Q1. Could you start by telling Japanese fans about yourself first?
Konnichi waa! We are the Italoboyz, and we have a long relation with Japan, we had the pleasure to play there already a few times in the past. We are both Italian, we live between London and Berlin and we like to make our modern/inspired/inspirational electronic music. We’ve also made a song called “Giappa” a few years ago, it was the 1st release of our own label, Superfiction Recordings.
Q2. Please talk to us about your latest release and the inspiration behind it.
This release for This and That represent a lot of our music spectum and ideas. There is a lot of live recorded music, there’s a superb acoustic guitar in the track “Back to Paradise”, there’s an amazing Hang played by the great Paolo Borghi, an Italian talent in the track called “Melodia di Sogni nel Vento”, and there’s a more straight-forward club track, “Ska!”, by Durant (Durant is the alias name of one of the 2 Italoboyz, Marco Donato). And there’s a rolling remix by Matteo Spedicati… All the tracks represent very well our idea of music, we like to be focused on the dance-floor, but we love to collaborate with musicians and be as musical as we can
Q3. How is this EP special compare to other tracks you’ve released throughout the career?
This EP is as special as many others we did, we are very selective with our music and we release only what we consider very special. We have a large amount of tracks that are sitting on our desk, that we don’t feel special enough to be put out.
Probably the most special track here is “Melodia di Sogni Nel Vento”, because it was produced around 5 years ago, and because the sound of Hang is not very popular, especially in club-land…
Q4. Can you pick 1 or 2 must plays in your recent sets and why?
1 track is definitely Sakro – Whispered Story – on Half Baked Records. I was in touch with Sakro during the time he produced this track, and I’ve made the connection with the guys from Half Baked. I think it’s a really great track, Sakro himself was looking forward to release on their label, so I’m happy to have given my contribution to make this happen.
The second track is Italoboyz Vs Blind Minded – MR Wonderful, on Superfiction Recordings. We can say that this track was born 14 years ago… because 14 years ago the we bought a record from one of their favourite records shop of London’s Soho (of those,unrepeatable years): Kokon To Zai. There was this white-label record, an electroclash piece, very hard, very nasty, with this super crazy vocal, this voicemail message. We fell in love with it (especially with that vocal), but due to the actual nature of the track, it has never been played much. But the idea of using that voice sample for an Italoboyz production, that idea started right there, and was always in the back of my mind. It took quite a while, but it was just a matter of finding the right circumstances, and these arrived when Blind Minded came up with this super nasty/funky/powerful groove. Then, putting them together was automatic…Last but not least, the sample has been cleared with the person who recorded the original trackso that was it: Mr Wonderful! Everytime I play it, is “the track” that shakes the dancefloor, is impossible not to feel it
Q5. Please leave a message for your fans in Japan.
Japan is number one