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01. Edanticonf – The Quiet Of Autumn, live version [Silent Season / SSD07]
02. Edanticonf – Stella [Unreleased]
03. Edanticonf – Night Walk [Silent Season / SSD07]
04. Iori – Tangerine Sky (Edanticonf’s remix) [Unreleased]
05. Edanticonf – TrES-2b [Unreleased]
06. Edanticonf – Forest Echo [Silent Season / SSD07]
07. Edanticonf – Self Portrait, live version [Silent Season / SSD07]
08. Edanticonf – Drome [Silent Season / SSD07]
09. Edanticonf – Planet, live version [Silent Season / SSD07]
10. Edanticonf – Overture, live version [Silent Season / SSD07]

Kn:  Can you tell us a little about how things progressed when you were younger which eventually led you to where you are now?

Ec:  Yes, sure.  I was born in Turin, which is a very nice baroque city located in the North of Italy. There is an interesting atmosphere there, together with a lot of possibilities to get in touch with good producers and to be involved in the musical city-scene. Especially, the electronic music scene is quite alive and during my childhood it was not so difficult for me to begin some friendships with ones of the most representative artists in the city. I spent some years to understand which one was the sound I was really looking for, and when I understood it, my father gave me my first couple of Technics SL 1200 and I began buying records. That’s how I discovered vinyls, how I learnt to DJ and how I began my approach to music in a more technical way; but in that period I really never thought to begin with the production of my own music. This has been my story for some years, since when, at the age of 19, I had a not so happy post-teens period and my life changed a little bit. This is basically the reason why I started having the necessity to find a new way to express myself, my feelings and my thoughts. Music was the best place where to escape and to take refuge, I wanted to escape from the reality, I felt myself different from the other people and I really didn’t have a lot of friends, so I decided to set up a small home studio, I bought my first analog synthesizer and I started to produce my first tracks.

My first works were very bad (laughs) but it’s interesting to notice that the main approach of what I did during that first period of time was not so different in respect to what I’m still nowadays doing. I mean, in the course of the years a lot of aspects changed: my knowledge, my background, my attitude, my musical taste, but not my mood. In fact, since the beginning I have been attracted by dark atmospheres, deep landscapes and hypnotic loops, this is the sound I wanted to achieve and what I’m still trying to get when I’m sitting in my studio.

Kn:  It’s not the easiest thing to reflect on, though what’s your general ideology in life line and how does it line up against the music your write?

Ec:  I try to be an independent person: freedom is the life-aspect I care more about. I think that you can understand it analyzing my life-style situation, I past the last 4 years living and travelling through 3 different countries, changing completely my used, my friends and being immersed in very different cultural situations. With regards to the music production, I also like to be free when I’m making my music. As I said, there’s a very strong correlation between my mood and what I write, so I want to be free to follow that mood, without taking into account the nowadays trends. Music should be a way to express our feeling, not to follow the trends. I really can’t understand all that kind of producers who change their style depending on what people play (or what people want to hear), I can’t do it.  Basically because I can’t decide what kind of music to produce, I just do it in a very free and spontaneous way. Another aspect of my general ideology in life is related to my personality. I’m quite an introverted person and it would be very difficult for me to express some feelings without sounds, so I let the music speaking for me.

Kn:  Has living in Hamburg aided in pulling everything together?  If so, how?

Ec:  I’m living in Hamburg only since 4 months and I’ll stay here just for some months more:  I’m an Industrial Engineer and I’m here just to develop a 6 month project for a German company. The album project was eventuated between Barcelona and Turin but I have to say that Hamburg is a very beautiful city and it gives me a lot of inspiration. In the last years I’ve been very lucky to live in cities such as Turin, Barcelona and Hamburg; each one of these is a very special place and with its own awesome aspects. Maybe Turin and Hamburg are the most similar ones, pretty grey cities, cloudy and rainy places, but at the same time with a lot of green-zones, parks and romantic corners right in the center of the city. Barcelona is completely different, very sunny and warm: people are also different, friendlier and more open minded, Barcelona is the city of sunshine, the city where magic things happen. You have to find the good aspects in every place you live; otherwise it would be very complicated to find new sources of inspiration.

Kn:  Now to the fun stuff that’s getting a lot of attention – your new long player titled ‘Forest Echo’. How did the project eventuate and if you could give us a quick drill on the process of getting the album to retailers?

Ec:  The album project eventuated in a very natural way: 1 year and a half ago I sent a demo packet to Silent Season, Jamie (SS’s Label Manager) appreciated my work and so we got in touch and began to plan the album release. After his first feedback I started to work on other tracks to create a more homogeneous pack and, when I sent it to him, he was very happy about the final result. Now we are good friends and I deeply thank him for his dedication and for his work, he gave me a lot of freedom and he put no limits to my creativity, moreover he treated the music in a really spontaneous way: I love this attitude!

