Moonbeam

Key Information: Two brothers driven by one united sound vision, such is the origin of Russia’s illustrious Moonbeam. Powered by their industrious production ethic, Pavel & Vitaly Khvaleev’s unique diversion of trance has found them swiftly in favour with EDM’s DJ glitterati. Underlining their inimitable spin on the sound, their studio ware is as regularly supported by the likes of van Buuren, van Dyk, Schulz and Corsten, as it is Axwell, Tiësto and Digweed. Having created floor uproar through 100s of DJ sets and live Moonbeam shows, they’ve soundtracked hundreds of thousands of EDM nights for clubbers around the world. In 2009, through a combined force of productions & performances, they entered DJ Magazine’s annual list of the world’s best DJs. There they have remained for the last four years, most recently re-entering the Top 100 in 2012. With 3 official full-length artist albums already marking waypoints in their career, early 2013 will herald their fourth long-player - the widely anticipated OST ‘The Random’.
Moonbeam The DJs: Emanating from the major east Russian metropolis of Nizhny Novgorod, as both DJs and a live act, Pavel and Vitaly have built up a formidable reputation. Their entrancing stage performances have resulted in a committed bedrock fanbase in their home country. To date they have smashed many a mainline event, tent-pole festival and iconic club. In 2010 they supported Tiësto on his tour of the Ukraine and last year rocked the goliath Kazantip festival. As their music’s begun to proliferate worldwide, demand to see the brothers themselves perform abroad intensified. They’ve subsequently played countries as contrasting as China and France, Japan, the Czech Republic and South Korea.
The Music: much has been made of Moonbeam’s singular take on dance music. At once harmonic and heartfelt, it is also effecting, consciously filmic and emotively poignant. A direct by-product of their shared musical influences (Röyksopp, Radiohead, Massive Attack and Björk are among regularly cited Moonbeam stimuli), it notably stands apart from the rest of post-millennial trance.
“Music that has no limits, no borders. This inspires us to make experiments with our own music”, says Pavel. Tracks like ‘See The Difference Inside’, ‘Cocoon’, ‘7 Seconds’ and ‘Eclipse’, as well as remix work like their rewire of Rachael Starr’s ‘To Forever’ put their career into orbit. More recently tracks like ‘Daydream’ and ‘I Love Your Face’ have found favour with the dance press. Rating ‘Daydream’ a rare 9.5 out of 10, DJ Mag hailed it was “intoxicating” and “incredible”. ‘I Love Your Face’ meanwhile was a Single of the Month in the magazine, with a floor effect that was “little short of atomic”.
Equal in impact have been their artist albums: 2008’s ‘Consumption’ (Soundz Recordings), ‘Around The World’ (through Black Hole in 2010) and 2011’s ‘The Secret’ (Moonbeam Digital). Without doubt Russia’s most prodigious electronic dance music export, Moonbeam’s music has been brought to dancefloors through a host of world-class imprints over the course of the last decade. Black Hole, Armada Music, Ultra, Coldharbour, Kickin’, Spinnin’, High Contrast and the esteemed German label, Traum Schallplatten have all seen releases of the brother’s music.
In 2012 Pavel and Vitaly passed their 200th Moonbeam production milestone. In November of 2012 they released ‘You Win Me’, which featured the vocals of Aelyn. The track was the first to be taken from their forthcoming album ‘The Random’ and was also the landmark 500th release on Black Hole Recordings.
The Moonbeam Film Studio: Moonbeam are every bit as much dedicates of vision as they are sound, regularly synergizing the two. The video production and graphics studio of their creative organization has thus far produced 30 of the group’s music videos, as well as others for acts like A*S*Y*S* and Sol Noir. Their bespoke visuals are now acknowledged as being a major contributing factor to their on-stage appeal - all part of the Moonbeam experience.
2013’s ‘The Random’ represents the studio’s first feature length film, with an original soundtrack written, composed and performed by Moonbeam.