Interview with Gai Barone about his album 'Toward'

The Italian Gai Barone is a man who played electronic music long game and played it faultlessly. Turning it into something approaching an art form, brick-by-brick, track-by-track, he built a discography every bit as imaginative, as it is admired. Placing the music ahead of the DJ or the persona, he bided his album time, waiting for the perfect career point to deliver a comparably matchless first long-player.

On the 29th of Feb, that countdown reaches zero... The virtuoso will pull back the curtain on 12 months of tireless studio work, with 15 tracks that encompass his first album-long body of work. 

As it approaches its milestone 100th single release, Germanys Afterglow Records are delighted and proud to bring you this as-eclectic-as-it-is electric debutante. An extraordinary (in the truest sense of the word) outing, it is as far removed from the musically routine as it’s possible to envision. 

Sand-like, it shifts across musical borders, passaging at will between the beat and the beat-free, the cool and the intense, the instrumental and the vocal. Lying, as he has, under the populist radar for a half-decade or more, many have tried to put a name to what Gai does. All have failed. So put away your classification books, cast aside those cookie cutters and close that electronic music atlas up tight!

Towards encompasses 15 typically off-piste Barone productions... An electronic music chocolate box, it takes a taxi to the deep side, lighting its genre bonfire on arrival. Aquiline waveforms, dramatic bass drops, siren-song vocal haunt, multi-form instrumentation and limitless imagination: it’s all here, constructed, as you've never heard it constructed before. 

Thematically its shifts between the polar chill of Mimosa, the bassy, savannah-like warmth of Lilith and the Stripped equatorial heat. Tonally, from the reclined beach side-day of 2 Sides Of Nowhere & Make It Hurt through to the inky night-time-black of Six Months and the frisson uplift of his Love Stimulation revision. 

A league-of-it-own album odyssey, and a trip all open-minded music-heads need, nay should take in 2016;

It is always great pleasure for me to support in my radio show’s Gai Barone music and being there for him from his first tracks that I received through Afterglow records so when I received a copy of his top album Towards I requested an interview from him and I'm glad he took the time out of his busy schedule to reply and here you can check his great answers. It is worth reading that’s for sure.

Interview is written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias, music journalist and radio host at 1mix radio. 

Dimitri: It would be fantastic to go back in time and talk to us in what age and under which circumstances you had your first contact with electronic music? 

Gai: Maybe the first time I experienced the Electronic music was in the 80’s with the first album from Depeche Mode; they sounded really different from the others, probably they were more” punk” than the real punk movement back in the  days!! I learnt a lot from their music!! 

Dimitri: Can you list the electronic music artists that have influenced your sound and if possible to explain to us in what ways their music has an impact on your particular sound?

Gai: I'm not sure if they are electronic music artists but they were and they are still my favourite: Alan Parson Project, Genesis and for sure Brian Eno are part of my everyday life!!

Dimitri: When we listen Gai Barone productions we are usually puzzled if what you produce is deep pure trance or progressive house or a new hybrid that contains influences on both?

Gai: I know what you mean, but it’s a kinda of “hybrid music” in a good sense I mean ;) I don’t know if the sound I use belong to trance, house, techno or whatever, I only try to do my best with them, to feel them in order to create something that makes me feel good!

Dimitri: Which track was your first ever release and in which label? Did you found it easy or difficult to approach record labels and take on board your music?

Gai: I think the first one which has been released was “ Moving” ( I can’t remember the name of the label) and after that it was my first EP, featuring two tracks I'm still loving…they were released on Ultimate House Records, and their names are Agatha and Mononucleo.

Dimitri: Your artist album Towards is released on the independent small label Afterglow records. Would you like to comment on your relationship with Elef, the owner of the label and why you feel your album is suitable for this label?

Gai: Sure, my relation with Elef is more than a simple co-worker one; we are friends, and I'm honoured to work with him. He was the first to believe in me and in my music and this has an absolute value, in my opinion. We talk about everything, just like brothers!!

Dimitri: Let’s talk about Towards and focus on the basics of it. How long it took you to complete the recording of the album? Did you had as a goal to release an album or you just pick up some singles and you form an album?

Gai: It took about one year to think, create and mix Towards; I saw it growing day by day, just like a father sees his son becoming stronger and taller! It’s an amazing experience, because you can tell about you and your life unfolding! Yes, it was Elef and y goal to release an album after few years of originals and remixes!! Honestly I'm so proud of it; 14 out 15 were created to be part of the album!

Dimitri: Do you have any tracks produced that are left out from the final track listing of the album? If yes why you haven’t include them in it?

Gai: Nope all the tracks I made for the album are on it. 

