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)

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.

“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 21^st.  ‘Set Me Free EP’, featuring remixes from Avicci, Louis La Roche and High Rankin was out August 24^th.

Tracklisting

1. A Warm Welcome
2. Get Down My Dirty Street
3. Set Me Free
4. Ghetto Burnin’
5. Love Hits The Fan
6. Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde
7. It’s For You
8. Learn To Recycle
9. The Big Deal
10. Zombie Army
11. Bad Boy
12. London

Available at all major sellers.

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.

“this guy F**ks with all the rules” – Norman Cook

The eagerly awaited new EP from the Italian prodigy paves the way for his debut album release this spring.

The “Set Me Free EP” is a follow up to the innovative and critically acclaimed “Learn to Recycle” which was celebrated as one of the most adventurous pieces of electronic music to be released in 2008 and was described as the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody for the acid house generation’.
Support has come thick and fast for Phonat from top DJ’s such as Annie Mac, Annie Nightingale, Andy George, Rob Da Bank, Herve, Kissy and Pete Tong.

“Set Me Free”

“Set Me Free” is an uplifting and inspirational club track which draws together three separate themes from current house music – disco revivalism, rave revivalism and wonky fidget. It combines them in a fresh sounding summer anthem that unifies many aspects of underground dance within one, highly accessible track and shows that dance music, so often divided aggressively by sub genre, can unite defined by its similarities more than its differences.

The EP also contains a re-edit of “Set Me Free” by East London Nu Disco outfit, Tasmanian Disco Stampede, re-focussing the track on its more funky elements, for more disco based dancefloors.

“Get Down My Dirty Street”

“Get Down My Dirty Street” is a unique and entertaining track, created from tiny fragmented micro-samples of different songs; rock, country, pop, soul, rap and metal, which start off playing as a stark disjointed chaos and slowly coalesce into a cohesive whole and then wonderfully form an upbeat party breaks bomb. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!

“Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde” – (“I’ve Seen a Green Picture”)

Finally, “Ho Visto Un Quadro Verde” shows off Phonat’s more minimal side – a trippy yet bouncey stripped back club tool which explores the sparse soundscapes, yet doing so with a sense of charm and humour so rarely seen in that field!

The track name translates from Phonat’s native Italian as “I’ve Seen a Green Picture” and is derived from a drunken bet with a friend made when he was living in his native Florence, in which they invented a variety of surreal and ridiculous pretend song names, and bet that one day ‘when they were successful’ they would be able to release an album that actually included one of the names in the tracklisting!

Phonat a.k.a Michele Balduzzi has been seriously turning heads since his move from Florence, Italy to London. His innovative approach to production, creating a uniquely catchy mix of house and electro has seen him described in the press as ‘a hyperactive Daft Punk on happy pills…’

Super Mal and Phonat first linked up when Phonat remixed the Super Mal single ‘Light Years’. The remix was amazing and garnered support from the likes of Pete Tong and Annie Mac on Radio 1. Suitably impressed, Super Mal picked up the phone and ‘Pixelated’ was soon to follow…

‘Pixelated’ delivers a warm, chopped and filtered loop that keeps on building until the cut ‘n’ paste vocal and giant bassline drop in, to create a massive uplifting groove guaranteed to rock any dancefloor. The breakdown strips back into a funky electro loop full of bleeps and squelches before that huge filtered loop is back to test the speakers to their limits

Learn to Recycle quite simply breaks all the rules and is a taster of what we might expect from the forthcoming Phonat album, due for release early 2009. The idea of the track is to take the same sample, drum kit and bass and, in six minutes, journey through everything from house, hip hop, drum and bass, electro, down tempo and everything else whilst passing. We challenge you to find a more original piece of electronica this year! Despite its unconventional tempo structure, the track is proving to be absolutely massive on more adventurous dancefloors.

Meanwhile the ‘4toThe Floor mix’, also mixed by Phonat at a more conventional speed, has steadily been climbing the electro house charts in Beatport and in the Coolcuts chart. Full of ravey beeps and driving guitars.