NEWS

Currently somewhere deep in the US hinterland shredding up a tour bus with Datsik and Crizzly on the Ninja Nation 2017 tour and dropping major league co-labs with Dirtyphonics, Virtual Riot is already chomping into 2017 like some type of musical monster. But he’s barely even started…

Commencing this Monday, Mr Riot – first name Valentin, last name Brunn – is about to drop a succession of free tracks that tap into the original chiptune, vibrant, rainbow rave vibes we first fell in love with him for… And many of us have been demanding ever since. Over the course of the week he will honour these requests in the form of seven throwback tunes, delivered daily via his socials.

And if you can’t until Monday then at least hold out for Friday when he drops the VIP of In My Head on Spirited. What did we say about him chomping into the year like some musical monster?

Here’s what we know about the Throwback EP so far…

Last time we spoke you were pretty evangelistic about how good life was. Then this epic feel-good EP lands… Is it a reflection of your satisfaction with life?

It is definitely the kind of music I make when I am in a good mood. That’s when I love making these uplifting unicorn-rainbow-sparkle chiptune-melodies that are all over this EP. I’ve also been having a good time being on tour with Datsik right now so that had some influence on the vibe of the EP as well.

It’s a great exploration of the original sound many of us first knew you for. Where does it all take root?

When I started making this kind of music I was listening to a lot of screamo as well as chiptune and trance so all these uplifting melodies and chords from those genres came together when I started making that kind of complextro and melodic dubstep.

Are these the type of tunes you wanted to make originally but didn’t quite have the technical skills at the time?

Most of these tunes are actually old project files I’ve started and forgotten about halfway through. A lot of my friends had the unfinished versions of these songs and always asked me to finalize them so I thought putting them all together in one big throwback EP would be the best way to do those old tunes justice.

If you could go back in time and see Yung Valentin in 2011 when you first started releasing music what would you say to him?

I’m fairly happy with how things went since then so I don’t really know what I would say to my past-me haha. I would probably just give myself all the mixdown- and sound design-advice I have acquired over the years.

I’m getting some serious chill future garagey vibes on the final track Part Of Me… That’s not a throwback, it’s some type of crazy sexy curveball – can we expect more stuff like that one day?

Yeah, I love that stuff and I think it’s a good way to end an EP (see Skrillex – Leaving). I will definitely explore this genre more because I feel like it gives me a bit more creative freedom in some way.

What’s next?

There are still about 25 shows to go on the Ninja Nation tour with Datsik and Crizzly right now and after that, I’ll see if I can lock myself in for a few weeks and come up with some dope new stuff! Also there might be some more future-bass tunes coming up in the near future….

Throwback EP tracks launch Monday February 20.

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