Dimitri: Every track of the album has its own little story behind it and it sounds perfect if you can let us know track by track stories or feelings about each track:

Gai: Sure only few words on every track :)

01 - 2 Sides Of Nowhere  

Gai: Me and the one I do LOVE

02 – Bianca 

Gai: Made it in Ibiza

03 - Mom’s Clown 

Gai: The melody reminds me a Clown’s carillon my mother left me when I was 5 years old

04 – Stripped  

Gai: The structure of the track was “stripped” 

05 – Flowers 

Gai: Simply cause I love them

06 – Mimosa 

Gai: I made it on 8th March, and Mimosa is the symbol of that day

07 - Fade 2 Black 

Gai: Because it evolves into something darker

08 – Scarlet 

Gai: A friend of mine’s name

09 - Love Stimulation 

Gai: One of my favourite classics ever

10 - Six Months 

Gai: Just in the middle of the production year 

11 - John, The Geometry 

Gai: The man who taught me to live

12 – Saurus  

Gai: I didn't have a better name for it ;))

13 - Lilith (My Sicca Dawning Mix)  

Gai: Sicca is the place where I was born

14 – Nightingale 

Gai: It was inspired by “ode to a nightingale” 

15 - Make It Hurt (Introspective Mix)

Gai: Kathy sang this one before I created the track and the title has been chosen from her; 

Dimitri: By looking back to this album we see that you have done a recreation of the classic Love Stimulation. Do you have in your mind more classics that can sound awesome with the Gai Barone treatment?

Gai: Yes I have, actually so many and I promise you I’ll do another classic asap”! Maybe deeper than love stimulation but I hope you‘ll like it anyway.

Dimitri: In the album the only vocal song is Make it hurt. Why you decide to work with Kathy and if there are more vocal anthems in the pipeline and if you enjoy working with vocals rather painting your story with instrumental songs?

Gai: I really enjoyed working on that vocal track!! I made two different versions: one was in the album and the other one will be released later this year, called Make it Hurt (Gai Accelerate mix).

Dimitri: Is it possible to describe us the studio that you use to produce your music and what is your favourite software to compose your music and why?

Gai: I usually work with Native Instruments stuff and Arturia, my favourite are Reaktor, Absynth, Matrix, Prophet and Omnisphere!! I love my Virus TI as well…probably my favourite gear ever. I bought it 8 years ago and still use it for every single track. 

Dimitri: How long it take you to produce one track that is usually from 7 minutes to 10 minutes? Is it possible to describe the process of producing each track? From which elements you start and if you have clear vision from the very start of the ingredients that you are going to use?

Gai: Sometimes I start with the drums or sometimes with some cool sounds, but in general there’s no a clear vision on what it will be in the end! It can take a couple of hours, just like Eve or few weeks, like in the Month or Mr Slade, but if it takes more than one or 2 months, it means that I need to work on something different. 

Dimitri: Do you have any special person that has the opportunity to listen your music first and if yes how much this person influences the way that the actual tracks sound at the end when they reach us.

Gai: I usually send it to Elef, because he knows me very well and together we discuss on the good and the bad of the track. 

Dimitri: I would like to mention 3 very important people that you have work closely and to let me know your thoughts about them: First of all Marnik and Fly from Bonzai Music, second Basil O’Glue and third Rich Solarstone who has invited you to mix the second CD of his acclaimed Pure Trance compilation.

Gai: It’s an honour to work with them, Marnik and Fly influenced my taste in dance music in the last 20 years, Basil O’Glue is a good friend and an awesome producer and we have so many things in common! Well, Rich is a very special person for me, he’s a genius and I think I learnt more from him in the past month than in the last days from other producers; Working with him is TRULY INSPIRING!

Dimitri: Your radio show Patterns continues for a long time now. When you start this radio show and are you happy with the reactions you get from it and there are any plans to change or add new sections in it?

Gai: I'm very happy with it, first of all because I select and play tracks that I really love, no matter the genres or bpms, in the end it’s a pleasure to let  people know what I do like. It started about 5 years ago, and its part of my week, and actually of my everyday life; 

Dimitri: The last years your DJ career has been lifted as well with booking in various places including Tomorrowland in Belgium. Do you enjoy being behind the dj booth or you prefer being in the studio composing music? 

Gai: I do love djing and can’t imagine my productions without that part, it’s complementary; you can learn a lot about weakness or strength of a track if you play it in a venue, which is really different if played on a radio session, of course, and above all djing let you meet people out there, which is one of the most exciting things of a lifetime. 

Dimitri: Where and when your fans can catch you in the next months if they wish to come and say hallo and sign them their copy of Towards? 

Gai: I’ll be in NYC together with Solarstone, Giuseppe Ottaviani and John 00 Fleming at Escala for a special very special gig, called Back to Pure and the week later at Trancecoda…

Dimitri: Thanks so much for your wonderful answers

Gai: Thanks a lot for the special interview, and above all for the extraordinary support you gave me over the years!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to Elef from Afterglow records for organizing this great interview.

Buy Towards at beatport click here

Don't Miss Out
get the album as a limited 8gig USB Card (100 Units)
just write an email to: info[at]afterglow-records[dot]de
Price:; 15 EUR + 5 EUR shipping worldwide:
payment: paypal: elef[at]afterglow-records[dot]de

Additional info:
soundcloud.com/gai-barone
facebook.com/gaibarone
twitter.com/gaibarone
facebook.com/afterglowrecords
youtube.com/weareafterglow