Here at Ibiza Club News, we’re constantly keeping our eye out for up and coming talent we think will be making waves in the industry in the not too distant future and every so often we hear or see an act that we simply have to share with our readers. This week we spoke to one of those acts, Italian trio FOLUAL, who were kind enough to give us an exclusive interview.
Please let us know who you are and how you all came together to form ‘FOLUAL’?
We have all known each other for many years, through various musical projects and connections. Luca Folco and I met in 2010 when he booked me for one of his London parties. Alessandro Bianchi and I reunited recently after not seeing each other for many years. With a shared love of techno, production and DJ’ing, the 3 of us wanted to start something new between us. A new production name, a new label and a new focus on producing and outputting the best music that we physically can. In these highly competitive times, we wanted to pool all of our energy and industry experience, and see where it takes us. We are only in the first year with it all, but really surprised and happy with how things have gone so far.
Tell us about your studio setup? We’re hearing a lot of analog driven sounds throughout your records?
We are always looking for alternative sounds, and try to create unique melodies and sounds. In the studio, we use mostly synths like Arturia’sMiniBrute 2s, DrumBrute, Elektron Machine drum, Novation Peak, Juno 106, Korg DW6000 and JX-8Petc. Everything is managed from an iMac and a Presonus Quantum sound card. It depends on what goes around in our head, sometimes if there is already a melody, we start immediately within logic, while if I want to create drum loops or build effects, I use Ableton, FL Studio, Maschine or Bitwig. Sometimes to record external hardware, we also use Cubase Pro, or Studio One. For us, adding real analog sounds into the mix is a must, and we really enjoy working outside of a just a straight digital set up.
If you were launched into space with only one record-what would it be and why?
Haha! Good question, and a difficult one to answer! We are in space so maybe we need something to make our journey even more mental. We’d probably want to listen to PinkFloyd or Mike Oldfield’s ‘Incantation’, for a very strange musical journey.
What’s your go-to hangover food?
Hahaha! Another good question! We like Sushi, a lot, but we are also Italians, so a lasagna, spaghetti Carbonara or a Neapolitan pizza with rivers of beer.
Weapon of choice mid-set?
FOLUAL ‘Rockit, ‘Vectro’ or ‘Alphabeta’. All 3 get a great reaction.
Tell us a little about your ApogeeCast Radio Show. It looks to be making waves.
We started our weekly ApogeeCast this year with a view to supporting the best techno music that all 3 of us encounter, we have just hit our 20thepisode and the show has been received extremely well in all corners of the globe thanks to RadioSync, who syndicate it across many stations worldwide. You can listen on Spotify, Mixcloud, Afterhours FM, DI.FM, Kiss FM, many other stations, and also iTunes where we are very often in the top 10 overall for dance podcasts. Not only is it a great platform to showcase exclusive tracks we create, but support many of our friends and peers’music to a global audience. We are working on some exciting guest mixes for the latter part of the year, so please get tuned in and join the party!
What do you have in store for the label Apogee Recordings for the rest of the year?
Naturally, we will continue to strive to deliver the best music we can, ultimately we just want as many people to hear our creations as possible, and enjoy them. Expect to see some fresh names coming onto the label soon, we already have remixes incoming from the incredibleDusty Kid, fellow Italian T78, Carl Cox favourite Phutek and Mark Greene to name a few. We will be working on a CD compilation in time for Christmas featuring the best tracks from the label and some fresh exclusives. Label bosses FOLUAL have also just signed up with Made Artists also, so hopefully, they will be bringing the Apogee vibes to a club or festival near you soon. Maybe even Ibiza 😉
The Frankie Knuckles remix has been picked up by some big names. We love it by the way-how did that come about?
Initially, we wanted to do our work of this very special track for our sets, hopefully, staying true to the original vibe and respectingFrankieand his timeless masterpiece at the same time. We’ve added a touch more techno to the mix and re-created all those original magical elements. We are really pleased with it and our publishers are encouraging us to seek permission to release this officially, so who knows where it could end up. For now, we are just enjoying it in our sets, we’ve also sent to Eric Powell (Bush Records) who is a regular fan of our music and a priority copy to Carl Cox, as we know how much he loves the original.
Finally, you’ve prepared a mix for us so we’ll leave the readers with a treat sonically form you guys…Big thanks for taking the time to chat with us and we’ll no doubt catch up at aFOLUAL show soon! Thank you!