Magnetude – Muleta [Evolution Chamber] (Interview)

Welcome back to more insight on the latest drum and bass and artist. Today we share with you the Magnetude – Muleta [Evolution Chamber] (Interview)! They let us know a bit about the start of 2025. And they discuss more about Muleta and how they work! Get into the details below.

Magnetude

Awesome to get you guys back in the question seat! How has the beginning of 2025 been for you so far?

Rustam: Thanks for having us! 2025 has been off to an amazing start—we’re absolutely on fire in the studio right now. There’s this incredible energy driving us, and we’re fully locked in, pushing ourselves harder than ever. Our main focus is on keeping a strong, consistent release schedule this year, making sure that every track we put out hits with maximum impact and quality.

James: Yeah, we’ve been in full creative flow, and it’s been exciting to see how much we’ve been able to accomplish already. Right now, we’re fine-tuning a series of releases that are set to drop between now and September. We really want to make 2025 a year where we not only match our past work but raise the bar entirely—both for ourselves and for the listeners. There’s so much to look forward to, and we can’t wait to start unveiling everything we’ve been working on!

How long has this release been in the works?

James: This track, like most of our music, took quite a long time to compose—the initial idea actually started almost 2.5 years ago. Some might ask why it took so long, and for us, creating music isn’t about rushing to the finish line for the sake of consistency or to have content or merely new music. We take our time and push each track to a certain point, then step away, work on something else, and give it as much space as possible. That distance is extremely crucial because when we return, we’re not just listening with fresh ears, but with new perspectives and refined skills. Every time we revisit a track, we hear things differently, and we find that that’s when the real magic happens.

Rustam: We never start a track just to finish it—we start it to explore, evolve, and discover where it wants to go. Time, distance, and hyperfoccusing on details are key to making sure that when a track is finally ready, it’s in its purest and most powerful form. “Muleta”, for example, went through three completely different versions of the drop before we finally found the one that felt right. There was a lot of experimenting, a lot of letting go, and a lot of rebuilding, but that’s what makes the process so much more rewarding. Each track is its own journey, and we embrace that fully.

Tell us about the name of the track and what it represents?

Rustam: “Muleta” is a tribute to the rich Spanish, Mexican, and Latin American influences that inspired us. The name itself comes from the stick with the iconic red cape on it used by matadors in bullfighting, and we felt it was the perfect metaphor for the energy of the track. When we envisioned Muleta, we saw the listener as the crowd, completely immersed in the spectacle. The track itself is the bull—powerful, unpredictable, charging forward with intensity. Just like in the ring, there’s a constant dance between chaos and control, between tension and release. We wanted to capture that in the music, making the listener feel like they’re sitting in the audience, witnessing something thrilling and larger than life.

James: The beauty of Muleta is in its unpredictability. The way a matador maneuvers, feints, and controls the movement of the bull mirrors the way the track evolves—constantly shifting, never staying in one place too long. We didn’t just want to write a track; we wanted to create an experience, a performance where every element—the percussion, the melody, the bass—plays a role in the spectacle. The bull is the music, wild and untamed, while the listener is the spectator, feeling every moment of tension, anticipation, and release. That emotional rollercoaster, that push and pull of energy, is what we aimed to capture in Muleta.”

Is it difficult to work with cultural sounding elements with Neurofunk?

Rustam: Absolutely! Blending cultural elements with Neurofunk isn’t just about layering sounds—it’s about understanding and honouring the essence of that musical tradition and translating it authentically into a musical soundscape. If you’re working with something like classical synths or controlled digital elements, they slot into place relatively easily. But when you’re incorporating organic, cultural sounds—whether it’s traditional instrumentation, folk melodies, or rhythms—you’re stepping into uncharted territory. That’s what really excites us. Every concept demands a different approach, and it challenges us to expand our skill set, discover new sounds, and push the boundaries of what could be achieved in Neurofunk.

James: There’s also an art to making these elements feel realistic. We’ve heard tracks that attempt to blend classical or world music with Neurofunk, but sometimes the execution falls a little flat—maybe the orchestral libraries lack depth or quality, or everything is perfectly snapped to grid, stripping away that humanised feel. To truly make these influences shine, you need to pay attention to detail: articulation, dynamics, the way an instrument is played in its native style – Watch videos, study, learn. Music has a soul, and if you don’t respect that, it can end up sounding artificial. For us, it’s not just about experimenting—it’s about learning, growing, and honoring the musical traditions we pull from. That’s what keeps it exciting, and that’s what keeps us evolving.

Magnetude – Muleta [Evolution Chamber] (Interview) contidued

The themes that your tracks present are always prominent, Can you tell us how you bring that to life in this track?

