“The scene in our country has been really pathetic for many years,” Alessio explains.“Unfortunately people do not prefer our genre. I’m not sure things are really different in other countries but here, the term ‘underground’ doesn’t exist at all! During our travels, we have noticed the large differences that exist, for example between Brazil and Italy. The mentality and way of life in the South American continent is much more advanced in contrast to the Italian peninsula.
“We do not want to underestimate Italy, but this is the reality. The Italian person prefers following Gangham Style rather than creating their own musical journey! Of all the clubs and festivals in which we have performed, we give first place to Brazil and Mexico for the moment. Why? Because people appreciate the music that you present. There are many other beautiful places in the world too, but for the moment we give them the podium. We recently played at the Playground Festival in Curitiba in Brazil – it was an unforgettable scene, more than 80,000 people were in attendance!”
So while their sound is essentially minimal techno, it is the kind of sound that, as Alessio describes, has grown a lot in the musical context. “We are moving between minimal and techno; right now perhaps more towards techno. In our live set we mix techno and minimal at the same time. We also try to improve our sound day after day and that means we are not necessarily always grounded in the same rhythms and sound – we work every moment and we hope to continue in this vein. Unfortunately at places like Beatport, you have a lot of amateur producers who just want some visibility abroad and it isn’t helping the music industry – so you have to make a differnce with your own productions!”
Indeed, having started in the music world as teens, they have spent much time honing their craft, developing their skills in the studio, as well as putting their efforts into their label, Hand Made Music. Needless to say, twiddling knobs remains their first love and they admit to having a fair bit of work musically, in the pipeline.
“Firstly, we have an EP for the label Minicoolboyz; the track is called The Amazing Record and consists of two tracks – in one, we partner with Minicoolboyz for an original mix for Dubfire’s label Sci+Tec. We are also doing another original mix with our good friend Andrea Roma, most likely for Toolroom Records; and another EP is to be released very soon on our label with an original mix as well an some remixes from friends.”
Thus musically, the boys are motivated – for the most part – by their obsessive love of the beat. “Basically, we live for this and have always dreamed of doing what we’re doing,” Alessio describes. “If we didn’t get into music, we would have gotten into architecture or some form of graphic design.” Luckily for their fans, music was their natural course and has culminated in min&mal.
And if nothing else, the lads are super excited about getting down to Australia for their first tour, and are hitting up Summer Beats Soundsystem at Royal Melbourne Hotel in Melbourne.
“In between trying to spend some spare time with our friends we are also into sports. But mostly, we are interested in listening to music and are working on a really great set for our first Melbourne show. We are also really looking forward to the party, so we will see you all very soon!”
BY RK
