We sat down with Russian DJ and EDM legend, ARTY ahead of his set at Komodo Dallas last week. The conversation touched on some key elements of ARTY’s musical evolution in his nearly two decades as a DJ. He also teased a couple of projects in the works, including a new full length album. Read the full interview below!
On a breezy, spring night in Dallas, Texas, the party goes on into the early hours of the morning. Over in the Deep Ellum district, Russian DJ and producer Artem “ARTY” Stoliarov is set to close out Komodo – an upscale Asian fusion restaurant with a dancefloor on the second level – from 12:30 to 2 a.m.
Dallas is one of ARTY’s favorite cities to visit while on tour. He currently lives in Los Angeles, but estimates he’s been to Dallas “about 20 times,” and loves catching a Cowboys game while in town. But mostly, he enjoys the culture of Texas, and the diversity of the crowds.
ARTY and I meet on the outside patio of Komodo, an hour before he is scheduled to take the stage. At 34, ARTY maintains his energy, playing every show like it’s his first and his last.
“I’m not putting any expectations on myself either,” says ARTY. “Whatever’s going to happen tonight, is going to happen. I just go with the flow”
This mentality has fueled ARTY’s artistry over the course of the past two decades. ARTY, 34, graduated at the top of his class at a Russian music school at the age of 14. Originally training to be a concert pianist, ARTY found that he struggled to express himself through the academic instruction.
It was after finishing music school that ARTY found solace in the sounds of Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, and The Crystal Method. After being gifted FL Studio production software, ARTY began creating his own glimmery, euphoric tracks.
ARTY’s latest EP, ‘Favorite Sound’, is a vibrant collection of four energetic, groovy tracks, crafted for a celebration of love on the dancefloor. The EP came together after a writing camp, during which, ARTY was left feeling dissatisfied by the demos that manifested.
“I just decided to step back and be a little bit more true to myself,” ARTY says. “To just play it up a notch.” What he needed, he discovered, was some new tempo and rhythm. “Instead of making music at 128 bpm, I just randomly hit 140, and it’s like, the same old-school ARTY, but just in a little bit of a new format.”
A standalone single of ARTY’s ‘Take So Long’ – which features vocals from XIRA – speaks for itself with the title. “Why I had to take so long to find you? / What I had to go through just to find you / Why I had to take so long,” sings XIRA on the chorus of the track, which ARTY produced alongside DJ Tamika Jai Nacson.
“[Nacson] sent me the demo for ‘Take So Long’ during the sessions we had with Armada,” ARTY says. “I got obsessed with the demo. It’s an incredible topline [by XIRA], and it made me feel very inspired. It took us about 22 versions to get there, but it was a very natural progression.”
Equally as captivating as his sound mixes are his visuals. The video for his 2019 song “Save Me Tonight” was directed by Noah Centineo, who also stars in the video alongside Lily Collins. In the video, Collins, Centineo, ARTY, and their crew execute a revenge plan on school bullies. The video for his 2013 breakthrough hit “Must Be The Love” features two strangers displayed on a split-screen, going about their day-to-day lives, before meeting in person and falling in love.
ARTY tells us that creating the concepts for the music video is usually the final step of the process. Recently, he credits his girlfriend, Philene, for helping bring the visual for “Favorite Sound” together.
“She was directly involved with listening to the same track over and over again,” says ARTY. “For the video, we just sat down, and she was like ‘No, I’m picturing this,’ We tweaked ideas with a shot list of how the video should look. In the process of me working on music, I listen to the demos over and over again, and I’m like ‘Okay, I know what I want to do.’ So that’s how we became more cinematic.”
Tour has just begun for ARTY, but he’s already looking forward to what’s next. He estimates that he is sitting on “over 50 ideas” for an upcoming full-length album. But for now, he’s looking forward to getting back to where he belongs – on a crowded dance floor.
Upon taking the stage at the upper level of Komodo, the lights in the venue flash blue, red, and yellow. The crowd chants “ARTY! ARTY! ARTY!” as he approaches his set-up. Amid division in the world, ARTY has found that music has been a uniting factor for people of all walks of life. And for him, honing in on the joy, and grasping those moments are what it’s all about.
“I’m trying to bring happiness to people’s lives,” ARTY says. “That’s my number one priority. It’’s sad to see people divided. But hopefully, I’m making a little bit of a difference. And the entire dance music community makes a huge difference.”
Words by Alex Gonzalez
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