Esteemed Techno masters Pig&Dan return with their highly anticipated fourth album, ‘Modular Baptism’, out 25 March 2016, via their own label ELEVATE.
In contrast to 2014’s album ‘Destination Unknown’ in which they experimented with more ambient sounds, to great success (topping the Beatport chart from more than 4 months) ‘Modular Baptism’ sees the duo make a triumphant return to the techno world.
“It’s all about returning to our modular roots and is all about dance floor music,” say the Spanish-based duo. “We wanted to grab some oldschoolness and add that modern touch sound wise. We’ve put everything into this one and haven’t held back.”
Highlights of the 15-track album include the sleek opener ‘Now Or Never,’ the hazy but mesmerising ‘Vangelism’ and the title track ‘Modular Baptism’, which impresses with its layered synths, industrial chords and fierce, resonating kick drum. ‘The Saint (Job San)’ – a personal favourite of the duo’s offers a more euphoric, house-energy, whilst tracks like ‘Mexico’ and ‘Let Go’ take the album into darker techno territories and ‘Funk Of The Moog’ is an example of the album’s grittier side, perfect for the underground.
The talented duo (Igor Tchkotoua and Dan Duncan) have been producing music together as Pig&Dan for over 10 years. Before a chance meeting on a plane, Dan had already spent 10 years as a Drum&Bass DJ/Producer and Igor was already making a name for himself in House and Techno scene. “When we connected in the studio that synergy and crossover of styles just seemed to gel right away,” remembers Dan. “It just really worked. And as we were both living in Mallorca with no real influences of trends or other scenes we were able to just make the music we wanted to make – Techno with D&B influences.”
They’ve gone on to release three acclaimed albums plus remix and collaborate with some of the industry’s biggest names including Underworld, DEADMAU5, John Digweed and Innercity for their classic ‘Goodlife’. They’ve also performed at some of the world’s most prestigious festivals and venues including Ultra, Tomorrowland, Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), Amnesia Ibiza, Crobar Buenos Aires and Womb Tokyo plus release music on iconic labels such as Sven Väth’s Cocoon, Slam’s Soma, John Digweed’s Bedrock, Monika Kruse’s Terminal M and Richie Hawtin’s Plus 8.
Another notable career landmark came, three years ago, when the duo launched their very own label, ELEVATE, to support and celebrate like-minded artists and to help nurture new talent. “ELEVATE is all about music we want to play,” say the duo. “We believe we have a unique sound and the label mirrors that in a diverse way. All the music we release is music that really gets under our skin. We are all about a nonlinear sound and adore what we release because there’s a lot of monotonous tracks out there on the scene and we’re trying to combat that.” And it seems to be working, as the success of the label in the last year alone boasts compelling releases from the likes of Monika Kruse, Julian Jeweil, Alberto Ruiz, Ron Costa and Matador plus a whole host of newcomers.
‘Modular Baptism’ is out March 25, and proves that despite more than 10 years in the game, Pig&Dan can continue to push boundaries.
