A love letter to electronic music from Alessandro Camaioni
For our sixth installment of “What We Are Listening To,” we had the pleasure of meeting up with Italian Strategy Director, Alessandro Camaioni. So far in this series, we’ve featured mixes from a French graphic designer, a couple of planners, a British design director and a New York based photographer. The original concept for this column was rooted in the idea that people who work in media, advertising and production have great taste when it comes to music. In fact, most of us here at The New LoFi work in the media industry by day, and I think it’s safe to say that a lot of our colleagues are all just musicians at heart. So this series aims to highlight the tastes and talents of the non-professional side-hustling musicians in our industry.
Mr. Camaioni is the perfectly case in point of this. By day, he guides the creative work of global brands as a Strategy Director. By night, you can often find him behind the decks mixing some minimalist techno under his DJ moniker, KAMA. This mix is Alessandro’s love letter to House and Techno from Detroit to Berlin (and plenty of places in-between).
The New LoFi: When did your love story with electronic music begin?
Alessandro Camaioni: My love story with electronic music started about 20 years ago when I discovered IDM masters Aphex Twin, Autechre and Squarepusher. Back then, straight bass and fast BPMs weren’t really my thing. When I moved to Glasgow in 2006, I was eventually won over by its vibrant House & Techno scene. As I walked through the doors of Sub Club, or attended parties like the legendary Pressure @ The Arches, the energy of Scottish institutions Slam, Optimo and Harri & Domenic, as well as international DJs like Richie Hawtin, Magda, Carl Craig, Luciano, Sven Vath had the best of me, and influenced my music tastes and selection forever.
TNLF: Is music an important element in your working process?
AC: Oh, it’s everything. And techno, in particular, often becomes such a key element of my working day, especially when it comes to finding flow and speed, and achieving results against tight deadlines. That’s when I prefer to go in full drive mode. No words, no melody, just a dreamy, acid loop – that is all I need sometimes to concentrate.
TNLF: Haha, I need to try that while I’m working.
So when you are composing a mix, where do you take inspiration from?
AC: I very much look for that combination of melancholic broken sounds that the Warp Gods from the 90s gave us, and the more aggressive drives of the Detroit, UK and German producers. Festivals and Podcasts (with some help from Shazam!) are my go to resources to find new inspiration, and I’m a bit of a sucker for ‘nostalgic remixes’, as you can tell from Maceo Plex’s “Insomnia” remix that breaks in towards the end of this mix. I hope you enjoy the mix!
TNLF: Yeah, let’s talk about this mix you’ve created for us. You recorded this live, right? One take. Why was it so important to record it in one take?
AC: Yes, that’s true. And I’m sure you can tell that from a few glitches here and there! But listen, even if I know I’m no Carl Cox… I do like to prepare my tracklist a bit. And that gives me that little more confidence to focus on the actual mood I want to achieve rather than on technical perfection. So, from that perspective, one take is all I need (even if I hate to listen back to my own flaws once it’s all over!)
TNLF: I think slight imperfections make a mix sound more real. More human.
Okay, last question, what do you want people to feel when they hear this mix. How do you want people to listen to it?
AC: You know, I tend to ‘save’ tracks for a potential mix all the time. While at work, driving, commuting, or warming up for a basketball game! And so, it just happened that this time around I had a nice selection of tracks, some more recent, some clear classics, that had that bit of a psy, trance-like vibe to it and I felt that was a feel-good, and yet intense selection worth sharing in one go. A little rave on Christmas day? Why not! Knowing your followers share some of the same eclectic tastes of mine makes me feel they will like this one at any time of the day, potentially.
Tracklist:
- Rival Consoles – I Like
- Bruce Loko – Devil’s Cry
- Solomun – The Center Will Not Hold (Club Edit)
- Croatian Amor, Scandinavian Star – Two Autumns
- Mozaik – Assembly
- Maceo Plex – Conjure Dreams
- My Favorite Robot – Forest Fires
- Dense & Pika ft. Igor Cavalera – Hidden feat. Igor Cavalera (Original Mix)
- Ross From Friends – Burner
- Koreless – Joy Squad
- Kölsch – Hold (Extended Version)
- Carl Cox – Sand, Moon & Stars (Acid Re-Dub)
- Robert Hood – Nothing Stops Detroit
- jamesjamesjames – My Purple iPod Nano
- Sofi Tukker – Drinkee (Carl Cox Extended Mix)
- Giorgio Leone – Chronicles
- Extrawelt – Murder Ballet
- Ellen Allien – In Music I Trust
- Faithless – Insomnia 2021 (Maceo Plex Epic Mix)
- The Chemical Brothers – The Darkness That You Fear (HAAi Remix)
- Nicky Elisabeth – Celeste (Robag Wruhme’s Boschkord Lom NB)
- Jon Hopkins ft. Kelly Lee Owens – Luminous Spaces
