Diamond Haze is an electronic music project formed in Budapest by Gábor and Milán. Gábor is a seasoned bassist with a musical journey traces back to high school bands, while Milán is a vinyl aficionado whose eclectic collection and DJ sets span a range of genres from early trance to modern disco.
Diamond Haze’s unique sound is made up of a harmonious fusion of their distinct musical backgrounds and innovative perspectives, with two releases to date on their own Tapes Sublimating label.
Their latest EP is Unstable Cloud Filter, a four-track release that further established them as a duo with a singular musical sound. Incorporating elements of house, dub, broken beat and even jazz across the four tracks, the result is a highly atmospheric and deeply engaging release.
Hi guys, thank you for taking the time to chat with us today! How has the year been treating you so far?
Milán: The year was great so far: spending a lot of time with our baby girl, listening to as much music as possible, DJ-ing time to time, doing our own tracks, hanging out with friends. And now the EP will be released which I am super excited about!
Gábor: Pretty well I think! I’ve been to beautiful weddings of my friends, every gathering related to them was very cool! My girlfriend moved in with me, which was a big step in the right direction. In general, creating music, and going out as much as we can.
Where do you think the impulse to create music comes from for you?
Gábor: Music is my thing. I’ve always been interested in how it’s made from a technical aspect, and it oriented me into producing and experimenting. When you put something together that starts to have its own feel, it’s very rewarding.
Milán: For me it comes from many things: obviously if I hear a cool track or even a not so cool track that has some interesting elements or ideas in them, also reading interviews with producers, hearing a good mix, seeing a good live performance.
How did you guys meet, and how long was it before you started making music together?
Milán: Gábor was going to the same university as my brother and I think we met not long after they became friends. That was in 2015. It turned out both of us were doing music in some form or shape so we agreed to try doing something together once. It happened pretty soon after as far as I remember and we haven’t stopped ever since.
Gabor – you’re a classically trained musician, correct? Do you think that gives you an extra edge when it comes to studio production?
Gábor: It does, absolutely! Fortunately, I have a very good ear, so I can finetune every sound we are working on, and make sure the introduced elements are in key. Having a general understanding of the basics of how music works is quite a necessity in my opinion. When you have the ability to play the piano or the guitar, it opens up possibilities to express yourself artistically.
Milan – how many records do you have in your collection? And do you have any especially rare or interesting discs?
Milán: Somewhere between 1200-1250. I haven’t added a bunch of new purchases to Discogs yet, that’s why I don’t have an exact number. To be honest rarity is not something I ever consider when buying a record. What only matters is the music’s impact on me. I can lose my mind to big room and pretty weird stuff as well. Looking at the Discogs collection, what seems to be the most sought after record I have is an original pressing of 2 Late 4 Love by Roy of the Ravers. I bought it in a local record store for standard price when it was released. 🙂
There’s a real range of sounds on the EP, who are your strongest influences would you say?
Gábor: Burial, Harrison BDP, and Nine Inch Nails from my part.
Milán: 2562 / A Made Up Sound, Extrawelt, L.S.G., Levon Vincent, Shed and his countless aliases
Tell us about your current studio set up – any particular bits of go-to kit you find yourself returning to?
We work with Ableton Live, that’s where everything starts and ends. We always look for new soft synths, effects, samples and use whatever good stuff we find in the tracks we are working on at that moment, so essentially the setup constantly changes and evolves.
Which artists are currently exciting or inspiring you?
Milán: Old Hooj Choons records are a massive influence nowadays, I could buy quite a few recently. From the new releases I really love the new album from Sleep D titled Electronic Arts and from the EPs High On by Astro is huge.
Gábor: I lately got more into EZ Rollers and Chaos in the CBD. The latter really got me. I’m also listening to the new Carbon Based Lifeforms album, I love how it resembles their original sound.
What have been some of your more memorable live performances from 2023?
Milán: As a duo we don’t have a live set yet. We have been thinking about it, but the focus now remains on writing new tracks. In terms of my DJ gigs I will remember one for sure. There was a Harley Davidson festival in Budapest when I was DJing in the club room of a rather popular place downtown and there was this guy dressed in black leather who was obviously in town for the festival. I guess after the concerts ended he wanted to continue partying somewhere. He ended up staying for most of the set and seemed to lose his mind to the 20 years old trance tunes we were playing. Fun times!
What should we expect from you for the rest of 2023?
The EP will be released on the 22nd so promoting that is our primary focus now. We are always working on new music and we really-really love the new ones which are almost ready. Most probably some of those will be released next year so stay tuned. 🙂
Visit Tapes Sublimating on Bandcamp: https://tapessublimating.bandcamp.com/