Italian DJ, live performer and producer, FILOQ, caught up with DMCWORLD and had a chat about his latest project with doubledoubleu, his experimentation of live sounds and samplings, and his upcoming projects for the rest of the year.
Hi Filoq, great to have the chance to speak with you today. Congratulations on your latest release on doubledoubleu – can you talk us through the EP in general and what you set out to achieve with it.
Hi guys, nice to meet you! Thank you, my collaboration with doubledoubleu started super well, XLR8R published one of my tracks from the EP and I am quite honoured and happy.
How is your studio set up, do you tend to use a combination of hardware and software or solely software?
I spend most of my time out of the studio because I am often on tour playing around, so I produce a lot in the box while I travel, my little Balena Studio in Genova is the place where I mix physically my projects on my laptop.
What would you say is your most used piece of kit/plugin?
I work a lot with samples, warping and manipulating inside Ableton live, I often use Live’s Simpler instrument. I am fundamentally a sound designer and I sample everything: jazz musicians, taarab music, african instruments, voices, sounds, noises. I always bring with me a portable zoom, I record anything interesting and I manipulate it, I don’t use many virtual instruments.
Looking back to when you got into music, was there a specific moment where you realised that this is what you wanted to do as a career?
When I was studying Design at University, I realised that I wanted to work with sounds, music and audio/visual applications. I should have been an industrial designer but I became a sound designer instead.
How is your summer shaping up with going on tour? Where can we expect to see you play?
Many lives and DJ sets around Italy in festivals and clubs.
When I perform my live sets it is something that goes in a straight way, I love to do it, I play my productions in a very open Ableton Live session. When I dj I can decide to change direction and move between different genres and beats, just by watching what goes on around me, I have to study, it is an incredible way to understand which sounds work on people.
What would you say is the album that influenced you the most as an artist?
Endtroducing, Dj Shadow.
How did you first start experimenting with jazz samples? Can you remember the first time?
I think it was something like ten years ago, experimenting on sampling with one of my best friends with a project call Tesla B for a compilation of a festival where we played.
What can we expect from you for the rest of 2018?
I will be on tour all around Italy by myself and with some other projects like Istituto Italiano di Cumbia and SJO until the end of the year. In October I will work in Tanzania for one moth: workshops, recording sessions and gigs with local musicians, a new project called Uhuru Republic with my partner and singer Giulietta Passera and the great contemporary viola player Raffaele Rebaudengo.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk us today.
Thank you guys! It’s been a pleasure!
You can listen/buy a copy his latest EP, “Somewhere Home #1” on doubledoubleu here