Interview by: Samuel Mee
Dance music has a new enfant terrible in its midst. An enigmatic character that has gone under the radar and who now is finally coming out from the shadows, and sounding extraordinary to say the least. There are artists that are hard to categorize, and then there’s Fango, who has been described by Michael Mayer as “the most insane Italian since Berlusconi.”
His latest album Tuono has been crowned by industry top players for all its weird, unfathomable brilliance. From Maceo Plex to Ame to Marcel Dettmann to Tale Of Us to Mano Le Tough, the reactions have been near to hysterical. His body of work has seen releases for example on labels such as Hell Yeah records, Kompakt, 50 Weapons and his main home Degustibus Music, resulting in growing demand for Fango’s remix skills as well as his much loved drum programming.
As he’s not much of a publicity seeker, we are happy to have had an interview with Fango, to shed some more light on this rare talent that has only just started to blossom.
“My music exists in finding the error, therefore I think it is not important what instruments I use. The importance is pushing them to their limit and making them sound wrong”
Can you give us a little information on your background, where did you grow up and what led you to start making music?
When I was a kid I moved my first steps playing drums for the marching band in my town. At 10 years old I started making music by splitting and pasting tapes and creating noisy and annoying music from skipping CDs, music that me and my father used to listen to during our journey to the mountains (I guess he wanted to do me a favour).
You’re known for being a bit of a mystery to the outside world. Has the time come to shed a bit more light on the person behind the name?
With my music and my vegetable garden I have no time for interviews, which I usually never read because I’d rather watch and listen to the work of the artists than reading about their lives. I don’t mind anything else.
Your music has a cinematic edge to it. Do you take influence from film and if so do you have a favourite director in mind when you produce your music?
I like documentaries a lot, especially those ones that show you the dead areas of the world like deserts, forests and jungles: all places that I’ve never seen and where dance has an important spiritual purpose. I am really fascinated by the image of the hominid that has first danced, why has he done it and what has made it do it? Fango wants to play for him, Fango wants to be him.
You’ve stated that you like to use field recordings and samples in your music, where’s the strangest placed you’ve sourced a recording for use in one of your tracks?
I like recording sound in big rooms, also empty, to obtain a peculiar and especially real reverberation. Once I even recorded my bathroom door for the track Folgore.
Can you give us a brief overview about your studio, are you more hardware or software oriented, do you have a favourite piece of kit you find yourself returning to?
My music exists in finding the error, therefore I think it is not important what instruments I use. The importance is pushing them to their limit and making them sound wrong.
You’ve been playing around the world since at least 2007, if you could play any club in the world where would that be and why?
I don’t think the club name matters that much: what really matters is the audience and what they feel. Of course I love playing in the temples of dance music but I have also received so much during nights in unknown clubs.
When I run ‘fango’ through Google’s translation software I get the English word ‘mud’ or ‘filth’. What made you pick this artist name?
Since I have graduated in Environmental science university I had the chance of studying the mud of Porto Marghera, an industrial area near Venice. Moreover Fango used to be my nickname in the university because it was the worst thing to analyze.
Finally, you’ve released your debut album Tuono back in April. What other projects do you have in the pipeline for us to look forward to?
Some remixes of Tuono produced by some artists whom I really respect will come out and of course I’m working on new original stuff as well.
