Emiliano Comollo is a man on the rise – especially if his latest work for Parallel is anything to go by.

A native of Turin, the man makes the sort of spirited and intricate house music that’s favoured by the old school yet still maintains a vehemently contemporary approach. We caught up with him recently to find out more…

Where are you based in Italy? What are the best (and worst?) things about where you’re from?

Hey everybody, I’m from Turin, in North Italy. I think it’s one of the best cities in Italy regarding music in general. There are many bands, singers, DJs and producers, hence a lot of concerts and parties every week and also some important festivals during the year that, for a city of about 1 million inhabitants, is not usual. I grew up surrounded by people who take music and all it’s derived very seriously and keep doing like that. Nowadays, speaking especially about electronic music, I noticed that some people start to organize parties or do the DJs just to follow the vogue of the day, or worse to make easy money. The result is that the quality of the offer has strongly decreased, but I think it is something happening in many cities in this period.

What do you make of the scene at home right now? Good? Or too obsessed with ‘superstar’ DJs?

If you intend scene with artists making something similar, with a peculiar sound recognizable abroad, I think Turin has not a scene. There are some good DJs and producers making their stuff. Someone is more underground, someone is more commercial, and they coexist and work together in the clubs every weekend. Yes, people here are quite obsessed with superstar DJs, especially the youngest, but I can say that also resident DJs have a good following here and, thanks to the big number of parties, they have the possibility to perform quite often. I can consider myself quite lucky, because I play as a resident for one of the best organization in Turin: “We play the music we love”. This crew aims to deliver quality music every week, hosting some of the most interesting artists worldwide, as well as to foster his resident DJs giving them quality slots in the several parties during the year.

How do you reckon the modern Italian scene compares to the old one?

The house scene in Italy used to be very interesting. There were few parties around Italy but they were very appreciated and people used to drive from north to south every weekend to attend the best one. At that time there wasn’t the obsession for international superstar DJs. There were a lot of good Italian DJs who earned a good following among people. Nowadays I don’t see a real Italian scene in Italy. Many guys leave Italy as soon as they can, to go to Berlin or some other cities where the cost of life is lower and where they have more possibilities to gig or to collaborate with other artists.

How long have you been producing? Who influenced you to start?

I started producing on 2009, when I bought my first laptop powerful enough to run a DAW. At that time I have been playing as a DJ for 4 or 5 years and I felt the necessity to make something on my own. There were many friends and colleagues who were producing, thus it was easy to start. After few months I started, I entered the studio owned by two friends of mine and all began.

What do you produce on? What challenges are you trying to overcome right now with your sound?

I always try to do something interesting and original. In my DJ sets I tempt to propose a sound that is not expected in order to give the audience something new, and I try to do the same with my productions. But it is not always easy.

How would you best describe your sound? Does what you make change a lot?

I don’t know exactly how to define my sound and I don’t really like to tag it. I could say that it touches different genres and it has a minimal imprint.

So did you have a mentor who helped foster your sound then?

My friends have always been very important and they supported me a lot when I started. At the beginning (around 2002) we had a crew called Crop Circle Unit with different kind of people involved in the project. There were Hip hop singers, DJs and producers playing different styles of music, from hard techno to break beat. At that time I didn’t play yet cause I didn’t find a sound I felt comfortable with. When in 2004 I started as a DJ, they recognized that I could do well and after few months I was playing in some clubs of Turin.

How do you stay motivated musically? What’s influencing you a lot these days?

I always listen to a lot of music, electronic or not, and I always try to find the time to go out and listen to live concerts or some DJs I like. I think nothing can inspire you as good as a live show.

Are you at a stage where you’re very confident with your production skillset? Or is there always room for improvement?

I started to produce many years ago but I am releasing my first works just now cause I didn’t want to put out stuff I was not pleased with. Now I feel quite confident with my production skillset but there is definitely room for improvement and it will be always like that.

So how would you describe your current sound? What equipment do you use to make most of your music?

I use both software and hardware. Regarding hardware right now I’m using mostly a tempest drum machine and moog little phatty.

So can you tell us about the Parallel EP? How did it end up there?

When Sergio Pellon contacted me, I was on holiday in Indonesia. I was sitting in a small restaurant with Wifi connection having breakfast. At that time my track on Cyclic record “Nina’s mind” was out since 1 week or little more. I opened Facebook and I received his message where he wrote me that he liked that track, and he asked me if I could send some works of mine to eventually release on Parallel. I answered: ”Yes of course” and I went happy to the beach. It was a good day! When I came back to home I sent my works and they decided to release my Ep with two tracks: “Ferdinand” and “No work”. Ferdinand, the title track, is a collaboration with Cipi. He is a great DJ from Turin and one of my best friends. We have known each other for almost 20 years and we share the studio where the track took shape. We also play together very often, especially at Doctor sax, an important after club in Turin, where our b2b DJ sets always extend until late in the morning.

So what do you listen to in your free time? Do you feel it’s important to stay eclectic and listen to other types of music away from 4/4?

Yes I think it’s very important. I listen to many kinds of music: rock, jazz, blues, hip hop and more. Currently when I am at home and I want to relax body and spirit I prefer to listen to sounds more rarefied like drone or doom music.

Do you feel house and techno scenes are in a good place right now? What would you change about them if you could?

Yes, I see many DJs and producers developing classical techno and house sound into something more personal and new. For example, I can mention the Romanian scene that seems to be one of the most lively and thriving scene nowadays.

Do you think the scene can be a bit pretentious at times?

Probably in some cases. Nowadays some DJs earn like rockstars and it led to a change in the collective imagination of the DJ figure. Said that, for what concerns my personal experience, I see that people involved in this world still keep on working in a modest way and above all hardly. I say hardly because it is not easy to propose a quality concept, whether it is music, a party or whatever other aspect of electronic music, when many people get rich with a bad commercial music concept.

So what are the biggest challenges you are facing right now?

The biggest challenges I am facing are to keep releasing good tracks and going to play outside my city as much as possible.

And lastly, what 5 tracks are you really playing on rotation right now?

– Frost & Einzelkind  – Bye honey

– DJ Boom (aka Herbert)  – kinda kickin

– Luca Ballerini – Arabesque

– Vlada Caia – Codex voluspa

– Stefan Rein – Go for it

Emiliano Comollo’s brilliant new EP, Ferdinand, is out now on Parallel

listen to a mix from Emiliano on our mixcloud page here:

DubPC023 – Emiliano Comolio – parallel set 2014 by Dub Ibiza Network on Mixcloud

More info:

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