(via rivastarr.com) "Just when you think you know Riva Starr... He’ll probably confuse you with yet another side to his musical personality. Don’t call him fickle, though. Try bored. Try excitable. Try unpredictable... And then some!
As Philippe Stark once famously said “I do not try to please everybody, I make what I can, how I can, when I can. […] I try to deserve to exist by doing my job well. I have this sickness called creativity and I exploit this sickness to offer new meaning in things to my friends. That’s it, very simple”
Riva humbly subscribes….
Driven from his Italian motherland by a compelling desire to reinvent, innovate (?) and progress (!), Riva has made London his home since 2008: A breath of freedom and fresh beats that allowed to him to wear his inspirations proudly beyond the sleeve and deep, deep, deep into the groove.
A Neapolitan cultural exile with a degree in Chinese literature; a passionate family guy who still manages to juggle a DJ schedule of over 200 international gigs a year, a label and production duties. How can you pigeonhole a man who never sits still?
From the dolce vita to Dalston, the Big Smoke’s open eared community and exciting cauldron of influences finally allowed him to truly make the records he wanted to make. In the past he’d produced house, techno, breakbeat, electro, pop, folk and everything in between. Here was the city where he could bring them together.
As the very name of his own label Snatch! suggests, Riva’s unpredictable “Magic Hat” selection keeps both him and us listeners on our toes. It’s kept him relevant, but more importantly, it’s kept him alive and kicking…
To Riva, though, he’s just doing his job, hoping to pick up new friends along the way.
It’s been like this from the very first releases. Having taken his previous guises as far as he could, his infamous debuts on Made To Play and DirtyBird were the result of anonymous MySpace demo entries. Refusing to rely on any kudos he’d developed before, Riva took a brave dive into a whole new world of beats and let the music speak for itself.
Since then he’s strutted with acts as varied as Noze and Balkan Beat Box, remixed Dennis Ferrer, Usher, Gossip and Estelle (to name a few) while future fix-ups include Fatboy Slim and Beardyman.
Never forgetting his roots, Riva records range with the wily eclecticism of all the ages; he strikes chords we can all relate to: from the DJs that have appreciated his work (from Tiesto to A-Trak, Jesse Rose to Annie Mac and Giles Peterson to David Rodigan) to you, me and everyone in between.
Throughout this mayhem, he’s been hard at work on the DJ circuit – with over 190 gigs in 2010 alone – strutting his stuff in some of the coolest venues on the planet such as Panorama Bar, Space, Womb and Fabric as well as some of the biggest festivals in the world from Fuji Rock to Global Gathering to Exit and beyond.
"His latest project, the first Snatch! WMC Compilation album, Batería Fantástica is a unique collection of exclusive & original South-American/Latin flavoured cuts hawking back to the original inspiration behind the Miami based conference... all made especially for this album by some of the coolest producers on the planet."(Resident Advisor)"
Tracklist:
01) Riva Starr & DJ Sneak – Manduka (Riva Starr Cut)
02) Carl Cox & Jon Rundell – Caipiroska (Original Mix)
03) 2000 And One & DJ Madskillz – Los Olvidados (Original Mix)
04) Gonzalez & Gonzalo – La Fiesta (Original Mix)
05) &ME – Dios (Original Mix)
------------------
Interview: (by Alexander Leblanc, for dukeofswabia.com)
First of all, where does the name Riva Starr come from?
From a few of joints and beers...
Who were your early musical influences?
The bands doing kids cartoons soundtracks. There were some really good ones made with Moogs and stuff like this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCv3Ma-ph38
Describe yourself in one word.
C*@!
Batería Fantástica is a great project, featuring an all-star line-up. How did you come up with the idea and was it a long, difficult process?
It was a fun project to build up, it was fairly long process but at the end the result was worth the effort. Just aimed to do something for Miami instead of the usual mix compilation.. So everyone made an original track based on south american flavour... I asked to everyone personally to get involved firstly by explaining that it would have to be something slightly different from their usual thing... That was the key point of the experiment - having fun with music!!! And everyone delivered!
It has to sound bang! And I always look for a fresh idea and diverse edit. There’s plenty of pretty similar tracks around and I just wanted to launch a label based on good feelings and unexpected ideas where possible!
You are such a busy man, how do you find the time to produce music?
Because I make music while I travel... That really helps, then I head to the studio for the final mixdowns.
I remember bouncing to Riva Starr at Piknic Electronik in Montreal, summer of 2010. How do you like the city? How would you assess the music coming out of Montreal over the past few years?
Wow, that was a party! I still remember it... Huge thing indeed. I didn't get to see that much of the city. Just a quick walk round the hotel as I had an early flight. But I loved the vibe and the people were very friendly. Music wise lots of interesting new acts coming out from the place!
How did you hear about Montreal duo Prince Club?
I got to know them thanx to a mutual friend who was just helping them to spread the word. Then I got in touch at Piknic and everything started there.
Which artist(s) do you suggest we should keep an eye on in 2012?
Prince Club, Pirupa, Jet Project.
Do you have any advice for young producers?
ORIGINALITY!
What is your favorite city or country to play in?
Everywhere if you ask me, also the smallest place if the vibes is right - could be amazing for me.
If you had to pick only one record to listen to for the rest of your life, which would it be?
A butterfly.
What else should we look forward to in 2012 for Riva Starr and Snatch! Records?
PLENTYYYYY. After the 3 samplers from Bateria Fantastica, First single from Jet Project album feat Robert Owens.. And first single from my album featuring myself! LOL
And finally... Yesterday, were you drunk?
Of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment