Nikolauss – Nidavellir is out with Subculture since March 8th. The track received till now some pretty good feedback and I have to admit is one of my favorites from Andrei (Ok. they are all my favorites. ;)) ).
When I first told the story of a track, I wrote about Lifdagar (his first release with Subculture) and beside me having fun, people also enjoyed it. So, I decided to tell one more, because this track has an interesting story too!
Nidavellir is one of the Nine Realms and the place where were forged the most powerful and horrific weapons to ever torment the universe. Nidavellir is strong, rough, but delicate in the same time. Name is inspired from the Marvel universe, but the roots are in the Norse mythology, to whom I am a big fan. – Nikolauss
All started right after Lifdagar when Andrei sent another track to Subculture. John liked and the feedback was nice. There were some suggestions involved and Andrei worked hard on them and sent an update as soon as possible. At that time we were not sure yet if the track found its home, though.
Busy, busy times, all was happening around Amsterdam Dance Event. That meant lots of events to attend, lots of meetings to make it to and few time to check emails. Planets aligned, the Universe was good again and we managed to get to the In Trance We Trust event. It had a pretty mint line-up split in 4 separate rooms. And of course, John. And Neal. And Cold Blue (this last one is for me <3). We said we have to meet up, and somehow, right at the party seemed a good idea at that time.

We were in the crowd, enjoying music so much, when John started playing. We were still in the crowd, still enjoying the music and the people when suddenly Andrei recognized his track. At first Andrei didn’t even IDed the track correctly. But hey, when you have so many, it gets confusing (I guess. haha!).
Andrei: Baby, this is it!
Me: (totally deaf). Which one?
Andrei: ID1! (cannot name if for obvious reasons). John is playing it!
Me: Really? … (listening).. Ohh yes! Let’s do a small video of it being played here!
Andrei: Yes. Let’s go up on those stairs.
Me: (unlocks phone. Hits record.)
Andrei: (couple of seconds later) Ohhh wait! It is not ID1. Not my track with ID artist. It’s ID2.
Me: You silly! Can’t recognize correctly your own tracks!
Andrei: Ohhh! And it’s the version without the last edits. I guess John didn’t check the updated one yet.
Me: Well. I think he is testing it. And maybe he’ll have an answer after that. 😀
Andrei: I guess so.
I did hit the record button. I did try to stand still and have something decent as a video. But the results are completely different. We ended up with shorter shaky videos and nothing good to post anywhere. So, we decided to have the talks and just enjoy the set. John’s set is a very special memory to me. It was magical. When a set makes me enjoy it that much, that I do close my phone, close my eyes and just feel it, I know it will get a special place in my heart.
At that time, the track was still an ID. ID2 in this story. And has been identified as ID long after. Naming it is another journey. It’s about asking for deadlines, start panicking (me, of course) and having the Eureka moment at the last moment.
Track was sent around end of September – beginning of October. Track was released on the 8th of March. And a lot of tracks have a similar journey. I would even say Nidavellir’s journey till release is a short one 😀 . A lot of tracks are kept as IDs, tested and crowd teased. There is no magic recipe of releasing a track right after pressing the export button. It needs to sit, to (maybe) be updated and to make the listeners curious with each sound.
Nidavellir had a really nice path till now, reaching no. 21 on Beatport the other days, and still going strong! It is amazing how much support it has from the trance community. It is great to see it played on amazing stages like In Trance We Trust at ADE, Dreamstate Australia and everywhere else around the world!
Hope you grabbed your copy: https://subculture.choons.at/nidavellir and checked its journey through Andrei’s socials: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.