Valentino Kanzyani is celebrated as one of the founding fathers of Slovenian techno. Involved in the country’s dance scene since the mid 1990s, Valentino has gone on to release on labels like Intec, Cadenza, Minus, Jesus Loved You and more, having been influenced in his early years by the likes of Plastikman, whom Kanzyani helped premier his home country years ago. These days he's the mastermind behind the forward thinking Next Wave parties in Ibiza, had his track 'Bobby On Drums' featured on Hobo's mix compilation "minMax" for Minus, and last year he released his first studio compilation for Cadenza, 'Love and Gratitude.' We caught up with Valentino ahead of the February 1st Art Of Dark party to chat about the Slovinian scene, his thoughts on the underground in Ibiza, and whether or not he considers himself a DJ purist. Read on, and download his exclusive mix for Pulse Radio here.
Valentino, you’ve become a rising figure on London’s burgeoning underground scene lately – how did you first catch the bug for electronic music and DJ culture? In my beginnings the DJ figure was far from what it represents now. I remember that I was so isolated by my school friends just because I liked music that had no guitars and screaming lead singers. So it was a hard and tough start, as I had to find all about DJing by my self. Just get to my first turntables, I had to ask all around my province and with some luck and a lot of persistency I finally met some "lunatics," who at that time had DJ gear at home and were totally into new beat and acid house, and got the chance to practice.
So these guys were my angels. I got a lot from them and they were definitely my first heroes. One year after one of the two guys got a residency in one of the most underground and forward thinking clubs in the region, I was granted by my mother at the mare age of 14 to go with my older friend every night to this club and watch him work. It was incredible.
The same year I got a tape from a club in Italy named Movida with a DJ set from La Magica Triade – a very impressive DJ trio formed by Andrea Gemolotto, Leo Mas and Fabrice – that played the most incredible music you can imagine, and got me completely hooked to that sound and records that could be still easily played on todays dance floors. It was a mixture of eclectic sounding house running on maximum 126 BPM. The sound that after so many years still amuses me and inspires me a lot.
You’re seen as one of Slovenia’s founding fathers of the Techno scene. The country hasn’t always been seen as a hotbed for dance music culture, but has it a healthy underground scene? Yeah, well things were better some years ago, but with the crisis happening we don't have so many regular nights anymore. But considering that Slovenia has just 2 million people and the amount of guests we have coming to play - I think the scene is still quite up and running, and it’s for my opinion very healthy as has a lot of variety. We have all sorts of DJ crews that organise their own nights and invite their own heroes or new talents from each specific scene from deep house to dub step, techno and drum & bass to name a few.
Can you think back to a time when it was less popular? How difficult was it to follow and champion your sound as the country developed? Was very difficult to convince the first people, but it was fun, as it was somehow a very special vibe in the air when parties started to happen back in 1992. Slowly a crowd of eccentric people started to grow year by year, and by 1996 we had a nice rave party scene with nice things happening around the country. After that year with the help of our biggest and most famous club Ambasada Gavioli, the scene really expanded and become super interesting. I was resident and booking manager of the club from 1996 to 1999, having the chance to invite and play with the biggest and most incredible names of the time.
We had the club full on Fridays and Saturdays, with international guests playing every week - so it was a very special time to be there. The line-ups were very diverse and we had DJs from the likes of Plastikman and Laurent Garnier playing some monumental sets back in 1997-‘98. This was very inspiring, and techno had an important impact on our crowd; from raves to clubs, techno was the flagship music of the moment. When I began to play, I was playing both house and techno and got recognised internationally thanks to my techno DJ sets playing on 3 decks.
What in your opinion is missing from London’s clubbing landscape in 2014? What do you think there could be more of, and what does the city do well already? Well it’s difficult to speak about London scene for somebody that is not living there. In my opinion the only thing that I would highlight as a problem are the laws that are constantly making it more difficult for promoters to find venues where they can make underground parties and have the chance to invite emerging talented DJs from all around the world and the UK as well.
Without small promoters, the scene cannot develop into a healthy one, as there is no proper innovation. There is a lot of things happening, and a lot of venues are promoting new names and new sound even, the big clubs bring new DJ's, but it might be to pricey for a lot of people to go to those clubs and more often these new names play just warm up sets. So without small promoters and small venues these DJs cannot really get to express them self in a full light.
You’re playing London mainstays Art Of Dark’s opening party on the 1st of February. What can we expect from you on the night in terms of track selection? Will you be playing lots of unreleased tracks or will you be dipping into the vaults for some surprises on the night?
I always prepare a nice selection of old and new music on vinyl and some unreleased music on USB Sticks to make the difference. But I never know what will happen in advance; it depends on the atmosphere, the DJ playing before me, and the crowd. What I can tell you is that I am very exited to play for Art Of Dark and share the decks with such an incredible artist as Sonja Moonear.
Do you find your sets and track selection change from city to city? I always do a re-selection and change of records each time I go for a new trip, but mainly because I get new music, get bored of playing some of the old ones etc. But how will it fall in to place each night, as I said before, depends a lot on the place, the crowd and the atmosphere too.
Also on the line up alongside Art Of Dark founders Colin & Dan is Sonja Moonear, is Sonja someone who you enjoy to share the booth with? I have never played with Sonja. I personally know her and I had a chance to hear her play, so I am really looking forward to finally share the decks with her. I am also looking forward to hear and meet Colin and Dan, as I am sure they know what they are doing.
We’ve read that you take a ‘purist approach’ to DJing. What does this mean, and how do you stay true to your aesthetic and style? I don't like to be considered purist as it has a bad connotation in my opinion, and doesn't really make sense to be stuck to anything without considering and valuing the other thing. I guess it’s referred to the way I play using turntables and CD players and not computers and controllers. I am not against technology and I don't think the ones using it are not doing a good thing, I just feel that it’s more real and more special to play with turntables and CDs, as it gives you that special rush of beat matching live on the spot without the aid of computers. It just feels like real surfing or snow boarding compared to playing a simulation or a video game. Beat matching is something that made this craft special and I feel more comfortable to play the same way as I started back than - using today a bit of technological advantages like the CD players and USB key that helps me to go around with huge amounts of released and unreleased music. The most important thing that we lost with the advancement of technology in the DJ field is the filter that existed before syncing with computers was available, and opened the way to the stage to a lot of people that would never had the patience and passion to learn the skills of the trade in the first place.
Speaking of parties, you’re one of the protagonists behind the forward thinking Next Wave parties at Privilege's Vista Club in Ibiza. How do you feel about Ibiza in contemporary times? I think it became more and more a commercial marketing machine and it’s very difficult to make something smaller and underground. It’s a good place to play and promote your self as a DJ, but to create something new and stable is very difficult.The problem is that there are not so many small venues that can operate with a full license, and it is very difficult to make parties of a less commercial music in big places, as they demand huge amounts of people to be attending from the very beginning.
The high prices of drinks doesn't help the underground scene as well, so for the moment it’s very difficult to create something original without a back up from bigger artists. We had the pleasure and luck to have Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano and Arpiar joining us for some dates, but because club owners are not committing to their promises and don't let you really build something, you are left alone to organize just a few dates and not really develop your project. We'll see what happens in the future.
When it comes to producing, do you think its essential to make music in order to promote yourself as a DJ and vice versa? Is this a trend that’s all too common in today’s scene? I guess making music should promote you as a producer and playing music should promote you as a DJ.
Catch Valentino Kanzyani along with Sonja Moonear at Art Of Dark's 2014 opening party on February 1st. More details here.