Words by Art Jefferson
Photography by Sara Di Pancrazio & courtesy of Fabrizio Mammarella
In the late 1970s the sounds of Italo disco were taking hold in Italy and throughout Europe, coinciding with disco scenes that were dominating the clubs throughout major cities across The United States. However, when the infamous Disco Demolition Night took place on July 12th, 1979 in Chicago, the sound would face a demise, driving it deeper into underground spaces in the U.S. Yet back in Italy, disco continued well into the 1980s with elements of the production style eventually morphing into mainstream European pop records. Fast forward into the early 2000s, disco resurfaced once again with DJs and producers crafting edits of classics, as well as blending it with Hip-Hop and electronica. In New York City, acts like Eli Escobar were at the forefront of delivering reworks that were lighting up the parties. Disco pioneers such as Giorgio Moroder even found himself launched back into the spotlight, working with giants such as Daft Punk. But back in Italy, there were producers delving back into the world of Italo disco, using their skills as musicians to create a bridge between heritage and the dance floors of today. Fabrizio Mammarella and Edoardo Cianfanelli, better known as Rodion, were among the top dogs in the country creating some of the most sophisticated and impactful records within the musical landscape. Whilst the two artists have each dropped highly impressive solo bodies of work, they have actually been collaborating since the mid-2000s, releasing top tier music which has continued on to today.
Aside from pumping out cutting edge records on labels such as DFA, Future Boogie, Permanent Vacation, and more, Fabrizio Mammarella’s own imprints Slow Motion and Wrong Era Records, along with fellow artist Franz Scala, boast an incredible roster of releases from acts such as Curses, Bottin, Marcello Giordani, Angé, Giulia Gutterer, Hara Katsiki, Rodion, and the list continues. Never the one to be pigeon-holed, Mammarella has always left room for himself to not only drop tunes that shake up the night clubs, but also delves into the more experimental side of electronic music. His 2004 EP Panorama already proved that he could bend and twist electronica whilst never forgetting about the groove. From numbers of EPs, singles, and remixes expanding his 20 year career, the word busy is indeed an understatement. His third label EMET is a home for limited edition releases tapping into the more left-field sector of electronica.
Classically trained as a pianist in Rome, Rodion kicked in the door with releases on German label Gomma records, dropping his Atala Ride EP in 2006. His 2007 debut album Romantic Jet Dance, demonstrated his mastery of not only Italo disco, but his uncanny ability to restructure it to fit into any style of electronica, that ultimately resulted into an alchemic sound of his own. Sleek and sexy with a sort of quirk, the LP indeed sounded like the soundtrack to a jet setter’s luxurious lifestyle. Rodion’s 2016 album Generator found him going even deeper with the music, incorporating aspects of Krautrock, spacey psych, dark disco, EBM, and more. While his signature use of analog gear was still in full effect, the record almost felt like the showcasing of a new Rodion in all the best ways imaginable. It has to be stated that in-between those time frames were a number of EPs, singles, and remixes, none lacking in quality.
Fabrizio Mammarella and Rodion’s latest collaboration album Musica E Computer is an immaculate handing of what they both do best. From dark disco, to Italo, on down to cosmic dance, the LP is a seamless and glorious listen from start to finish. Partly recorded in the legendary Museo Del Synth Marchigiano (Marche Synth Museum), Musica E Computer is a piece of work that is engulfed in passion, creativity, and ultimately timelessness.
Rodion, as someone who has followed your career for a very long time, I know that you were actually classically trained as a pianist. What made you decide to move away from the classical side of music into the more disco side?
Rodion – I actually never moved away from the classical side of music: indeed the more it goes the more I feel like diving deep into it. I just always felt that I really never liked a certain academic narrow-minded attitude towards music. I have been fascinated by electronic sounds and keyboards since when I was a kid in the 80ies. I grew up in a country and in an era in which everything music was heavily synth driven: Roland and Moog sounds where everywhere from news to sport and kids TV shows. My grandma had some pretty cool mixtapes that came together with a magazine she liked, and we used to crank those tapes in the car while driving around.
So when I had the chance, during my high school years, I started playing and programming synths in a couple cool bands. Then I got myself a Commodore Amiga and started putting together my own music, which at the time I wanted to be quite the opposite of what I was studying in the academy. In the late 90ies/early 2k we had a very interesting scene in Rome, with good labels and radio shows, so I decided it was time to try to release my own stuff.
In my opinion you were ahead of the curve in terms of bringing Italo disco with that true musicality to the present. I’m going back over 15 years ago when many producers were only really doing disco edits, mainly just sampling bits. You were actually playing and crafting it the way that it had originally been done decades before. As a pianist, how easy or difficult is it to find the right balance with giving the track just that right amount of instrumentation vs going too far with it, considering the electronica, dance, disco style of music?
Rodion – The music of grandma’s car tapes was mostly made by classically trained musicians who where trying to pay the rent producing easy listening tunes using bizarre electronic sounds coming out of cheap synthesizers. I was more or less in the same situation. I would say that nowadays we have a more sober and most probably less creative sound aesthetic in the club, so one has to find a good balance to keep the music effective on the floor.
