When Cattáneo first heard house music, it was via a stack of vinyl records a friend brought back from an American trip. In those days, a DJ was limited by a record case, but now it’s possible to carry thousands of tracks digitally on a device that fits into your pocket. When faced with this level of choice, I ask Cattáneo if he ever feels overwhelmed when planning his sets. “Well, you don’t get all those thousands overnight, so it’s all about organising properly in your mind – and in your folders!” he says. “In my opinion, the more options the better the time. You feel a bit overwhelmed when listening to thousands of new tracks every week to only find ten great ones, but that’s what DJs do.”
International travel is a big part of Cattáneo’s job description as a DJ – in the weeks prior to his next Australian visit, he’ll be playing in Greece and the UK, then after that, it’s off to Bulgaria, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and then – why the hell not? – Japan. Playing to so many different crowds with so many divergent tastes, you might assume that Cattáneo tailors his sets to the country he’s in at the time, but he assures me that he stays true to himself no matter where in the world he ends up. “Some places are better to play than others,” he says, “but there’s no way I can change my style or my way of playing. Australia is one of the places where my music works the best, so I can really play long sets the way I like and play as deep and melodic as I want.”
Cattáneo has a new Renaissance Masters compilation coming out at the end of this month, and he tells me that a reasonable chunk of his set will be devoted to material from that. “There are a lot of our own productions, remixes from other artists, and of course new producers from around the world like I always include in my sets,” he says. “This compilation follows the path of my previous one, Parallel, where I did one slower CD and another more up-tempo one. Some club tracks work wonderfully when you pitch them down to 100bpm, so I’m very excited to show some of those off.”
Cattáneo is known for talking at length about some of the great DJs who’ve inspired him over the years, like Sasha and Digweed – not to mention Oakenfold, who signed the DJ and producer to his Perfecto imprint when he was just a youngster. I’m curious to know, however, if there’s anybody in the present musical landscape that Cattáneo looks up to. “Of course,” he tells me, “The evolution and dynamics of music brings new people all the time. Guy Gerber, Guy J, Henry Saiz – these guys are all high in my list of favourites, and I would say they really understand the idea of melody like very few others.”
Where club music is concerned, there’s no doubt that the dubstep sound remains in ascendancy. As someone who came of age before the dubstep era, Cattáneo tells me that he likes listening to certain tracks and producers, especially on the more subtle and hypnotic side of things, but that house remains his true love. “It’s always been about that groove for me,” he says. “When I first heard the Chicago house sound, I got locked into that rhythm, and I really never looked into anything else.”
Travelling is such a big part of the life of a DJ that the time spent in hotels and taxis and airport lounges can really start to build up – I ask Cattáneo what he actually does to fill all this downtime, and he tells me, perhaps with tongue-in-cheek, that, “Apple make so many wonderful things, you never have to feel bored.” These days, Cattáneo is a family man, and by necessity, he spends less of his time on the road so he can spend more with his children. I’m curious to know what the future holds, and if he thinks there will come a point – in the next 10 or 15 years, say – when all the time in hotel bars and airport lounges will come to feel like a bit too much. “You can never plan so much ahead,” he answers, “but you can [check] with me in five years time, for sure.”
BY ALASDAIR DUNCAN
