a lot of these artists on board since we've never worked with them and we're not an artist well known in their scenes. We are really pleased with the end results though and honored to work with so many incredible musicians.
The Rust: What are the typical motivators when you sit down to begin each next project in the Desert Dwellers catalog?
DD: We usually have a specific style in mind we're gearing toward with each track, like the Breath album we wanted to create a slower house album that hinted back to the earliest music we made together. Currently we're working on a series of new remixes for mostly Psy Trance artists where we half time their tempo and turn their tracks into Psy Dub tracks.
The Rust: With such an extensive history under your belts, can you talk about how your own creative processes and inspirations have changed or evolved throughout the course of this career?
DD: Technology plays a huge role in how this process works. As new software is available that changes how things can be done it dictates how we go about creating new music. Mostly we just try to keep learning and getting better at what we do.
The Rust: Speaking of history under the belt, you're both sure to have seen a variety of anxious or impactful situations to the world of live music. Can you speak about your perspectives on the variety of new norms and experiences throughout the course of 2020's pandemic and ensuing lockdowns?
DD: As a musician right now it's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Even as other industries start to work again ours is literally at the back of the line. We have shifted our focus to our releases, merch and finding any ways possible to bring in a little income. We are fortunate to have built a strong brand over the years, but certainly it's hard to see live gigs returning to any sense of normal anytime soon. On the other side of that we have been very creative during this time. We in no way are slacking off and have made a lot of music this year. When other musicians and labels decided to take a break during this crazy time, we decided to keep pressing forward. Music is our salvation and we feel it's extra important to share music with the world during these times.
The Rust: What's on the plate for Desert Dwellers' future?
DD: We have a steady release schedule with a third installment of Night Visions, our DD remixes compilation series, remix EPs of some of our earliest uptempo tracks to give them new life and a bunch of remixes we've done for other artists like Astrix & Vini Vici, Captain Hook and Hibernation. Other than that just working on our solo projects (Liquid Bloom, PheuZen, Forever & Ever) and trying to stay sane!
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Tune in tomorrow on the Desert Dwellers Twitch channel from 6pm EDT until midnight to catch an entire evening of Android Jones alongside Uone, Yuli Fershtat, Ace Ventura, Eat Static, and a special closing set from Desert Dwellers in celebration of the release of Breath Reimagined Vol. 3.
If you’d like to connect further with the Unite platform, head over to their website to get better acquainted with their operation.
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