Mourad Kehailia and Sebastian Fischer are the creative minds behind 90ASES, a groundbreaking new musical project based in the vibrant city of Cologne. Last month, I came across their debut single ‘Lovely’, and it’s truly been part of my life’s soundtrack ever since. It’s intoxicating!
We wanted to get to know Mourad and Sebastian a little better and were thrilled when they agreed to an interview. Chatting with us about what their upcoming tunes might sound like, who some of their biggest influences are, and what they get up to when not creating new music, please give a big welcome to our friends 9OASES!
Hey Mourad and Sebastian! I’m so excited to introduce you to our ever-growing audience! Let’s kick things off with an easy one…Who is 9OASES and what brought the two of you together?
We played some Back to Backs in Germany and France while touring as DJs individually in the past. During that period of time, we were on a songwriting camp in the Alps of France, where we both shared a studio. It was a lot of fun to combine our styles so we decided to start the 9OASES project where we wouldn’t produce or release just one specific genre of music but to do whatever feels right in the studio. That felt very liberating.
I’ve fallen pretty hard for your debut single ‘Lovely’! Admittedly, I don’t live and breathe the house genre, but I just really connected with the tune. How did it come together? Do you remember its “birth” so to speak?
If we remember correctly, Mourad chopped some breaks and got the basic idea rolling during a session together in the studio. For some time we were looking for the right chords and at that time we listened to a lot of old trance anthems of the 90s. So we got inspired by the sound design and the vibes of that time and incorporated a lot of it. When we finished the first arrangement, we had the impression that there was still a little bit missing and we chopped a vocal that rounded off the song for us. We think those were the first thoughts during the production.
I know ‘Lovely’ is just the start and you plan on releasing a lot more music. Can listeners expect a similar sound going forward, or do you have a couple of tricks up your sleeves?
The plan with 9OASES is to not commit to a specific genre of music. But the next four to five releases will sound familiar to ‘Lovely’. We will slowly prepare the listeners for what they can expect of us. We can say both of us have different musical backgrounds and so we incorporate both hip-hop and rave elements into our productions, coupled with impressions we get at concerts or other music listening. These influences assert themselves sometimes more and sometimes less strongly. On ‘Lovely’, we think there are strong 90s rave influences to hear, but in the coming releases there will be other focuses. In the core, however, we already have a common idea of the sound that we celebrate and that will also be reflected in our releases. So it remains exciting.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Timbaland, Four Tet, Eric Prydz, Dr. Dre, The Neptunes, Aphex Twin, Kanye, James Ford, Moderat.
What song do you each love that you wish you’d written?
Mourad: The instrumental of ‘Cry Me a River’ by Justin Timberlake. It’s such an all-time complex classic.
Sebastian: M83 – Midnight
If you could each have a conversation with a legendary musician and ask them one question, who would it be, and what would you ask them?
Mourad: I would go with Dr. Dre and I’d ask him how he trained his ear on which sounds not only sound good to him but also goes down best with the listeners and when he declares the song finished despite so few elements in his songs.
Sebastian: I would love to talk to The Chemical Brothers and the question would certainly come up as to how they have managed to stay so focused over all these years and keep redefining their creative output.
When you’re not creating new music, what keeps you both busy and what do you enjoy doing?
It’s a lot of family time, time with some friends. Trying out new restaurants. Helping out wherever we can, some sports and Sebastian also loves jogging.
I know there are new tunes on the way but I guess, in a broader sense, what do you hope your musical futures have in store?
Honestly first of all we want to keep on having fun doing what we are doing. After that, we would set some goals of playing some live shows in the near future and working with interesting musicians and singers in the studio which is the fuel of the 9OASES project.
