711

"It’s music and there should be no rules when it comes to expressing thoughts and emotions through music and arts in general." 711 is a female techno act from Slovenia that is raising more and more eyebrows on the underground music scene with their performances as well as artist productions. Alja is more experienced of two girls and a known figure on alternative scene, which she also develops for more than a decade as an editor in chief of Adrenaline magazine and web community – a popular meeting point for people who are into alternative sports, culture and lifestyle. Her sidekick Ursha on the other hand is part a DJ, MC, producer and designer, with the background in the hip hop scene, and the one who brings into the project fresh energy that most of established artists are so eagerly looking for. To sum it up: girls are well situated on the alternative scene, have versatile interests, but it’s the energy of techno that brought them together. Although Alja has an extended knowledge and experience in the field of music media, production of events, creative challenges and music compilations, she didn’t start to deejay and produce until she hooked up with quite younger Ursha. She, on the other hand is quite skillful with music software and experienced hip hop lyricist, but it was techno that gave her a kick to really tap into music production. “We knew each other briefly from the after parties but we really connected only couple of years ago," remembers Alja. "I’ve always wanted to learn music production but in the last ten years and more the right opportunity never really came up. Then I’ve met Funky, we started talking music and it wasn’t long after I’ve visited her in the studio. I got sucked in right away and I am quite satisfied with my progress, though some say I put too many ideas in single tracks. But: why not? I like to experiment with sounds and tools. It’s music and there should be no rules when it comes to expressing thoughts and emotions through music and arts in general. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t learn all this stuff earlier as I’d be much more experienced producer right now and my tracks would sound even better." Although they act as a duo and they sign all their productions as 711, both girls prefer to create the base of the tracks each by herself. They play with the structures, loops and sounds and in most cases share the ideas when they are already well developed. “It seems we function better this way. The results are better if we work separately," explains Ursha. “But in any case we talk about out music, we comment it, we’re both open for suggestions, so what comes out is a result of common creativity. But it’s true, Ursha is more experienced producer and she has a sharper ear so I trust her with the balance of sounds and all that technical stuff," agrees Alja. The tracks that represent their sound best are their remix of Marco Bailey’s "Bom Bang" and a rework of Plastikman’s "Ask Yourself". These are exactly the artists that Alja grew up with on the dance floors, earning her stripes at the parties with all big techno names. “We’re not in it for a fame and glory. Music is our passion and that’s why we don’t limit ourselves with the sounds and genres,” continues Funky. And it seems that approach - works. Their productions are released through their “resident” USA based Coalition Records and Noise Planet Records, German Messerheld and Trackord or Spanish Incense and Tainted Buddah Records. "It seems people from Germany, Spain and Italy like our sound the most, though we get requests for remix jobs also from France an the UK. Roughly half of the plays of our tracks on the SoundCloud are done through the German IPs. Right now we’re in the middle of the vortex. Since recently we didn’t really thought about releasing our music, at least not yet. But after a string of happy coincidences we got our first track out and labels started knocking on our door. In couple of months we’ve signed dozen of tracks to various labels, they even wanted the stuff we created some year or two ago.” So it’s a busy season for 711 as the producers. Though you have to catch them behind the decks in a club if you want to really get their sound and energy. If you doubt in them: they’ve recently joined the Support Your Local DJ challenge and finished the competition in the final round. And that’s something that Alja and Ursha can be really proud about. Record Labels: Coalition records (USA), Messerheld (GER), Tainted Buddah (Spain), Incense Records (Spain), Trackord Records (GER), Noise Planet Records (USA), Electrico Records (USA), Progressive Tone (IRL) Selected discography of 711 711 – Discoveries // Coalition Records (USA/EU) by 7ll 711 – Trans Atlantic // Tainted Buddah Records (SPA) by 7ll 711 – The Collapse of Civilization // Progressive Tone (IRL) by 7ll 711 – Talk To Me // Electrico Records (USA) by 7ll 711 – Sound Love // Tainted Buddah Records (SPA) by 7ll 711 – Redcore (EP) // Coalition Records (USA/EU) by 7ll 711 – Wild Little Giants // BomBeatz Music (USA) by 7ll 711 – Pixels of your Soul // Tainted Buddah Records (SPA) by 7ll 711 – Yellow Warehouse // Tainted Buddah Records (SPA) by 7ll 711 – Das Experiment (EP) // Coalition Records (USA/EU) by 7ll 711 – Paper Work (EP) // Messerheld Netlabel (GER) by 7ll