Today we’re pleased to welcome our next guest, the rising Italian artist Bar.ba, fresh from his debut on Renaissance Records alongside Spain’s Oldagled. Out now, their collaborative ‘Festival EP’ sees the pair fuse their styles with impressive results, and to complete the release, Italian Juggernaut Sasha Carassi provides the remix. We spoke with Bar.ba to mark the release, enjoy!
Hey Davide, great to have you with us today! Where are you chatting to us from?
Hello, today I am writing to you from Ponte Nossa, a small town near Bergamo in Northern Italy.
For the readers out there that may not be so familiar with you and your sound yet, can you tell us a little about yourself?
I have always loved music, from an early age. As a child I spent the days locked in my room listening to tapes. During my teens, I started getting to know the world of progressive techno. I bought tapes with DJ set recordings and was fascinated by that world, but only at the age of 18 did I start “playing” with Cubase. The “Bar.ba” project was born by chance during the first lockdown caused by covid, in 2020. For almost 2 years I have been working hard to try to constantly improve my sound and mixing. With Renaissance I believe I have reached a great milestone, which will stimulate me to continue to strive to grow.
We’re here to chat with you about your EP titled Festival on Renaissance Records, on which you have teamed up with Odagled, congrats on this one! Can you give us some background about the release?
Of Course. Well, I met Odagled because we released on the same V.A on Seven Villas.
There was immediately a mutual respect and despite having two very different styles we tried to do something together. Odagled sent me an early draft piece of his, I worked on it to complete it and added the vocal sample. This is how “Festival” was born. I think that the fusion of our styles has created a song “different” from the usual, but certainly very interesting. We are very happy that Renaissance has decided to release it.
What was it like collaborating with Odagled? Can you talk us through how the collaboration came about and your creative process together?
Working with Frankie (Odagled) has been both fun and a challenge for us both! He sent me some very good stems, warm sounds from his analog synths. I changed the bass line, added the vocal sample and the main synth. Every day we discussed how to continue, what to keep, what to change, etc. It was great and we are very happy with the final result.
It’s been a tough year or two for most if not all of us in the music scene and beyond. Have the situations we have found ourselves in influenced this EP?
Indirectly, but I think so. It has been 2 years that they have made us learn to live with ourselves. The music managed to make me escape mentally by taking me to beautiful places but I believe that the moods of this long period have greatly influenced what I have produced. So I think yes: Festival has been influenced by this period.
The EP includes an impeccable remix from man of the moment Sasha Carassi. What was it like to have him on the remix?
Well, it was cool. Sasha has been a professional for many years. I remember him when he played here in Bergamo at the “Bolgia” and did Hard Techno. I’ve always had a lot of admiration for him. Having the chance to get a version of a superstar DJ and Producer was definitely an added bonus. I’m sure it will give a lot of visibility to the whole EP.
Things finally seem like they are going back to some level of normality now. Is there anything else coming up from you this year for us to look out for?
The remix I did for Lowtopic together with T.M.A. which will be released on LUKINS is already on pre-sale on Beatport. In April my remix for LEGATO’s “Nothing Left To Say” will be released on Nightcolours. I love this remix. Then, before the summer a super EP will be released on Buttress, a label curated by Enzo Elia, Musumeci and Lehar. It is a collaboration with an Italian friend “Arg.o”. But I don’t want to reveal much more 🙂
Lastly, in late summer there will be a big surprise.
Great, we’ll keep an ear out for those! Thanks for chatting with us today Davide!
It was a pleasure:)
