Page 20 - Zone Magazine Issue 006

" I think EDM is finishing, I don’t think it has a good grip either because it is stupid and it has no cultural evolution, and as everything else like that, it will burn out quickly. "
For me right now it is a really good scene, there is so much good music so much underground good music out there, it is shame, many of the so called underground big labels are releasing shit music, but there are so many new underground labels coming out, there is a big scene in the vinyl that I use a lot to rip good records. I think it is really good I am excited, I like the music I am playing it is great.
What’s studios do you produce your tracks in?
I have a studio in my house, I built it over the years, I have changed it like five thousand times, people that follow me online will know. Sometimes it is cold if I don’t go in for a couple of days but I love it, it has a great light and I have a balcony attached to it. I live in a penthouse in Milan right in front of the new sky scrapers, it is an incredible view especially at night, if you look outside you see al the nights, it is really inspiring in the night as well.
Love or hate it EDM is here to stay for a while at least, is this the corporate takeover of the dance music scene, what are your thoughts?
I think EDM is finishing, I don’t think it has a good grip either because it is stupid and it has no cultural evolution, and as everything else like that, it will burn out quickly. For me, I don’t know it very well, I don’t know EDM very well, but part of it has become pop music and the other part is just the old dubstep, well, I need to be very careful to use that because dubstep is serious music, but nevertheless, I don’t know, it doesn’t exist anymore, I don’t care about it, its shit.
What are your thoughts on Analogue verses digital?
Well in reality I mean people put up these debates to seem more underground and more faithful to what things ‘should be’ like because in the old school days you used analogue a lot, but people used to use analogue so much it was the only stuff they had and they could hardly do anything with it, it was a really long process. Obviously some analogue machines sound incredible, actually many do. If you are looking for a certain kind of sound you do need an analogue machine if you want thing to sound that way. You can spot a digital sound really easily, especially if it’s a bad one. I suppose
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digital is also, if you intend for digital and not hardware, you need digital to do things like for example a sequencer, that is digital and at the end of the day, so it just depends how you want to see it, but both things are really useful and both things can help, there are also some digital machines that also work quite well. It is what it is, we’re in 2015 at the end of the day, digital is now is really precise, it is like vinyl or cds, the thing is, lots of the biggest DJs are playing with Traktor, with the all in one, look at Carl Cox for example.
It is like a toy, but Carl Cox is doing it so it’s fine. If you think about it it’s fine, he’s simply doing what he would be with CDJs and a mixer but being more creative with it and probably trying not to mess his ears about because you don’t need to beat matching as much so you don’t have to stress your ears as much. There are many things to say that people do not consider when it comes to DJing on a weekly basis around the world, the sound systems are often 8/10 terrible, you have to protect your ears, you can’t produce during the week if you’ve fucked your ears up at the weekend, there are many techniques that you need to use to try and protect your ears, and try and play properly whilst doing the beat matching, being creative and selecting the right music all together.
Over the last 10 years a part of techno seemed to lose its fire and energy evolving and meandering into a more down tempo less aggressive style, did Techno loose its way? How do you see the Techno scene now?
For me it is amazing, there are so many great producers out there making really interesting and cool techno. The fact that it all goes in circles, house, techno, and house, maybe the house circle lasts a little longer, but when the minimal thing came around that lasted long as well. Techno is interesting when it is done like this if you listen to the last records of Nina Kravitz, Radioslave, Kink – he’s more on the housey side, but these are people that make serious fucking bangers you know. ‘Trust Me’ Alan Fitzpatrick, if you listen to Mark Henning, I am fixated with these people and anything in this area, this is what I play. I like a lot of other stuff as well I mean, I don’t mind Scuba, maybe I’ll pick up M.IN, I like Ellen Allien. I love Paranoid London, I’ll throw in an old track from Xpress2, Shlomi Aber, Be As One, Waze & Odyssey occasionally do something I like, Robert Hood when he
keeps it down, I like a lot of the old Denis Ferrer stuff and Bambook for when I’m on a boat or playing in an afterhour session. Actually I just signed a track from Bambook which is an absolute bomb. Paul Woolford and Dense & Pika are two of my favourites.
What are Flashmobs next big project / collaborations / Album plans for the future?
I’ve done an album it is in the hands of some people, who are trying to understand what the best thing to do with it is, in the meantime I am in talks with a number of people. I have done a collaboration with Mennie, I don’t know where it will go, I am talking to a number of labels for some EPs that I have of let’s say the Detroit chord old sound that will finish this year then I will start with the new sound for the album.
I have a release in November on ESD which is Alan Fitzpatricks vinyl only label, it is three techno tracks, then I have a release on OBJ, which we have been talking about for over year, not sure if it’s even happening now, if it doesn’t I’ll put it on my own label. Then I am touring a lot, I am going to South America, in February, I am working on Flashmob Records getting a lot of really interesting names like JMX, Maximillion, Julien Sandre, Mennie, Alexi Delano. I’m talking to Michelle Owen.
The next release I have just got the graphics from an incredible artist from Berlin called Monja who has done the artwork for the upcoming Phill Weeks release on Flashmob Ltd. After that I have the Bambook tune that, for me will be a classic. It is an incredible house piano tune for the summer so really happy with that. Getting a lot of people involved with the label, I have a remix on my track Do you Do by Wouter De Moor and Stefano Esposito. I’ve got Maximillion remix of Julien Sandre’s Parade, I’ve got a new track from Ruben Mandolini it is fantastic. Jordan Nocturnal has given me a track, Rob Anderson I’m working for a track that is a new producer, and the guy that follows me at Pioneer, some really incredible stuff coming up.
Connect:
www.flashmob.com
Words By Mike Moggi Mannix Pic By Vitali Gelwich