Welcome to a new instalment of #5MinutesWith blog: ahead of his Pressure’s debut, we’re delighted to welcome one of the most prolific Techno producers in Italy, Lucy!
Can you remember when you first started making music?
It was when I was still living in Palermo in my hometown in Sicily and I was often going when I was like 14/15 buying records at this record store of a good friend. At that point he was starting to introduce me to a lot of old tech like Aphex Twin and that kind of stuff I think about the 90s.
In the shop, he always had on the table with a bunch of classic Roland stuff like an 808, 606, 303 and a few others. And they were there to just have fun with the headphones you know it was all his stuff. That’s when I actually started, I was like so how do does this work? And he explained press this and this and that then you have a beat. I think that was my very first time touching a synth actually.
Where did it lead on from then? Did you teach yourself?
Pretty much. For a long while I was just experimenting, it has been a hobby since I was about 15 actually. Then at some point I remember a real turning point was meeting this guy when I was living in Tuscany in Sienna for University.
I met this guy through a rave culture connection I’d say and this guy was an absolute genius that had a really weird talent. Meaning he was someone who had an immense knowledge of machinery and machines, and he had this studio room, which was literally covered in synthesizers and drum machines in this tiny village somewhere in Tuscany. We started being friends and he started inviting me for overnight sessions for 20 hours mixing with stuff and just recording and recording. That was a real moment of like synthesizer academy for me if you know what I mean?
Are you still friends with him now?
No I lost complete contact with him. He was someone who really never wanted to release anything. For him commercialising any kind of creative product would have been a mortal sin you know. He was just this kind of crazy horse I’d say.
A very special person and at some point, I lost complete contact. He moved to the Netherlands at some point and I think he was still playing at some raves and stuff like this and then I completely lost contact. Me and all my friends who knew him just lost track of him many years ago.
What an interesting encounter to have triggered your love of producing….
Yeah that was really the moment that for me became an academy like how to make electronic music like what does it mean? How does it work? Both technically and artistically and still gave me that kind of imprint of improvisation that I like a lot. I still nowadays when I record in the studio am not very structured. I normally work on massive patches and scenes and machines that respond to each other and stuff like this and record long runs of it. I use all of those recordings as a kind of base from which then I work on a kind of finalised tracks or albums or EPs or remixes.
I read somewhere that you came from a writing background?
I was writing a lot for a long while until I was like 22/23 when I stopped completely. I also published a book back in the day in Italy and I was about to do a second one because the first one worked pretty well.
Can you tell me the name of the book?
I can tell you it was called ‘The Compositiori’ which in English translates to ‘The Composition.’ It was short stories put together. Then at some point I don’t know when it came out and all the tension came out for me because I felt extremely naked you know what I mean. Then more and more the music took over the writing as a much more lets say abstract and almost indirect way of expressing yourself where less of the personality is less clearly trackable it’s a deeper mask. That kind of limited border is really important because in my life when full long creativity passed into the normal routine of a life, a personal life that’s when some damage happens. They are not always compatible lets say.
Your own imprint Stroboscopic imprint has been flourishing, what is your practice of choosing artists you work with
When normally some times a certain artist let’s say come and go you know what I mean. Most of the time what I try to do is establish a relationship. Which doesn’t have to mean making tiny pieces and three albums but a relationship where when something is coming out of it because it’s more than the music itself. I like the personality and the artistic profile of the person.
When I start talking to someone about making music it almost never happens that I don’t like what the artist sent to me. Already that stage of that discussion it’s a stage quite advanced for me. It’s always someone I know personally or artistically so deeply that I trust them more than my own taste. It’s interesting when your ego manages to step off and allow the actual artist to express himself and what he thinks is the best for his artistic path.
That’s sometimes how it works but it’s something that is so delicate that could take a whole interview just for that.
We ask this to everyone who comes to play Pressure, what is your emergency record or the one you always carry which you can really on?
There are a few, they change all the time but one that has been a kind of an evergreen is Dexter by Ricardo Villalobos. Also, Blawan’s ‘His Money’ and ‘DBX’s Losing Control’.
Soma Records is celebrating its 25th birthday, what does Soma mean to you?
Well, Soma to me is one of the few institutions I can call institutions in electronic dance music for a very long time. It has been a label that has been present in my vinyl collection since I was a kid so it’s been a pleasure to be a part of the celebration.
Thanks very much Lucy for taking the time to answer those questions. You can catch him, SLAM, Luke Slater and many more, tomorrow night at Pressure.
