Check out Phonat’s 30 minute guest mix on Annie Nightingale’s legendary BBC Radio One show. Free mix download.
Phonat BBC Radio1 mix 15-01-10 by Phonatmusic
“It’s been described as an Acid House Bohemian Rhapsody, it takes in 25 styles during it’s course, I like it” – Rob da Bank on BBC Radio 1
“This guy F**ks with all the rules” – Norman Cook
“Learn to Recycle is six minutes of utterly unique music” – IDJ
“Phonat has frequently stunned us with his none-more-innovative productions over the last few years, coming across like a hyperactive Daft Punk on happy pills…… By the end, you’re exhausted, perplexed, flabbergasted, and left with the feeling that all other music is boring, unimaginative, repetitive trash. Wow. 10/10″ – Data Transmission
Unique, innovative, rule breaking, genre-spanning….just a few of the plaudits that have been used to describe the works of Phonat, the seven foot mop-haired Italian who’s been catching the ears and attention of the ever intangible ‘tastemaking set’ over the past few months.
Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Andy George, Rob da Bank and Pete Tong have all been championing the producer since last year, when singles ‘Incredible Sound’, ‘Ghetto Burning’ and ‘Learn To Recycle’ marked him as one to watch for 2009 and beyond. Now readying the release of his eponymous debut album, Phonat has created a panoply of chopped up riffs swirled around murky basslines, a world where guitar-driven dancefloor fillers meet bleep-filled fantasies for fun, friendship and possibly more.
Originally from Florence, Italy, Phonat (aka Michele Balduzzi) was first spotted by MofoHifi Records on MySpace and they were so impressed with the 21 year old that the loving label bosses persuaded him to leave his parents’ idyllic country farm in Florence and move to a bed sit in Canning Town. Armed only with a five-year-old computer and an electric guitar Phonat dutifully relocated to London in late 2007 and the rest, as they say, is history.
Drawing on every vein of dance music, from hip hop to house, garage to breaks Phonat’s expert use of a vocal hook is also evident, most noticeably on the Yolanda vocalled ‘Ghetto Burning’ and next single ‘Set Me Free’ – where classic 80s style rock vocals sit atop a stacatto-synthed stomper.
Phonat may have arrived on the scene late last year, but with DJ bookings and remix requests coming in from across the world and his album ready to hit the streets, 2009 is set to be an busy year for the big Italian.
‘Phonat’ by Phonat is released on MofoHifi Records on September 21st. ‘Set Me Free EP’, featuring remixes from Avicci, Louis La Roche and High Rankin was out August 24th.
Tracklisting
- A Warm Welcome
- Get Down My Dirty Street
- Set Me Free
- Ghetto Burnin’
- Love Hits The Fan
- Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde
- It’s For You
- Learn To Recycle
- The Big Deal
- Zombie Army
- Bad Boy
- London
Available at all major sellers.
Our favourite review so far – Not for the faint hearted though!!
Massive new club anthem on MofoHifi Records, with groundbreaking remix from Phonat.
London based electro producer Sharooz was first introduced to the dance world by MofoHifi in 2006 with his debut release “Hell Yeah!” which received over twenty BBC Radio One plays and featured on numerous high profile compilations.
Three-years on and his star is still rising. Sharooz’s productions can now boast a clutch of leading taste-maker fans including 2 Many DJs, Moby, Mylo, Erol Alkan, Boys Noize, and Kissy Sell Out; an appeal which hasn’t gone unnoticed by club promoters, securing him DJ bookings in Serbia, Switzerland, Russia, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, USA and France. After topping many of the main dance download charts earlier this year with “Get Off”, Sharooz is back with his third release on MofoHifi – “Adrenalize”.
Adrenalize is a tough, big room crowd pleaser combining his trademark simple biting basslines and epic builds, with a triumphant piano break that has been raising the roof in Ibiza over the past few weeks.
