1. Hi David, thanks for joining us here, tell us a bit about yourself, how old are you, where are you living and how long have you been producing and Djing?
Hello guys! First of all, it’s a big pleasure and an honor being here with you. I’m 28, currently living in Milan (Italy) and I approached to electronic music about 12 years ago, I started making my first steps on the sequencers at the age of 16, but professionally from 8 years (2009).
2. How did you discover electronic music and what led you down the path of wanting to be a DJ and producer?
It was a love at first sight. You can imagine, 14 years old, I was in a real recording studio, but I went by accident, I had to go with my father to visit a friend there and I was fascinated. I started to ask things about the studio to the owner and I spent the whole day there. I could not understand how the sounds could come out of a pc. And I thought, wow this is so great, I have to try it too. I was completely fascinated by an unknown world for me. The second reason was my great passion for the Daft Punk, it was the boost.
3. What kind of stuff have you been playing in your DJ sets recently? Who are some of your go to artists? And what new talent are you loving?
I can say that I like melodic things very much, I come from melodic school, that is my origin, but in my sets there’s always space for many genres and I really like to experiment. Then I maybe alternate groove and melody, always keeping my complicity on the dark and melancholy parts. I love to play “ever green” tracks when people hear the first notes going crazy. To give you a line, I like to play great artists such as Maceo Plex, Kölsch, Solomun, Patrice Baumel, Gui Boratto, Solee etc … then I’m always looking for new talents, it is the part of my job that I like more, ‘cause in this world there are really huge talents with incredible potentials. I can name you, Steve Banning, he is really a big producer, his EP “Fools Paradise” released on Weiter is really strong. Another name is the duo Pacco & Rudy B, they make really interesting music, and another Dutch duo, Huminal, their stuff are really great.
4. There is obviously a lot of great music coming out of Italy at the moment but how is the nightlife there? Do you get a chance to play much in your home country?
There are very good producers in Italy, but unfortunately so many have to go abroad or better, they find more space in other cities (Berlin, Amsterdam, Ibiza, Budapest …). So many calls are from Germany, Russia and sometimes we ask ourselves “why other countries recognize the music I do and here in my state no?”. I have to say that in the last two years the situation is improving considerably, there are small electronic music oasis and these are getting stronger. We hope the better situation even more.
5. You have a new single out now on Soundteller Records, including a great remix from Fer J and Nishan Lee. Tell us how you approached writing the track, the thought process behind the remixer selection and how it ended up on Soundteller?
“Between The Lines”. I consider it one of the most beautiful tracks I’ve ever written. It was born a year ago, I just came back from my vacation to the Balearic Islands and I still had those incredible landscapes I seen up ‘til a few days before. I put the hands on my piano and I started writing the main melody thinking about those wonderful landscapes. Then I thought, “here I have to record a piece of guitar”. I wanted to do something new, something experimental, I never recorded a guitar for my tracks (in fact, the original track is very in a listening way, not a club track). I call a guitarist friend and together we wrote the part and boom, I mixed it all in 5 days. It was really great.
As for the remixes, I’m really happy to have “Between The Lines” entrusted to two huge producers like Fer J and Nishan Lee. I wanted a more “progressive” and more “underground” versions and so it was. Fer’s remix is huge, when I heard it I was fascinated, managed to give something unique to the track. Nishan’s version also has a great potential, underground at the right point, that reverse on the guitar is amazing. I’m very happy and I’m looking forward to the release. I chose Soundteller because it’s one of the most professional labels nowadays in the progressive house / techno / electronic scene. It had some very interesting releases and it was a great choice. I sent the demo and Piotr, the owner of the label has quickly become open to me. Soundteller is one of the present and future labels. Great potential.
6. What’s coming later this year from you? Anything you can tell us about?
I can tell you that I have a lot of tracks to release, two singles almost ready and 3 official remixes from here at the end of the year. I’m working on a very important collaboration with an important producer (I can’t tell you the name yet but I can say you he worked for 8bit – Bedrock). I worked hard for this 2017 and the results are now felt. I’m launching my monthly Mixshow “Diagønal Radio” on several radio stations in Europe, Asia and South America. And then from September I have 5 to 6 tour dates to be planned in Italy and abroad. Hope for the best!
7. What is it about melodic techno or progressive house that really inspires you?
I really love to experiment, for example passing from a melodic downtempo – 85 bpm track to pure techno intrigues me. As I said before, I come from the Progressive House and the Melodic Techno school and there are some artists I take inspiration. The classic example is Maceo Plex, Kolsch, but also Solomun. The progressive and techno scene is very active and everything I listen to, I like to transform in my way. I like to check my colleagues sets for example, maybe two hours full of trippy melody, inspirational. Other dimension.
8. What was your first amazing moment in a club? A memory that still sticks with you today.
A moment I always take with me is when I played in front of 5000 people in Budapest during the Electronic Redbull days. It was amazing…the kick starts, the people raising their hand to the sky, you crossing their eyes as if to say “Hey man, you’re doing your job, what a great track.” Goose bumps.
9. Apart from electronic music what other genres do you listen to and who are your favourite artists outside of electronic? and do these genres or artists have a direct effect on your own productions?
I listen to a lot of different music, this is the secret to keep the pleasure of producing. Electronic contamination on acoustic music for example: Pink Floyd, Muse, Depeche Mode to name you a few big names, are always in my Ipod. A bit of Modern Rock, like Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, The Killers (they have a fabulous concept) and a lots of indie music, Bonobo and Tycho on everyone, I like their way of experimenting. All of this affects my productions.
10. What’s been your biggest achievement to date and what are your goals for the future? Is a full length album something that is on your mind?
My greatest success in terms of importance to date has been a promo track I’ve never released but it has been played for several months by one of the pillars of minimal techno, Richie Hawtin. I sent a demo to Richie through her SoundCloud channel, answered me saying it was a good track and he would play it during his sets. So it was, “Mushroom” was called. I never released it because I never found a good label that get me 100%. But Richie’s support was enormous.
11. What five tracks are you currently loving the most at the moment?
1) Transcode – Afterlife
2) Philipp Straub & Charlie Thorstenson – Miracle of Existance
3) Jonas Saalbach & Logfile – Run
4) Super Flu – Insi
5) Lopezhouse – November Clouds
‘Between The Lines’ is out now on Soundteller Records, you can purchase the release: here
