FOLUAL

We caught up with rising Italian Techno trio and Apogee recordings label bosses FOLUAL this week for an end of year chat. Tipped as ones to watch by numerous publications in 2019, a hefty release schedule completed, and just shy of an officially approved rework of the seminal Acid House classic, Frankie Knuckle’s ‘Your Love’…

Hey guys, how are you and what’s been happening lately? 

(Luca Folco)

We are all very well thank you, it’s been a hell of a year and we working hard to close off 2019 in a very positive way, and are laying some heavy foundations already for 2020. Right this minute we are throwing around ideas for new rebrand on Apogee recordings, watch this space, it’s going to look fantastic! We have just mixed this week’s edtion of our weekly AogeeCast, and have just finished a super-cool rework of another classic 90s prog track. It’s all go-go-go for the 3 of us right now.

You have had a phenomenal year with just 12 months as a new label and working artist name? What have been your favourite bits of the FOLUAL journey from inception? 

(Luca Antolini)

Wow, where to start? there have been some very proud moments for us this year as artists and a label. Seeing our label Apogee coming to fruition and charting in both the Techno and Melodic Techno charts so quickly after launch was an incredible feeling, hearing that Podcast ApogeeCast is now reaching over 500,000 unique listeners per week was mind-blowing, also Ibiza Club News tipping us as ones to watch for 2020 in a recent interview we did for them made us all smile. Also seeing support on our tracks from scene legends such as Faithless, Pete Tong, Sasha, Eelke Kleijn, Wehbba, Spartaque, Spektre, Phutek, Eric Powell and Dr Motte never really sinks in. We are so so very grateful to anyone who takes the time to listen and to reply to our music in a such a busy and saturated landscape.

You have a pretty big release coming up, would you like to tell us more about it? What inspired you to take on such a prolific track? and how do you think it will be received when it is released? 

(Alessandro Bianchi)

Yes indeed, we reworked one of our favourite tracks of all-time last year, mainly as a bootleg for our sets to begin with. We wanted to deliver a respectful take on the seminal classic., “Frankie Knuckles – Your Love’ and it came out really well. After being road tested this summer by a few select industry friends in the clubs of Ibiza. (Amnesia, Eden, The Zoo), we were all absolutely delighted to receive the news that Frankie’s original publishers loved the track and have granted us full rights to release on our own label, Apogee Recordings. It’s out on promo over Christmas and should be hitting the shelves early February. 

After 12 months of strictly releasing your own material on Apogee Recordings, you have recently started inviting some exciting names onto the label? Tell us more? 

(Luca Folco)

Yes, we first wanted to showcase our sound on a regular basis through Apogee and build up a solid catalogue of our own productions. Being a new artist collective, we wanted to focus on ourselves for a bit and experiment a little with each release. These past few months and with others taking notice of both the label and us as artists, we have opened the doors to some very exciting remixes from some of our favourite artists of all shapes and sizes. So far we have had amazing reworks land from Phutek, Dusty Kid and Sisko Electrofanatik. Upcoming,  Apogee will see T78, A.S.Y.S, Mark Green, Damian Cassar and Jam El Mar all inject their own individual flare into one of our releases, and we can’t wait to share these with you all. 

Both Ibiza Club News and Iconic Underground have tipped you as ‘Ones To Watch’ in 2020, that must be a great feeling? 

(Luca Antolini)

Yes, as we mentioned above, this really was an amazing feeling, the double page spread in IU Magazine really took us by surprise, we thought it was just a quick Q&A for online, but getting that glossy mag delivered to our door with us included was a lovely feeling, To get any positive press at all so early in this project wasn’t expected, so we are extremely grateful to Victoria (Iconic Underground), Duane (Ibiza Club News) and of course yourselves for taking the time to speak to us.

Tell us more about your weekly podcast, The ApogeeCast – it’s picking up some great steam right? 

(Allessandro Bianchi)

Yes, we are fast approaching our 40th episode and reaching in excess of 500,000 listeners a week on 30+ stations worldwide., thanks to Dan at RadioSync who has done a tremendous job in getting it out there. We include all our favourite tracks each week from more progressive sounds to flat our Techno rompers and as we all contribute musically to it, including our label manager it’s a fantastic ride with some solid variety. You can hear us on AftrrhoursFM, KissFM Australia, RTE2FM in Ireland, Itunes, Spotify, Mixcloud and many many more stations globally. Look out for some exciting guest mixes next year also!

Are there any plans to release your music on other labels in 2020, if so which labels would like to see showcasing your music? 

(Luca Folco)

Yes, that is on the cards and is something we are working towards for sure, labels we love include Terminal M, Autektone, Gain, Filth On Acid, Suara, Drumcode, Layer909, Codex, FE Chrome, IAMT, Footwork, Tronic, Throne Room and many, many more. Hopefully we can work with some of them in the future.

After shunning the performance side of things so far, are we likely to see FOLUAL in the DJ Booth anywhere in the world next year? 

(Luca Folco)

Yes, 2020 we have decided to throw open the diary for DJ gigs and I’m looking forward to showcasing some FOLUAL sounds at some events throughout the year. It will just be me DJing and representing the 3 of us to make it affordable for promoters but who knows in the future, maybe you will see all of us gracing the booth on very special occasions, it’s early days though yet. We have already had enquiries from Italy, Norway and the UK so feel the time is right to venture out of the studio and into the the clubs. We have just signed up with Made Artists for all bookings next year so if you’d like me to come to your club, festival or party, please email bookings@madeartists.co.uk – they would love to hear from you.

You’ve been garnering support from some very interesting and widespread names in electronic dance music, not just the techno arena. why do you think this is? 

(Luca Antolini)

Yes, as mentioned above, the support has been absolutely incredible for our music, surprising us more than anyone tbh. We try and do something different with each release, and try to steer away from using templates for anything in our tracks, with 3 of us adding ideas all the time it’s a real melting pot of musical ideas and I guess that translates across into each track we do. Even Beatport couldn’t decide which genre to put our music into earlier this year so featured the same track in two different genres on the same week. We often can’t decide either lol.

Finally, as this is an interview for DMC World, what are your favourite or earliest  memories from the magazine and the associated DMC Mix championships?  

(Luca Antolini)

I remember two amazing finals many years ago, I remember Max Kelly, Francesco Zappala in Italy, Andrea Gemolotto and Daniele Mondello. The guest of the evening was the fabulous Richie Rich, it was really exciting. Sadly, I have not managed to attend any since, but I’d like to.

Keep up to date with FOLUAL in 2020…

https://www.facebook.com/folual/

https://twitter.com/Folual_Italy

https://www.instagram.com/folual_italy/

www.apogeerecordings.com