Forged in the creative shadows of Los Angeles and San Diego, UNTER STRØM is the spectacular collision of Alex Gonzales (Matte Blvck) and John Kunkel (The New Division, John Grand), a project that brings together two prolific, long-time collaborators whose roots run deep into the alternative underground of electronic music. Gonzales has been on a fierce upward trajectory with Matte Blvck, commanding a rapidly growing global fanbase and selling out venues across the United States. Kunkel, meanwhile, has been dominating the global progressive scene as John Grand, earning massive tastemaker support from Armin van Buuren on A State of Trance and delivering a coveted guest mix on Group Therapy Radio.
Born from a laptop sketch captured mid-flight to Calgary, the duo’s masterful second single, “Fold,” trades massive melodic peaks for a mesmerizing, late-night descent into minimalist techno, thriving on a restrained blend of pulsing bass and industrial textures designed for pitch-black dancefloors. To preserve the track’s immense physical weight, the duo enlisted acclaimed producer and engineer Aaron Short to handle mixing duties, balancing the dense low-end with cinematic depth. The final sonic polish was delivered by legendary mastering engineer Mike Marsh—fresh off mastering the Nine Inch Noize album for Nine Inch Nails—further anchoring “Fold” into the lineage of elite, forward-thinking industrial music. Already a highly anticipated standout in UNTER STRØM’s live audiovisual Transmission sets, where fans have clamored for the “unreleased ID” for months, “Fold” firmly establishes the duo as a heavyweight in the electronic music world.
UNTER STRØM feels like a collision between two established creative worlds. How did the idea of forming this project first take shape, and what made you both feel this was the right moment to create something together?
Alex: John and I have been friends for years and have always talked about making music together, but timing never really lined up. We both had our own projects, our own creative outlets, and a pretty clear sense of identity within those worlds. Over time, we realized there was a shared love for dance music that neither of us was fully exploring. Eventually, the conversations turned into sessions, and the sessions turned into songs. We wrote over 30 songs in 6 months. It felt obvious that this was not a normal project, but something with its own identity and potential.
John: As Alex said, it was the combination of perfect timing in both of our lives to move forward with something new, something fresh that we were both equally passionate about.
You’ve both explored darker electronic and alternative spaces through your previous projects. What did you want UNTER STRØM to express that you couldn’t fully explore elsewhere?
Alex: UNTER STRØM gives us permission to focus on atmosphere, tension, and movement without worrying about fitting into the expectations of our other projects. We can be more patient with arrangements, more hypnotic, and more focused on creating a physical experience. It’s less about songs in the traditional sense and more about building environments that people can get lost in.
John: I think for New Division it was always a struggle for me to balance out the indie/synth-pop side of things with dance music. New Division fans already expect a certain sonic palette from me, and deviating too far towards electronic dance music could potentially turn some of them off.
The name UNTER STRØM conveys movement, tension, and energy. What does it represent to you creatively?
Alex: The name translates loosely to “under current” or “under tension,” which felt fitting from the start. A lot of our music lives in that space beneath the surface where things are moving, building, and pulling against each other. There’s always a sense of momentum in the music, even during the quieter moments. The name captures that invisible force we’re trying to create.
You describe the project as existing between “warehouse and widescreen.” How do you balance the raw physicality of club music with a more cinematic emotional experience?
Alex: We’re always trying to balance body and emotion. We want the rhythm section to feel physical and immediate, something that moves people in a room, but we also want the textures and melodies to create imagery and emotion. The ideal track works both ways. It can function in a dark warehouse at 2 AM, but it can also soundtrack a lonely drive home afterward.
The foundation of “Fold” was created by Alex during a flight to Calgary. What was happening creatively in that moment that allowed the track to emerge?
Alex: I’ve been working nonstop for the past five years. Between Matte Blvck, touring, running Modern Wav, and working with Breathing Records, there are times when I feel like I can’t possibly take on another creative project.
When UNTER STRØM came along, something shifted. It felt like a part of my brain unlocked. Suddenly, I wanted to open Ableton again and explore without worrying about whether an idea would succeed or fail. It just felt exciting.
At that point, I was on a creative streak. Every time I sat down to work, something happened. Even on a three-hour flight from San Diego to Calgary, I could feel there was an idea brewing that needed to come out. I actually heard the pulse of the track in my head before I made it. It’s hard to explain, but it felt like an itch I had to scratch.
I opened my laptop and started working. By the time I landed, I had about two minutes of the track sketched out. I couldn’t stop listening to it for the rest of the trip, and neither could the crew once I passed the headphones around. That’s when I knew there was something special there.
The track is built around hypnotic bass movement, mechanical percussion, and evolving textures. What elements came first, and how did the song reveal itself during production?
