Wolfgang Gartner breaks silence to unveil new album details and preview ‘Unholy’
As one of the talents responsible for nurturing the resurgence of dance music in America, Wolfgang Gartner returns to the spotlight as a surprisingly discreet voice amongst the rabid gathering of DJ hopefuls fighting for a chance to be the next Martin Garrix. With over 8 months of a silence between his last original release, exciting news came forth from the Los Angeles based producer’s Facebook page today.
Before he even knew it himself, Wolfgang’s forthcoming album began forming in production back in July of 2013, in tandem with the EDM explosion that sparked the kick drum/snare builds and over-compressed drops that have turned a genre born in self expression to a scene of rampant banality. Beyond all the formulaic electro barrages, Joey Youngman – the name behind Wolfgang Gartner – has been nurturing his own electronic touch for well over 20 years and felt his own inspiration diverge completely from what had become all too common in ‘EDM.’
From producing anonymously behind his now famed moniker to his esteemed position as a demanded festival performer, the San Louis Obispo native is well acquainted with the ins and outs of being a prolific presence in music. Undoubtedly, Wolfgang’s break in silence comes with purpose and simultaneously gifts fans with the first fleeting preview of his new music to come. In addition to the 30 second preview, the “Illmerica” producer provides insight into how his coming sound cultivated:
“My first goal when creating music is to make something that belongs in the future, not in the now. To interpret this literally; most albums take up to two years to make and up to another year to get released, so in a sense you have to think about how it will live in the future when creating. But nobody has a crystal ball. This is why I think of it in almost unrealistic terms; I’m trying to make music to be released three, five, even seven years from now, even though I know it will be released sooner than that.”
“Unholy,” the leading track of his upcoming LP, is unquestionably electro house but drenched in the gritty, gnashing flair that Wolfgang Gartner so persuasively mastered with his earlier catalogue hits. Perhaps arriving in perfect timing as the subgenre of crossover underground with bigger house sounds begins to burst, the seasoned dance music veteran seems to have struck a perfect balance between the two parting categories of ‘EDM.’ Putting it pointedly himself, he explains: “I’ve tried to figure out how to take the past and recreate it in it’s true form but in the context of the future. I’ve tried to make Electronic Dance Music that focuses on the Dance part and disregards the means of getting there […] I’m just trying to have a good time making an album of music that will inspire and make a lot of people happy.”