October 15, 2013
October 18, 2013
March 26, 2013
October 26, 2011
October 24, 2011
March 10, 2011
December 3, 2010
January 18, 2010
January 05, 2010
May 11, 2009
March 01, 2009
Febuary 14, 2009
December 30, 2008
December 26, 2008
September 29, 2008
June 25, 2008
March 01, 2008
january 05, 2008
JULY 11, 2007
JULY 11, 2007
June 18, 2007
June 18, 2007
Febuary 16, 2007
Febuary 08, 2007
December 08, 2006
October 18, 2006
June 28, 2006
June 27, 2006
November 27, 2005
|
|
June 18, 2007
MILLYDEMORI Interview
by Tatu Vuolteenaho
T: How would you describe the music you play? What kind of music are you
planning to play at ET on 23.06 2007 in London?
M: it's a blend of teck house, minimal and sophisticated tecno... my roots are deep into funk and groovy stuff, and I think there's a touch of that that shines through also in my harder sets. I love dub sides as opposed to vocal versions, intricate grooves and powerful deep beats and tecky sounds. As per the ET party, we'll see how far I can push it with the crowd. I never plan anything in advance, but the vibe will be very much along the lines described before
T: Are you familiar with London and the club scene here?
M: Prior to moving to the US, I used to hang out in London more and be in touch with the scene over there. It's been 7 years since my last visit, so I'm sure I'm missing some great hidden gems that the scene is offering now. That said, I love the british tecky sound and I'm current with what great labels like Leftroom, Safari Electronique, Crosstown Rebels, Confused to name some, are churning out.
T: We expect all kinds of people at ET and there will certainly be lots of
fabulous freaks and even some from other planets. How does the visual style
of the crowd affect on your playing or does it?
M: The more the better! Personally I find that creative decor, personal style, costumes etc all help in making a better and more unique party. I love it! Both for the crowd and for the DJ, of course. Nowadays the fun of dressing up to go out at night is gone, the attitude of wearing a different "hat" at parties unfortunately is something stuck in the and 80's, early 90's, and it's a pity.
Back in the days, I used to hang out in NY at Susanne Bartch parties, and I know how different that mood was from a regular party today. There's an unmatched natural euphoria that it's difficult to describe without experiencing it.
T: What kind of music did you listen to before you discovered house in Ibiza in
the late 80s and early 90s? How did you end up playing the style you play?
Influences?
M: I grew up listening to funk and disco basically. What caught my ear had always been the upbeat mood of that music, the groove, the lightness and how you couldn't stop your feet from moving.
I hardly listened to rock or punk or melancholic ballads. It's been always about the dance groove. In the 80's and 90's I'd listen to pop music of the moment, first electro funk, new wave, space disco, kraftwerk, old school hip hop... up to the first House tracks.
Then in 1990 Ibiza opened my eyes to a completely new style of music and I've been hooked ever since.
At that time, I loved all the funky, groovy and melodic stuff, but progressively over the years I've lost interest for that side of house and found myself more attracted to teckier grooves with minimal vocal elements, twisted beats and weirder synth sounds.
It's been a true journey.
Today I like hybrid tracks that incorporate different influences. Purity per se in music doesn't appeal to me very much, although I greatly appreciate experimentation and being on the forefront of musical novelties.
In order to forge one's own personal sound, I think is important to collect influences from different genres of music, and trying to incorporate them in the studio or DJ sets.
T: How do you prepare for gigs?
M: I try to get as much information about the party as possible, talking to the promoters, checking out club's website in order to get an idea of who my crowd will be. Which is most important.
Then experience comes in hand, and I put in the bag (or in the computer in my case) a little bit of everything in order to be ready for unexpected turns.
T: You used to DJ with 'real' records and now with a laptop. How did you
transform into a laptop DJ? Did you practice a lot with a laptop and just
one day did a gig as a laptop DJ or did you play mixed sets and gradually
moved fully into laptop playing?
M: I've been Djing for 12 years. I've mixed with every media, from analog to digital.
Let me say that schlepping around 2 flycases full of wax from gig to gig has never been that great, especially for a girl.
I'm basically a tech geek, I love computers and playing with a laptop was a natural step for me.
When Final Scratch was first released for Mac in 2002, I think I've been one of the first to get it straight from Stanton. I remember playing in NY with Magda, she was already using it on a PC and I was just burning to get my mac version.
It was great using it, but recording and encoding all my music material took ages, because back then there were hardly any digital download stores. What I liked about FS was that I could still use vinyl to mix. Unfortunately the first generation of the software wasn't stable enough, had a few bad experiences live at gigs, so I abandoned it and started playing with CDs, or vinyl.
Then just over a year ago, I decided to make another attempt at the digital DJing world, and I've started using Traktor on a Mac. I've opted for Traktor vs Serato, because I don't want to have reliability issues with the club equipment not to "synchronize" with my soundcard or the software, and have to stress out before my gig.
With Traktor all I need is 2 free line in channels on the club mixer and I'm good to go. I use an external sound card and a programmed midi controller to perform certain tasks. That said, in addition to my laptop setup, I use CDs to trigger accapella's and other loops or tracks.
