Dj Rocca - Electro Boogie Mixtape (Free Download) + Exclusive Interview

Today to celebrate the first year of our Electro Boogie Encounter we have a mixtape by a very special guest, Luca Roccatagliti, Dj Rocca also know by his works as Ajello, Crimea X, Erodiscotique and Jadoo (to name a few). 

We also did a cool interview about music, production, SOPA and culinary. 

Enjoy!

1-How was the beginning ? How a flute player player became an electronic music producer ?and what are your tips for the beginners 

I studied at the music academy flute and after I've been at a private school jazz improvisation on alto sax…I am a music lovers from the day number 1, and I started listening funk, new wave, jazz and kraftwerk. During the mid 90s I opened with some friends an infamous club called Maffia. I was the artistical director and resident DJ, so I played with people as Roni Size, Fat Boy Slim, to name just a couple…15 years of Maffia Club are a big influences, so I started to go to the UK studios of these people met at the club, and I learned a lot staying in studio with Pressure Drop, Zed Bias, Howie B.

I suggest to the beginners to go in some studio to learn from the masters they love as I did.

2-You played with Bossa Nostra right ? Which are your favorite brazilian musicians ?

Yes, I played flute in the first album of Bossa Nostra. I really really love Brazilian Music, and there are loads of great musician, that is very hard to me to choose few…Marcos Valle, Egberto Gismonti, Joao Donato, Eumir Deodato, Airto Moreira,
Dom Um Romao, Quarteto Em Cy, Elis Regina, Jorge Ben, Milton Nascimento, Milton Banana…please, stop me…

3-Which are the biggest differences in music making today and in the 90's? And how do you see the popularization of music making on mobile devices like iPad and iPhone ?

The biggest difference is music on a piece of vinyl, and now the music is only a file, now you can’t touch the music, look at, smell at…see the cover, touch a piece of plastic, where is it? Apart this obvious thing, another big difference is that during the 90s making music was expensive and very hard for a not musician, and now everyone can do music! You can realize that so, because there are lots of poor productions around… Is good to have some easy devices to do music as iPad and iPhone, but just to start an idea…the real track must to be done in a proper studio, with professional equipments!

4-Which are your biggest influences? And who are the best and worst today acts in your opinion ? 

I have tons of influences, from Jazz to Krautrock, from Disco Music to House Music, from African Music to Techno, from drum & bass to Brazilian music as well…my biggest influences is my huge records collection, I got more than 10000 records.

I’ve no intention of making judgments, what disgusts me even today, maybe tomorrow I might like, and vice versa

5-How your creative process work ?

It depends…I could start from a drum sample, or a bassline, or maybe from a melodic line, and then I add some other loops, some keys touch and go ahead until the track is finished. The most important things for me are the bass and the drums.

6-You played many different music genres during your carer, how do you think that influenced your work ? 

Eclectism is the key, as I said you before I’m an omnivore in music, and this is blood for my work as producer. Every music genre can teach a lot if you are able to listen, a genre to learn the drums use, another for bass, another one for synths use, another one for vocals…and so on…

7-How do you think the place you live in have influenced in your music ?

My town, Reggio Emilia is famous for the music, for example only about dance music, people as Benny Benassi and Black Box comes from here. When I was teen there was lots of Discotheques…if Rimini was the summer discotheque Kingdom, my town was the winter one. All around my town in places as Bologna, Milan or Rimini as well, there are lots of places where you can see live groups or clubs where you can hear amazing DJs, and not only today, but also 20 years ago. I was lucky, because I grew up in a place full of musical impulses

8-And what do think about music future ?

I sincerely hope may be born a new genre in dance music, as it was in the 90’s with drum and bass, or as it was House music in the 80’s…in the beginning of every century we chews the previous years music culture…in the last 10 years we listened, produced and readapted music from 20 or 30 years ago, now it’s time to invent something new!

9-When we'll have an Erodiscotique album ?What was the funniest and weirdest thing ever happened on a gig ?

Me and Dimitri prefer to produce EPs only, that are 'little albums'…every our EP got four or more tracks, so if you think, with our next Erodiscotique EP3 out on Gomma next April, we already produced twelve tracks, that is more than an album!

The funniest thing was to play at Sao Paulo’s Sambodromo in front of 50.000 people, and the weirdest, but funny as well, to play on a boat party on the Lugano’s lake, in Switzerland…

10-What do think about SOPA and Megaupload ?

I think that reducing people’s freedom, trying to stop progress, is another of the historical errors that cyclically men commits. The evolution and progress are unstoppable, the man must go on, and at the same time this thing scares, because the culture of many, may put in danger the power of a few…

11-What are your dreams ? Your motivation ?

I’d like to make music until I’ll have 100 years old, and my biggest dream is to have a studio with lots of equipments over the beach in a hot sunny Island, and people as James Brown, Miles Davis, Bernard Purdie, Roy Ayers, Connie Plank, Riuchi Sakamoto, Herbie Hancock, Larry Heard and Airto Moreira  as neighbours.

12-Which are your favorite places to play ? And your favorites to have fun ?

I love to play in Brazil, as in UK and Germany as well. I’ve been in Turkey and there are some great places over there as well. When I play what I like and the people is happy and dance with my music, every place is my favorite to have fun!

13-Italy is worldwide knew by the awesome gastronomy, which are your favorite plates ? Do you cook ? Can you share with us your favorite recipe?

I looove so much to cook. It’s like to make music, putting every ingredient in the right dose! I love risotto, and my favourite recipe is pumpkin risotto:

You need a pumpkin peanut-shaped, are the most flavourful, take only the orange part inside, without seeds. Cook onion and leek in a pan with butter for 3 or 4 minutes, and then put the pumpkin orange part cut in little cubes with a ladle of broth for 10 minutes. After that you could pound pumpkin and turn it into a kind of mush, then add the rice, and stir until it has dried everything, add a glass of white wine, and stir again until it has dried too, then begins to add ladles of broth, until the rice is coke and dry. Don’t forget a sprig of rosemary, which then will be taken 2 minutes before cooking. Add Parmesan cheese to add flavour when cook, a knob of butter and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Tracklist:

1.   Cole Medina - Red Hot (Original)
2.   Damir K Rogina - Sand Worm (Ajello Remix)
3.   Ajello Edits - Soomee
4.   Love Club - Hot Summer Night (Instrumental)
5.   Ajello - That Groove Again
6.   Todd Terje - Inspector Norse
7.   Ajello - Dream Of Paradise (Andy Meecham Vocal Mix)
8.   Supersonic Lovers - My Soul (Ajello 88 Version)
9.   Hardrive - Deep Inside (Dub)
10. Dimitri From Paris & DJ Rocca - Back To House
11. Supertramp - Cannonball (Instrumental)

for more visit DJRocca.com