James: Themes have always been the heartbeat of our creative process. They’re not just decorative—they’re the guiding light that informs every decision we make in a track. For us, a strong theme is what drives us to try to turn a composition into a full audiable experience. It’s how we challenge ourselves as musicians—to not just write beats and basslines, but to tell a story, paint a world or a universe, and pull the listener into it. It’s almost like directing a film, except our script is written in sound.

Rustam: To be honest, this one started out almost by accident. I was messing around with a guitar riff, added a trumpet line, and suddenly it was like I blacked out! When I came to, the foundation concept for the intro was there, and I knew we were onto something. I sent it over to James and said, ‘What if we did something Spanish or Mexican-influenced… but with a Neurofunk Twist?’ And James just responded with, ‘I absolutely love it! Okay, let’s gooo!’ From there, the entire vision opened up and we started to work out how we can really push a narrative concept with this in mind and capture a feeling, a culture, and merge it with the kind of intensity that defines our sound.

How did you achieve the high energy on the second half of the track?

Rustam: For us, every track is structured like a journey. The intro lays down the theme, the first drop acts as the opening climax, and the second half is all about delivering that final, decisive moment. The second drop isn’t just a repeat—it’s the story’s final chapter. It needs to feel like the ultimate showdown, the kind that leaves a lasting impact. Over time, that’s become a bit of a calling card for us—people often tell us that when they’re listening to one of our tracks, they’re eagerly waiting to hear what we’ll unleash in the second drop.

James: The second drop is always our final challenge. We’re constantly asking ourselves how we can push things further, how to make that final section feel explosive and unpredictable without losing the soul of the track. Sometimes it takes weeks—but for Muleta, it all clicked in just a few days. Still, even with a quick turnaround, we kept refining until it had the drama and intensity we were looking for. We never want the energy to just continue—we want it to elevate, to hit harder, and to wrap up the journey in a way that feels earned.

Do you sometimes feel you might have changed anything looking back at older tracks, or any tracks you might do a VIP of?

James: We definitely have those moments where we listen back to older tracks and think, ‘Ah, if only we had the tools or experience we do now.’ Our sound has grown a lot over the years, so naturally we hear ways we could improve things sonically. But at the same time, every track we’ve released was a snapshot of where we were at that exact point in time. There’s something meaningful about preserving that.

Rustam: Yeah, that’s why we’re not too big on VIPs. It’s easy to fall into the trap of reworking something just because you’ve evolved, but sometimes that can dilute the rawness or honesty of the original. Each track tells a part of our story—it’s a reflection of a moment, a mindset, even the emotion we were in when we wrote it or a particular chapter of our lives, and trying to rework it now would feel like rewriting history. We want each track to stand as it is—raw, real, and true to the moment it was born in.

I sometimes get a theatrical sense of music from your tracks and not just parts from the intro, do you ever think about making videos for your tracks?

Rustam: We’ve definitely talked about making videos for our tracks since the very beginning. A lot of our music is built on themes and emotions that feel almost cinematic, so the idea of translating that into a visual form has always been appealing. We actually have scripts written out for some of our tracks—with timestamps, storyboards, and everything—so specific sounds match specific moments. It’s kind of like scoring a film that doesn’t exist yet.

James: But at the same time, there’s something magical about letting listeners build their own universes in their minds. We love hearing people tell us what they imagined while listening—sometimes it’s wildly different from our original intent, and that’s awesome. Music should leave space for interpretation. If we made videos for everything, we might unintentionally box in someone’s imagination. So while we’d love to show people the world we see, we also value the freedom for listeners to dream up their own.

As artists how to you continue to learn and grow from the previous years?

James: We’re constantly pushing ourselves to grow—not just as producers, but as musicians. Every year brings new tools, new techniques, and honestly, new perspectives. We spend a lot of time studying synthesis, diving deep into new instruments, and trying to understand why things work, not just how to make them work.

Rustam: Yeah, like recently we got into the Ghost synth by Exacoustics—total game-changer. It combines the madness of FM8’s matrix with the clarity and depth of Serum’s wavetable engine. And now with Serum2 and its next-gen oscillators… it’s like the ceiling just vanished. Suddenly, we’re working with sounds that we could only imagine a few years ago. It’s inspiring—and a bit humbling—to know there’s always more to learn and explore.

Magnetude – Muleta [Evolution Chamber] (Interview) end.

Links

Thanks for joining us for the Magnetude – Muleta [Evolution Chamber] (Interview) find this and more from Magnetude and Evolution Chamber at lnk.to/EVOC061!

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