Early support for the track comes from Fake Blood, Steve Aoki, Meat Katie, Grum, Dada Life, The Young Punx and many others and it looks set to be one of the underground dance records of the year.
On remix duties, MofoHifi artist Phonat, building up to the release of his forthcoming debut album ‘Phonat’, delivers a radical and innovative remix that creates a sound fusing the worlds of Dubstep and French house. Never one to deliver a predictable sound, the seven-foot Italian has been inspired by the increasing integration of the Dubstep scene into mainstream Ibiza clubs such as “Reclaim the Dancefloor” to create a Dubstep influenced groove that can be easily dropped by house DJs in their steps without changing tempo.
Italian producer Phonat has been catching the ears of a fair few tastemakers with his last few single and EP releases. Add the likes of Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Andy George and Pete Tong to the list above and you can see why the lofty Italian has been marked out as one to watch this year.
Now, ahead of his eponymous debut album due out in September, Phonat releases ‘Set Me Free’ a staccato-synthed stomper of a track, where classic 80’s rock vocals provide the support. A standout from the forthcoming album, Phonat hasn’t skimped on remixers with the first coming courtesy of Avicii, the latest ‘made’ man in the Swedish House Mafia. Proving his pedigree Avicii chops vocals and swirls synths to create a hands in the air Balearic bomb, early copies of which are already becoming staples in the record boxes of the more discerning DJ.
Bleeps and basslines are the order of the day on High Rankin’s re-rub as the dubstep dandy leads listeners to the dancefloor, albeit down a slightly murkier back route, before Louis La Roche’s Reconstruction adds a tougher, twisted edge to complete the package
With previous singles ‘Incredible Sound’, ‘Ghetto Burning’ and ‘Learn To Recycle’ Phonat (aka Michele Balduzzi) has showcased his ability to draw on every vein of dance music, from hip hop to house, garage to breaks and left fans eager to hear more. Now with DJ bookings and remix requests coming in from across the world and his album ready to hit the streets, 2009 is set to be a busy year for the big Italian. Not bad for a man who arrived in London from Florence little over a year ago with just a guitar and a five-year-old computer.
Official music video for the single “Set Me Free” by Phonat, taken from his debut album, titled simply “Phonat” released fall 2009. Video by Rocco Pezzella at twothings.net. (c) MofoHifi Records 2009.
The debut album by the prodigious Florentine Michele Balduzzi, Phonat, is a collection of 12 genre-spanning tracks boasts 80s-styled vocals, signature delayed intros, and a unique mix of dance and electronic music with rock-inspired guitar riffs. With the album being released at the end of September, the Christmas club fame is practically guaranteed.
Continental European musicians somehow tend to be more universal and almost more innovative. Learn to Recycle should be the name and the homage to this ability to blend all the impossible trends together into something rather tasteful , to break the ground, and to overwhelm with the sheer passion for music.
Phonat is a lanky Italian DJ who’s quit the rennaisance splendour of Firenze and decamped to grimy old London Town. The smog must suit his constitution as he’s come up with a belter of an album which cuts out the middle man and sees him both create and remix his own tunes. The end result may be a digital album but it is one which, nevertheless, is oozing with his schizophrenic personality. He’s not here to make you think though – this album is as commercial as they come, recalling the nu-rave chart hits of the early 90’s.
Check out Set Me Free which could set light to any dancefloor; a potential chart topper which could have been released any time between 1991 and 2009. It takes the Hagar era Van Halen model to its ultimate conclusion and combines soft rock vocals and epic synths with an infectious dance groove. There’s no Eddie Van Halen solos but Phonat isn’t averse to dropping in some of his own nifty guitar lines here and there throughout the album– it just takes a while to tune your ear into them as they are so well disguised in the mix. Learn To Recycle is similarly epic and, whilst it may have an environmental point to make it also has potential to generate some dancefloor mayhem.
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Phonat gives M8 the low down on his album, audio for the hard of hearing and dealing with looking like Brian May…..