I had to practice a little bit, because even if it's a computer, it's never that precise, and it took some practice to manage the pitch control and be able to beat-match perfectly, like with vynil. After all, the way I'm using the software, isn't very different from playing with CDs.
To answer to your question, I guess i moved into it gradually.
Today I doubt that i'll go back to analog DJing. I feel I can be more creative and have more music at my fingertips.
T: You DJ in many different countries, does same music go well in Italy,
Germany, Spain and USA for example or do they like different kinds of
styles?
M: Well actually no, it all depends on what club I get booked at, and what people are used to dance to in their own countries or cities. The same DJ set in Milan could leave everyone staring at me in NY. In some places they don't even know what Minimal is, like in China or Tunisia. New York, or the US I should say, for example hasn't fully caught up with it either, a part from some super cool underground parties.
T: Please tell us about your most amazing DJing experience(s), where, when etc?
M: Well every time I see people with their hands in the air.. is just amazing!! :-)
I loved playing in my hometown Milan at Magazzini Generali, especially when I used to live in NY, I felt like an ex-pat returning home. It was great! Same for Space in Ibiza. Such a wonderful club and sound system!! Playing at Burning Man festival in Nevada desert was also a truly unique experience. Freaks from everywhere, people just wanting to be free to express their personality and fun in any way they liked. No judgments, no stereotypes, no complications. And all of this in the middle of nowhere, on the soil of an immense dried-out crater lake. It was a very unique experience. I wished that mood could be replicated more often in clubs today!
T: Do you have any artists and labels that you play a lot? If so, which ones?
M: There are so many... besides the labels mentioned earlier, I love Ovum, Presslab, Pokerflat, Harthouse, Mood Music, Resopal, Trapez, Wagon Reapair, Connaisseur, Freerange, Tronic Soundz
As far as producers, DJ FEX, David Duriez, John Dalhback, Presslaboys, Paul Ritch, Dave DK, Claude Von Stroke, John Selway and Alexi Delano hardly miss a beat!
T: When you played at designer parties and shows (Cucci, Calvin Klein etc) did
you wear those fashions yourself too? Were you visible and kind of part of
the show or more in the dark DJ corner?
M: Usually at fashion events, I'm all dressed up in that specific designer clothes, and usually the dj booth is very visible, so that I can be part of the show. These events are all about image, therefore music and the DJ are integral part, if not pivotal to the success of the night
T: Any advice for those who are interested in collaborating musically with the
fashion scene?
M: My advice is to keep current with what's new in music and have a very broad repertoire. It's not like playing at club gigs. Clients have specific needs to complete the image of their collections with according music, so it's necessary to work in team with them and be open musically. Personally, with my clients I often end up playing very differently than in the clubs. My sets are funkier and groovier, splashed with more known songs and not as clubby.
The mood needs to be light and fun, also because the crowd's age is usually broader, like 18-50, so the secret is to really mix it up!
T: Tell us about your Millybar radio show?
M: MILLYBAR is meant as the unit measure for pressure, not as in "my bar"... It defines that certain power of the music I play.
It's a weekly show on Radio M2O which is probably the most important dance music radio in Italy among young people.
Along with a fresh DJ set every week, there's a positive message to the club kids, which promotes toxic-free music. The idea is simple, "you don't need to fry your brains to listen to electronic music and to have fun"!
There's no moral judgment, I just feel is also up to us DJs to offer an alternative message on how the clubbing experience can be. It's sad to see kids fainting in front of you while you work or seeing them so alienated that they could easily be elsewhere and be the same.
T: Plans for the future? What would you like to do more in your musical career?
M: Well to keep going with my own productions and remixes, and club gigs. MILLYBAR TOUR is just starting and it'll be all summer and next winter season long in different clubs in Italy and internationally.
My remix of "Put down your drink", one of the Presslaboys LP tracks, produced together with my partner Luca Doobie, will come out at the end of the year. And I have few other solo tracks coming out too, label tbd.
What excites me greatly, is a new collaboration with a jazz musician Amedeo Bianchi. We're basically fusing my electronic world together with his smooth jazz's, resulting in a nice upbeat acid lounge blend, for lack of better words.
We're currently finishing working on the album, and we'll be playing live at a couple of gigs this summer. I'm very excited about this project because it's so interesting to fuse two extremely opposite ends of music and see what comes out of it.
The band is called Three O, because it's basically a trio performing: a sax, a trumpet and a computer! Guess which one I'm playing...!
Your current top 5 (or 10)
Social Smoker: Shampoo Girl
Dave DK: Ocean Club
Luka & Lazo: Dust No.4, Barem mix
Mr. Wenzel, Stuffit , Mr Weize: Rock N Roll (Haito mix)
Prospettive Sotterranee: High Lights
DJ millydemori & Luca Doobie: Breathin' (exhale more mix)
Sire G, Jitzu: Answering Service
LINKS
www.djmillydemori.com
www.myspace.com/millydemori
www.m2o.it
www.myspace.com/jumpdj
www.myspace.com/etlondon
|
|
|
|
|