Now Rodion I also remember when you were featured on the short documentary AM90 for Nike which was shot by the late Shawn Mortensen. How did you get involved with that project?
Rodion – My friend Manfredi (DJ Tennis) was the one in charge of scouting and connecting things, so he offered me and Gomma to get involved in the project, which we gladly accepted.
Fabrizio, as someone who also has a very long career spanning 20 years, not only fostering some of the best dance wave records but also incorporating things like acid, 80s new wave, and more, I’ve always wanted to know about some of your early record influences pre-producing. Which artists and records inspired you?
Fabrizio Mammarella – When I started collecting music I was into dance music from the US and UK, from Masters At Work to Matthew Herbert and Basement Jaxx, but also more experimental stuff or what was called ‘Braindance’, all the stuff from Warp or Rephlex records. In early 2000’s an amazing DJ from my region Guglielmo Mascio influenced and shaped my taste in music introducing me to artists like Chicken Lips, Idjut Boys, Metro Area, Playgroup, !!! and many other things that really changed my approach to music. Records like ‘He Not In’ by Chicken Lips or ‘Miura’ by Metro Area or ‘Losing My Edge’ by LCD Soundsystem sounded like a thunderstorm to me when they came out.
Also Fabrizio, you have dropped stellar original releases and remixes on labels ranging from DFA to Bear Funk. What made you decide to start your own label?
Fabrizio Mammarella – Thank you so much! Me and Franz (Scala) started Slow Motion as a party series in our hometown in Italy, at that time we where playing music that was not well represented in Italy. There was just a few Italian record labels releasing Italian artists so we thought of making our own, to showcase exclusively Italian talents, we were inspired by the work of Pigna records, Marco Passarani, Francisco and Mario Pierro (Raiders Of The Lost Arp), the Roman school. A few years later, since we were getting lots of demos from international artists we decided to open a sister label for them: that’s how Wrong Era was born.
Both you two have collaborated on music for quite a while, and are essentially like brothers. But I’m curious to actually know the origins of how you two came together.
Fabrizio Mammarella – As I mentioned in the previous question, we were making Slow Motion parties in Pescara and I invited Edo to perform his live show for us in 2006, his first record was just released and I was completely hooked by it. Since then we kept being in touch, friendship clicked immediately. We kept seeing each other quite often but it was only five years later that Edo wrote me an email saying “You know what, I think we should start making music together, we should be the Italian Lindstrom & Prins Thomas : )”. In 2012 we released our first record Appennini EP.
Your new collaborative album Musica E Computer is incredible from start to finish! What was the creative process like when you initially began working on it?
Fabrizio Mammarella – We’re glad you like it! When we accepted the invitation from the “Museo Del Synth Marchigiano (Marche Synth Museum)” to record some music there, we already had some ideas, but when we entered the space, we immediately thought that the machines had to be the leading force behind the project. We had just few days of sessions so we tried to record as much as possible while we were there, without taking care of arrangements and post production, everything was done in the next following months in our personal studios.
What was it like recording in Marche Synth Museum? I would imagine that it was like being in a candy shop with many of the original instruments still there.
Rodion – I stood speechless for a good amount of hours. I just couldn’t believe the quality and quantity of kick ass things that stood in front of my eyes.
Back in the days companies like Farfisa, Bontempi, Elka, Lombardi gave work to thousands of people. Everywhere in the world, being it at home or in the church you could find a Farfisa or Bontempi organ. Those solid companies had amazing engineering teams and excellent technology so they could invest in researching and developing new electronic instruments. The engineers were traveling to Japan and to the US to learn and collaborate with Robert Moog and the best synth minds in history. So there was a time when Italy produced quite a lot of amazing synthesizers, most of which were just in form of prototypes or made in small batches and now impossible to find. The Museo del Synth Marchigiano has them ALL. All of the wonders of the Italian golden age of synthesizers, in working conditions. It’s an amazing place, ran by very good people.
How long did it take you to record the entire album?
Rodion – 3 days. Then we arranged, mixed, tape transferred, mastered and pressed the record in the next few months.
While I could go on all day about how good tracks like ‘Un Segnale Di Speranza’ and ‘La Memoria Dei Sistemi’ are, ‘Una Nuova Era’ also gives me that classic, spacey Tangerine Dream, Cybotron, Zanov synth wave feel. You start the album off and close it with those sounds. It feels like it was a nice slow easing into and then a wind down from the more dance driven tracks. Was that the concept?
Rodion – There is no particular concept, it just happens to both of us to be in love with slower and more soulful electronic music. I remember I was playing this incredible Uranus 2 synth and it had this very Boards of Canada like sound: wide, sweet, mellow but also uplifting. We recorded it and then we built the track around that synth sound, with a very warm Elka drum machine from the early 70ies. We really liked the idea to close the album with a more solemn tune, which somehow gives also the feeling of a new beginning.
Finally what are you most proud of in terms of the new album?
Fabrizio Mammarella – We’re very proud of the record in terms of sonic output and music concept, we think it’s our most mature record we’ve done together, we’re also very happy that we helped the Museo Del Synth Marchigiano to have some more visibility. It’s such an incredible place and cultural treasure everyone should visit, owners are just fantastic and there you can find machines you’ve never seen before!
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