Cassian and YOTTO Score a Beatport Number 1 with "Love Parade"

Congratulations on your Beatport #1! Where were you and what were you doing when you got the news? 

I was checking my phone before bed in L.A. and got a text from YOTTO, since it was already the next day for him in Finland, with the updated rankings saying, “Well, well, well.” Ended the day on a high note. 

“Love Parade” follows your first collaborations on 2020's Rogue EP ("Grains" and "Inter"). How did you two come to collaborate again?

First and foremost, we have a great friendship, and I think we clicked as friends pretty easily while also being fans of each other's work. It started with me remixing his record "Nova" and supporting him on a few shows around the U.S. in 2019. He returned the favor in 2020, remixing "Imagination" from my debut album. We got together in L.A. to go to the gym and make some music, which turned into the Rogue EP, which also came out in 2020 on his label. 

Basically, he had done this great version of "Meet Her at the Loveparade" that I had played for a couple years. Last year, on my way to a run of festivals in Australia, I was inspired to update it and add my touch to it. I played it and got a great reaction from the crowd, sent it to him to see if he liked it, and we rolled with it from there as a collaboration. 

“Meet Her at the Loveparade” is such an iconic track. What inspired you to take your version in the direction you did? 

I was never thinking to make anything more than a version of it that I felt excited to play and that I thought would resonate in my sets. I approached the production a bit differently than I typically do, since I never thought this was going to have a proper release when I first started working on it.

This was easily one of the most anticipated IDs of the year. What do you think drove its traction? 

It started off as an innocent bootleg that was never intended for release and was made purely for the dance floor. Slowly, it was shared over the course of an entire year just by word of mouth and requests – I didn’t do any promotion of it. In a way, this mirrored the old-school way of how DJs shared music amongst themselves and let it build in an organic way. If no one wanted it or played it, it would’ve never seen the light of day. 

Did either of you anticipate that it would resonate the way it has, and was there a moment where the record’s potential really hit you? 

Honestly, from the first time I played it, the crowd was amazing. It was always one of the standout moments in my set, but I never thought it would grow to anything beyond that. More and more, other DJs were asking for it and playing it, and the momentum started to show around Ultra Miami when Anyma and Solomun played it on the mainstage. As a touring DJ, you don’t really get to see a lot of other DJ sets, so it wasn’t really until Tomorrowland that I saw how much support it had and started to realise it had potential.

How did it ultimately end up on Quantum Echoes, Pt. 1? 

Anyma was a big cheerleader of the track and always believed in it. When he told me about the idea for the compilation, I felt like it was the perfect way to release it. Most importantly, he was also able to get Da Hool’s blessing and final sign-off on it, which was probably THE most important thing to me before releasing it.

You recently announced your largest U.S. headline show. Do you have any other exciting news to share as the year winds down? 

I have a new single coming out on October 31 called "A Feeling I Miss" featuring Matt Ryder. I’m really excited about this one; it bridges the gap between my roots as a songwriter/musician and the club/festival world that I’m now part of. It's made with the dancefloor in mind, but also lives outside of that can lead to people connecting with it on both levels.

On February 21, Cassian will play his largest U.S. headline show to date at Brooklyn Storehouse in New York. Tickets are available here.