Interview — INSITE: Trends, Music Production and South Africa

INSITE Croatia · interview by Gracija Pleština · 1 June 2024

A long-form conversation recorded at Cycle Studio in Zagreb, published by INSITE Croatia in June 2024. It covers three things at once: how the Croatian electronic scene actually developed from the early 2000s onwards, what changed when Cycle stopped being a flat with records on the shelves and became a studio company with two rooms, and how a producer from Zagreb ended up with a following in South Africa.

What the interview covers

The early years — a first booking at Crossroads on Krk at fifteen, and the argument that a career often starts because a whole generation decides to back one of its own. The boom period up to the 2008 crisis, and why calling any one era “the golden one” is unfair to everyone who came after. Then the working half: what a production company in Croatia can and cannot live on, why the studio moved away from being a home, and the South African connection that has since turned into repeat touring.

In his words

“Each generation has its golden era, so it might be unfair to declare one as the best. However, for me, it would be from the early 2000s until the economic crisis around 2008/2009.”

“The entire generation was highly focused on electronic music. It was a ‘hype’ period for the genre, and it would be unrealistic to expect such a phenomenon to last indefinitely.”

Read the full interview

The complete piece — including the sections on production work, the Croatian scene today and the South African tours — is on INSITE Croatia:

TRENDS, MUSIC PRODUCTION AND SOUTH AFRICA: In-depth Interview with Jan Kincl → insite-croatia.com