Hi Diego, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. How are you today and where are you based?
Hello you all and thank you for this. I am great, just came back from Miami.. Now I am based outside New York City in the countryside. But I have a spare place in Mexico too that I consider my second home.
Your new release La Llorona is out on Crosstown Rebels sister label Rebellion, featuring Golshifteh Farahani & Carlito Dalceggio. Can you tell us about the collaboration and inspiration for the release?
Well Carlito and I we have been talking and sharing music and art and ideas in the past few years and when he told me that he fell in love with the Mexican legend of La Llorona and that I was the right person to put into music the contemporary interpretation of that I felt honoured and started working on that. Later on he wrote the poem and cherry on top found the incredible voice of Golshifteh for a proper female interpretation.
Do you have any hobbies outside of music? Can you tell us a bit about them?
I live in the countryside so my free time I spend gardening, doing long walks in the forest and cooking. Probably cooking is my second favourite thing to do after music. It just relaxes me and I enjoy putting effort on creating special meals for my family.
You are based between Mexico City and New York. Do you spend more time in one place? Can you tell us more about how you split your time?
I used to live full time in Mexico City but now my wife and I are expecting a baby so we will be spending a little more time based in our place outside New York because it is bigger and is surrounded by nature. I still see Mexico as a place we will always find time to go and enjoy. Probably in a few years we will be able to spend half and half. And we are also thinking of going back to Europe at some point, maybe Italy.. my roots.
What are your favourite clubs to play at and why?
I really don’t have preferences. When the sound system is proper, the lights are minimal and the people are enjoying that’s all I ask. Of course there are some places that grab me more than others.. I would say that normally the places I enjoy the most and the ones that have less business oriented kind of structure and are more inclusive and free, places you can still feel the rave culture at its best.
What are the top three tracks in your record bag at the moment?
Eye Deep Leez – Partials
Eden Burns – The Siren’s Song
Mat Chiavaroli – Watcha (unreleased)
Who are your biggest musical influences and why?
I come from live music, concerts and punk-rock venues.. So my biggest influences as a kid came way before I would end up being a dj and electronic music producer. In my last 10 years I have been obsessed with the music of Brian Eno, Anthony And The Johnsons and Italian songwriters from the ’70. But on the other hand the biggest influences that helped me on that transition from Instrumental Music to House and Dance Music were definitely artists like The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Air.. They made me realise the crossover of genres was possible and sounded great!
Lastly, are there any gigs or releases you have coming up this year that you can tell us about?
I am touring The US and Europe till August focusing on the b2b with Iñigo Vontier..this is the next project I am focusing the energies on and probably also releasing some music with him in the next year.