Alex: The bassline was the first piece of the puzzle and really became the foundation of the entire track. From there, I built the melodic percussion loop, which actually took the longest to figure out. I kept humming the rhythm in my head, but wasn’t quite sure how to translate it into a sound. What I loved about it was that it felt melodic without relying on a traditional melody.
Once those two elements were locked together, the track started to reveal itself. Rather than constantly adding new parts, we focused on refining the groove, textures, and movement within the existing elements. Every time we added something, we asked whether it made the song stronger or simply bigger.
That process ultimately shaped the identity of “Fold.” The track isn’t driven by huge drops or dramatic moments. It’s driven by tension, repetition, and subtle evolution. We wanted it to feel hypnotic, something that slowly pulls you deeper into it the longer it plays.
Compared to some of your previous material, “Fold” feels darker and more minimal. Was that a conscious direction, or did the track naturally evolve that way?
Alex: A bit of both. We weren’t trying to make a minimal record, but every time we added something unnecessary, it felt weaker. The track kept telling us what it wanted to be. Eventually, we realized the tension came from restraint. Leaving space became more important than filling it.
The title “Fold” suggests transformation or something bending inward. How does the title connect to the emotion or story behind the track?
Alex: The title came from the feeling of the arrangement itself. Elements are constantly folding into each other, shifting shape, disappearing, and reappearing. There’s also something psychological about it. We all have moments where we turn inward, process things internally, and change. The title felt open enough to capture both ideas.
You both approach production from different perspectives. What does each of you naturally bring into the creative process?
Alex: Before I started producing, my primary instrument was the drum set, so I naturally gravitate toward rhythm, energy, and texture. I spend a lot of time focusing on groove, movement, and the smaller details that keep a track feeling alive. I love experimenting with resampling, reverb tails, unconventional percussion, and finding ways to create motion without necessarily adding more notes.
John brings a different set of strengths to the table. He’s incredibly fast and versatile as a producer, with a great instinct for atmosphere, melody, harmony, and arrangement. He’s able to step back and see the bigger picture while still paying attention to the details. We overlap in a lot of areas, but our backgrounds complement each other well, and I think that’s a big part of what makes UNTER STRØM work.
What’s something the other person does musically that consistently surprises you?
Alex: What consistently surprises me about John is how quickly he can react to an idea and push it somewhere unexpected. I’ll bring him an unfinished one- or two-minute demo, and he’ll immediately hear possibilities that never crossed my mind. Sometimes it’s a melody, sometimes it’s a chord progression, and sometimes it’s a subtle production decision that suddenly unlocks the entire track.
One of my favorite parts of working with him is watching that happen in real time. I’ll be focused on a groove, texture, or rhythm, and he’ll instinctively start filling in the emotional side of the song. There’s a spontaneity to it that keeps the process exciting. Even after years of making music, there are still moments where I sit back and think, “I never would have come up with that.” Those are usually the moments that elevate the track from a good idea to something memorable.
UNTER STRØM blends techno, melodic house, and industrial influences. What artists, scenes, or eras have shaped the sound you’re chasing?
Alex: We’re influenced by a wide range of artists, from the atmosphere and emotion of Massive Attack, Nine Inch Nails, and Depeche Mode to the progressive, melodic, and trance artists like Eric Prydz, Jeremy Olander, Armin, and Yotto. We also draw inspiration from industrial pioneers such as Nitzer Ebb, Front 242, and Skinny Puppy, as well as EBM, film scores, and the darker edges of electronic music.
What interests us isn’t recreating any one genre. It’s finding common ground between those worlds: the tension of industrial music, the emotion of cinematic soundtracks, and the hypnotic movement of progressive and club-oriented electronic music, and bringing them together into something that makes us feel alive.
Are there any sounds or production techniques you’ve become obsessed with lately?
John: I’ve been really obsessed with taking random noises from foley recordings and processing them through Serum 2 as a modulation source. When you have two oscillators, take a sine wave as an example, and you modulate that sine waveform with a foley sample (using serum’s noise oscillator) using say FM or AM modulation, you can create some really unique sounds.
How does UNTER STRØM translate from the studio into a live environment? Are there elements that change or evolve during performances?
John: When we started workshopping our live set in the studio I didn’t expect us to change a lot, but when we actually started rehearsing the set, and removed the static synths from the recordings and replaced them with live ones, the songs took on a new life. We love running the Elektron Digitakt for percussion elements. After playing our Bleach set, we went back to some of our productions and added some of those elements into the finished track and it really added a lot of controlled chaos that became part of several songs.
What does the ideal UNTER STRØM experience look like for someone discovering you for the first time?
John: Hard to say being on the other end of things but I’d hope it’s an experience worth repeating! Honestly I’m just excited to see people’s reactions to what we’re building together.
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