Abdul Raeva, aka powerhouse duo Steffan Todorović and Joonas Arro, have been making waves with their consistent, no nonsense club tool releases. We’re stoked to catch up with them ahead of their first South-East Asia / Australia tour.
First and foremost thank you so much for taking the time to put this mix together, can you tell us a little bit about the energy behind this mix, is there anything you would prescribe doing while listening?
Hi and thanks for having us. Been big fans of the series for a while, so super cool to contribute!
Normally we spend an obscene amount of time preparing mixes but not much thought went into this one. It was really just plug and play, and the first couple of tracks cleared the way for the rest. We’ve been fortunate enough to play lots of shows in 2023, so we got to learn through trial and error, what makes us tick behind the decks. This mix is basically an organic A-Z amalgamation of that. Tried and tested while cleaning house!
We’re obsessed with your consistent signature punchy club tool sound. Who are some of your biggest influences?
Ever since the start we've had a shared love for New Members. We have very different tastes, but the musical space New Members occupies covers so common ground for us, that his tracks quickly became go-to references for both production and dj’ing. He’s probably the one we set as a benchmark and measured up to. But it’s a long list - Chris Cowie, Cherry Bomb, Peace Division, Liquid Earth and Skee Mask have also had huge impacts on us, as well as graphic artists like Planet Luke aka Luca Lozano and cm-dp who definitely inspired the visual ethos we adopted.
What are some of the biggest pros and cons working as a powerhouse duo, both production wise and for djing?
Being a duo definitely comes with some low-practical challenges. We both have full time jobs and partners, so finding time to get creative and make music together can be really difficult. Getting financially viable bookings is also quite hard as we basically cost promoters twice as much as a solo act. Of course there are some downsides but we probably wouldn’t call them cons, just obstacles.
We’re really good mates and it’s just been incredibly rewarding to share Abdul with each other these past 3-4 years. And it’s super nice to have someone to fall back on when you need some help or times get tough. Like one of us was supposed to play an Abdul gig alone on NYE but started feeling ill, so the other one swooped in.
Our biggest advantage is probably that we know Abdul won’t live forever, so we’re just making the most of it while we can. We always refer to it as a fuck-around project and doing it together is what makes it fun
“Our biggest advantage is probably that we know Abdul won’t live forever, so we’re just making the most of it while we can. We always refer to it as a fuck-around project and doing it together is what makes it fun”
You’re about to embark on a huge tour through South East Asia and then down under, how are you both feeling about it and is there anything you’re looking forward to doing/eating/seeing/playing in particular? (This is a hint for all you punters to take these legends out and show them a good time!)
What we’re most looking forward to is meeting all the managers, promoters and bookers involved so that we can thank them in person. It’s been 1.5 years in the making but we’re still quite dumbfounded by it actually coming together, so we’ve not really thought too far ahead. But we’re just really excited to experience new club cultures - especially the Australian one seeing as it’s one of the primary breeding-places for the music we make and play. It’ll just be really fun connecting with a whole new fan base and hopefully bring some renewed inspiration back home. We really want a basic tourist picture in front of the Sydney opera house though!
What’s next for Abdul Raeva?
Your guess is as good as ours! We’ve got an acid techno release coming up to Gestalt Records’ sub-label Hidden Assets, but past that there’s not much planned. Right now we’re fully focused on having a fun tour and playing some great shows! Hopefully we manage to write some new music soon but let’s see :)
Stay up to date with Abdul Raeva here