Check out Phonat’s Ghetto Burnin’ being used to great effect as the music for the “Good Life” Trailer for Test Drive Unlimited 2 computer game. This combined with the track’s use on a TV advert for ’24′ has brought the track to the attention of a lot more people this month! [ buy the track on iTunes ]
At last Phonat Vinyl is available to buy!!
Side A
1) Set Me Free – Avicii Remix
2) Set Me Free – Extended Mix
Side B
1) Love Hits The Fan
2) It’s For You (N.B – The vinyl is wrongly advertised as B2 being ‘Ho Visto Quadro Verde)
This time the Italian wonderkid gives his own personal take on the French house sound with a groovy twisted number, characteristically chopping up, glitching and re-pitching many different singers performing the word “love” to create a melody which is simultaneously an abstract deconstruction of pop lyrics, and also a catchy hook in its own right.
On the remix front new French prodigy Bestrack gives the track a career defining makeover taking Phonat’s original concept and extending it into an epic and entrancing journey through a variety of styles.
‘Love Hits The Fan’ is complemented by a visually stunning CGI video which has set the blogs alight in its first week on Youtube. Produced by Rocco Pezzella and the “Savants Collective” – who develop all of Phonat’s artwork and his MTV play-listed video for “Set Me Free” in 2009 – this beautiful promo re-enforces MofoHifi Records’ long standing policy of eschewing traditional routes for video development, instead partnering their acts with independent visual artists who work hand in hand with the musicians to create new and exciting visuals.
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.
