Federico Ezequiel Fragala, also known as D3FAI, started his career in music at the age of 12 playing drums, then decided to start making mashups/edits and eventually got into productions to showcase his dreams and music story. Thanks to his previous success on the Big Room scene, D3FAI got his music on the biggest labels and festivals and also the opportunity to perform live in many different countries around the world. Now D3FAI specializes on techno, having released tracks on Spotify’s official editorial playlist “Techno Bunker” with +1.6M followers. D3FAI’s shows start with a relaxed energy that slowly evolves into a darker and more energetic sound, making his audience go on a journey with an outer space thematic in his sounds and visuals.
Following a slew of early career releases on some of the biggest labels in electronic music, Italian producer D3FAI now looks to expand the sonic footprint of his already illustrious catalogue as he unveils his latest huge EP, this time on the one and only FORM Music. Out now via POPOF’s long-standing Parisian techno imprint, which celebrated its landmark 100th release in January 2022, D3FAI’s Celestial EP marks the Argentine’s inaugural foray on FORM, as he delivers an immense three-part package worthy of any label debut.
Hi Federico and welcome to Techno Mood. So great to have you with us for the first time.
Thank you guys for having me. My pleasure.
How was this year been for you so far? Any early highlights?
So far so good! I just played at Lollapalooza Argentina. After playing there I flew to Miami for MMW and got to be on stage with POPOF while he was performing at Ultra Resistance which was a lot of fun. While I was there I did a quick interview on Ultra’s boat with YourEDM and another one at Racket Wynwood for my friend Versus who is hosting a podcast called Party Starter Radio. And now I’m about to release my upcoming ‘Celestial’ EP on FORM Music.
Starting at the beginning, can you tell us how you got into music and production?
Since I saw Tomorrowland & Ultra I knew that’s what I wanna do in life, so from there I started to learn how to dj, how to produce my own music, beacuse that’s what’s gonna take me to the big stages, and I never stop doing it. Everything I know I learned it by myself practicing and of course with help of some tutorials and dj/producers friends.
Who or what were your biggest musical inspirations growing up?
Hardwell, Deorro, Afrojack, David Guetta and right after Carl Cox, Adam Beyer, Charlotte de Witte, Enrico Sanguliano, Popof, just to say a few.
Talk us through your new Celestial EP on FORM Music.
It’s a 3-track EP with powerful melodies and fat beats. I worked on several tracks for 2 years to make this EP happen. The ones that I picked are called “Ecliptic”, “Asteroid Belt” and “Celestial”, all of them reference outer space and astronomy, which I find fascinating. I feel honored to be releasing them on FORM Music.
How did you connect with POPOF and the team?
My manager and friend Armaan got in touch with Ghayath at the beginning of 2020 when the pandemic came. We started to send music to them and eventually with the time we got to know each other better. We made a better connection, improved my sound, and finally two years later, I got to meet Popof when he came to Argentina this past January and we had a really good time there. Right after we saw each other again for Resistance at Ultra Miami this past weekend and it was so fun.
What do you like to do in your spare time when you’re not touring the world or making music?
I love to watch movies, eat pizza, hang out with friends and go out to big raves!
Do you have any other releases planned in the coming months that you can tell us about?
Well I got many IDs to be released so you can expect lots of new music from me this 2022, I’m planning to release at least another EP and an album. I can’t wait to release them and show the world what I’ve been working on so hard for so long, I’m very happy with the results and I’m hopeful that my fans will be happy too.
On the live side, where can we next see you perform?
I’ll be in Europe in the summer, we are still finalizing the details for the shows and events there, I’m excited and really looking forward to what’s next. I’d also love to do another tour in Asia like I did in 2019.
Any final words for our Techno Mood readers?
Thank you all for the support, it means a lot. And hope you can be with me during this new path I’ve taken and get to know me even better with my own productions and shows around the globe.