Regarding the recording process, I worked at about 1 year and I made the music with some analog and digital equipment and at the end all recorded and edited it in Ableton Live. I love to play and interact with analog machines (especially synthesizers): I’m used to playing them live while I’m recording and then cutting the parts on which I’m more interested in to use them like samples; playing live you can definitely capture some very magic moments. Anyway, I also don’t dislike to use digital sounds: in every track I do, I always try to put together these two different aspects of the music production. Some tracks are completely analog made but some others are not, and I also like to put different type of sounds in the same work.

Kn:  The album itself paints a picture of a beautifully excogitated landscape – rolling tundras courting an atmospheric haze wouldn’t be far from it. What’s the undertone and where’d the inspiration come from to proceed with it?

Ec:  Thank you, this is exactly what I try to communicate with the music I do. As I said, the inspiration come from myself, I really don’t have a very technical musical background, I simply try to express my personality through music: every track is a short story about myself, nothing more. When I’m particularly sad or happy, I sit in my studio and I begin to write something that could capture and represent that specific moment. Particularly, Forest Echo is the story of my last 2 years between Barcelona and Turin. With regards to the inspiration, I’m generally very inspired by natural landscapes, rainy and cloudy skies, dark nights, stars and space, love. As human beings, we should respect and take more care of our environment, using it as inspiration instead of destroying it even more.

Kn:  Now it’s due for release on Silent Season, a label that’s really put out some quality left field material so no doubt you’re all on the same page. What’s it like working with the team on this and what processes do they employ that should be incorporated more often?

Ec:  Thank you! I’m used to do a great Labels selection before sending my tracks, first of all because I sincerely think that not everybody would appreciate my work, and secondly because I also like to create a nice relationship with all the people involved in the Label. Moreover I also care about the release format: I don’t usually like to release my own music only on a digital format. So far, together with Silent Season project, I’m also very proud to have been involved in the Eclipse Music one; this is probably one of the most interesting dub / deep techno Labels in the Italian music scene. Working with these people was (and still is) simply amazing, I guess that if you share such a great passion and love in music (together with others conceptual Label-related topics), it’s easier to feel yourself at ease in the Label context.

The process they employ that should be incorporated more often is: be more careful about the quality and don’t care about the trends. These people are animated by real passion for their Label and not by economic interests: this is also the reason why they put out not only digital releases but also (or only) vinyls. Unfortunately we live in a society where the most important aim for the majority of the people is to make money, and this aspect affects the music market in a very bad way: Labels are even more attracted by the digital format and they also prefer to release bad music by famous overrated artists than that good music by not hyped and maybe unknown producers. The final result of these processes is a general quality level decrease.

Kn:  Iori’s remix of Forest Echo rounds out the record. What provoked you to work with him and not somebody else? His camp at Prologue, Claudio PRC and Donato Dozzy in particular are pretty excited about it.

Ec:  I got in touch with Iori Asano thanks to Eclipse Music, because we released together a V.A. on limited CD called Syzygy, a nice tracks collection with some ambient, deep, hypnotic and trippy pieces of music. After that moment we kept in touch and I did a remix for a track by him titled “Tangerine Sky” (which is still unreleased): we think that both the original mix and the remix are very special tracks and, also for this reason, I decided to keep the collaboration over asking him for a Forest Echo rework.

Generally I appreciate Prologue’s work, sometimes I also spend some words with Claudio, we speak about music and we give and receive feedbacks; he was one of the first people who received my album and he really appreciated it. Donato is one of my Techno heroes but I don’t know him personally. In some weeks it will be also released a limited EP on clear vinyl with a remix by Abdulla Rashim, always from Prologue. Moreover the mastering has been done by Neel (half of the Voices From The Lake project, together with Donato Dozzy): definitely a lot of Prologue inside this album.

Kn:  You’re probably still catching your breath now that the final product is complete but where are we going from here? Plans to tour? Already working on the next project? Movement on the life front outside of music?

Ec:  Soon I will spend some days in Berlin to visit some friends before going to Spain for some holidays, then I’ll come back to Turin and I will remain there for some weeks. In the meanwhile I’ll decide about where I will definitely locate (Italy, Spain or Germany), depending also on the possibilities I will find in every one of these countries. I’m also setting up a new studio with some new gear and this requires some time as well! The only one aspect about I’m sure for my next future is that I’ll continue with the music production and before the next Christmas I’ll be ready to send some new demos to new Labels: actually releasing records is what I’m interested in and maybe there’s already a nice project for a special EP in 2013.

Regarding other movements on the life front outside of music, on the top surely I’ll spend some time with my family, enjoying my friends and my home-city, basically because I never came back since when I’m located in Germany and I really miss all of them.

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Links:  SoundCloud