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Anjunabeats Introduces: ANUQRAM
Maksim Kurofeev and Anton Agoshcov, aka ANUQRAM, have come a long way since releasing their debut Anjunabeats single, ‘Echoes’ with PROFF, in October 2021. In recent years, the progressive house duo have seen spins from industry heavyweights like Armin van Buuren, Vintage Culture, David Guetta, Oliver Heldens, Cosmic Gate and more on their tracks 'Get On', ‘Don’t Stop’, as well as their remix of anamē’s ‘Bermondsey Bender’.
Having carved out a sonic signature of their own, the duo dropped the ‘On My Knees EP’ earlier this year. Featuring collaborations with Ash Nova and Dulus, the EP earned support from Solarstone, Ferry Corsten, Harry Diamond, Kyau & Albert, Farius and more.
ANUQRAM followed that up with their remix of Above & Beyond and Zoë Johnston's uplifting trance hit 'Crazy Love', which saw support from Nora En Pure, Sultan + Shepard, Jerro, Korolova, Chicane, Laura van Dam, Tritonal, Markus Schulz, Andrew Rayel and DIM3NSION.
Out today, the ‘Alright Now EP’ sees ANUQRAM join forces with Alexey Sonar, a pioneer of progressive house in Europe and the co-owner of renowned labels Intricate Records and SkyTop, as well as Italian duo Madraas, who have released on the likes of All Day I Dream and Art Vibes Music.
Learn more about the story behind ANUQRAM, as well as the ‘Alright Now EP’, in our Q&A with them below.
Listen to the 'Alright Now EP'
Q&A with ANUQRAM
How did you meet each other?
We met in an online electronic music forum back in 2017. In 2018, we met each other in person for the first time at an ALPHA 9 show in Moscow; Maksim played a b2b set that night with a DJ called Same K.
When did you first start producing together, and what inspired you to do this?
Initially, we released progressive trance music. You can find our earliest collaborations under the name ‘Max Meyer & Wilderness’.
Our first collaboration was released in 2019 on Ruben De Ronde's label. After that, we decided to work under a new alias: ‘ANUQRAM’. We were massively inspired by progressive trance at that time, and we were keen to make music that had its own unique style and sound.
Do you remember your first time DJing in front of an audience? What was that experience like?
Our first performance as ANUQRAM was in Yekaterinburg at a Halloween Party in 2021. We were nervous, because a very experienced DJ was playing before us, and his set was so good! But everything went great. Many of our tracks received excellent feedback, and the event organisers invited us to play again a year later.
Which artists have had the biggest influence on you musically?
We really like the music of Massive Attack, Junkie XL, Way Out West, Faithless, Radiorama, and of course Above & Beyond. These musicians are time-tested and continue to inspire us every day.
The ‘Alright Now EP’ includes collaborations with Madraas and Alexey Sonar. What are your favourite tracks by those artists?
All of these producers have big discographies and it’s difficult to choose favourites, but for Madraas, we’ll single out their remix of Rashid Ajami’s ‘You Don’t Know Me’ and their collaboration with Rebelski ‘Leaving Places’. As for Alexey Sonar, we love his tracks 'Clubbed' and 'Tik Tak'.
Do you have a favourite Anjunabeats record? What is it and why?
It’s a challenge to choose a favourite track on Anjunabeats because there’s such a wide variety of great music on the label, but after much discussion we landed on Grum’s ‘Lose Control’ - it’s energetic, exciting and we’re confident that it’ll feel relevant for a long time.
Which other Anjunabeats artists would you love to collaborate with?
We’re big fans of Dosem because we really like the atmosphere he creates in his tracks. Also, PROFF definitely deserves a mention; we'd love to collaborate with him on something new.
Where would you like to play in future?
We receive a lot of questions from our listeners about events in the UK, and we’d love to visit the country one day. We’re also passionate about Asia and Latin America.