Since first appearing together on the progressive house scene back in 2008 on their Mistique Music label, Michael & Levan and Stiven Rivic’s productions have evolved immensely. Although still widely regarded for their signature sound, more than ever the trio explores a variety of stylistic blueprints, often cross pollinating genres with an effortless ease. Besting yourself with each successive outing is no easy task but Michael, Levan and Stiven seem to find a way to continually push the creative envelope and always looking to diversify portfolio.
Their widescreen approach often finds them sitting comfortably in a broad range of DJ sets. A look back over their discography shows a huge body of work with all spectrums of progressive, deep house, ambient, breaks to techno music being explored at one time or another. The trio drifts effortlessly through styles, often blurring the lines of conventional genres and as the sound of trio constantly evolves, each Michael & Levan, and Stiven Rivic release comes with much anticipation.
Once thought of as purely progressive house artists, nowadays they have become adept at stylistically varied creations. Michael, Levan and Stiven created Kunai Records imprint in 2013 to be an outlet for the trios hugely in demand original productions, and also featured a healthy complement of A-list remixers. Together the trio have been delivering a steady stream of productions over the last couple of years across some of the best underground labels.
Balance Selections 222: Michael and Levan, and Stiven Rivic
Balance Selections Q+A
Names: Michael Dunamalyan, Levan Dunamalyan, Stiven Rivic
Location: Georgia / UK
Michael & Levan Facebook
Stiven Rivic Facebook
Michael & Levan Soundcloud
Stiven Rivic Soundcloud
Michael & Levan Instagram
Stiven Rivic Instagram
Alias/Producer name: Michael & Levan, and Stiven Rivic
Labels affiliated with: Balance Music, Kunai Records, Sprout, Selador
Our last 3 releases:
Black Space feat. Yann Menge – Dark Hair (Michael & Levan, and Stiven Rivic remix)
Michael & Levan, and Stiven Rivic – Open Up
Michael & Levan, and Stiven Rivic – Camouflage
What music did you listen to as a child?
(M&L) From early age we were into electronic, especially old school Progressive Trance. Our parents were not so much into music but music was a big part of my brother’s and my life.
(Stiven) I grew up in a household where music was a really big part of our family. My father played Swing music, he was part of a band and my mother was in traditional folklore. Ever since I was very young I was into progressive house/ techno all the way to Metallica, Linkin Park, and Limp Bizkit.
When was the first time that you realised that you liked electronic music?
(M&L) We were about 14-15 years old, and the first track that we were really into, was Robert Miles – Children
(Stiven) For me personally I was into remixes by UK artists Hybrid.
When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?
(M&L) We were about 18 years old, first time going to a club was a big deal. Especially for me (Stiven), as I was already a professional footballer in Croatia, and I was not able to go clubbing alot as I had to focus on my career, but I remember going to one club in my home town of Monvi and Timo Maas was playing, that was an experience that even today I reminisce about – that was a long time ago 🙂.
Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?
There are so many artist that inspire us, we can not just name a few as we do not want to miss anyone out. In general we like and respect good quality music.
What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?
Ishome – Confession
What is your current production and DJ set up like?
(M&LSR) – Studio equipment is HP laptop, Dynaudio BM5A speakers, Audient ID14 soundcard, Akai MPK Mini keyboard and Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO headphones. We use FL Studio for producing and DJ on CD’s.
What releases do you have on the horizon?
Due to the ongoing COVID situation that has impacted us as well as everyone else, it slowed us a little bit down but luckily we had many unreleased tracks which are about to be released. However in the near future we would like to focus sole on our own labels.
Where can we hear you perform?
Levan is the only DJ out of us three but due to his private family life he has many commitments that really need to be his priority, however he still manages to play some gigs, which recently was a tour of India.
Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?
For Balance Selections podcast we mainly used the tracks that we listened to in the past month and went more into deep and vocal vibe.
My Recommendations
The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:
Julian Millan – Lovecraft
If I could recommend only one of my tracks for you to listen to it would be:
Michael & Levan, and Stiven Rivic – Dangerous
If I could recommend only one track for you to listen to it would be:
Royksopp – Sordid Affair (Maceo Plex remix)
The last movie I watched that I really liked:
(Stiven) One of my favorite movies of all time is Spy Game (Brad Pitt and Robert Redford)
My favourite TV show:
(Stiven) The Simpsons, That 70’s Show, Friends
