Gray Area, in partnership with SiriusXM, is bringing a fresh listening experience to the airwaves on Saturday, July 16, from 12-6 pm ET called Deeper Frequencies. This takeover on SiriusXM Chill is a journey into house music’s deep, melodic, and soulful side. Gray Area has assembled an extraordinary lineup of global artists, including 8kays, Tube & Berger, Enamour, and Glowal.





8kays



Ukrainian DJ Iryna Shyvdka, aka 8kays’ projects carry a certain je ne se quoi that set her apart from her peers in the house and techno genres. Intensely euphoric, melodic, and full of deep grooves, 8kays mixes are dynamic, unforgettable works. The Kyiv-born producer has released with esteemed labels like Renaissance Records, Anjunabeats, and Eleatics Records and performed on the renowned stages of Tomorrowland, Untold, and Burning Man.




Tube & Berger



The German duo is bringing the heat to the inaugural Deeper Frequencies! Notorious for their playful electro-infused, tech house sound, Arndt Rörig, and Marko Vidovic expertly weave emotive vocals with downtempo soundscapes, creating introspective, dance floor ready cuts. The Kittball Records label founders’ joint project was established over a decade ago and has gradually pivoted toward producing some of the warmest, melodic tech house records we’ve heard yet.




Enamour



From progressive and melodic house to the darkest hues of techno and deep trance, Enamour’s musical range transcends genre boundaries. His varied productions reflect an eclectic sonic taste and an extensive background in music theory. Coming off his North American “EnamTour,” the DJ is gearing up to play out some of his most innovative and melodic deep house cuts yet for you.







Glowal





Italo house meets euphoric rhythms in electronic duo Glowal. The Italian producers are rising talents, having only begun producing as a team in the last few years. With releases already on Innervisions, Sapiens and Afterlife imprints and cosigns from Solomun and Dixon, Fabio Gianelli and Alessandro Gasperini are proving they’re one house act to watch closely.



Gray Area and SiriusXM Present 'Deeper Frequencies' on SiriusXM Chill

Italy

Glowal

With tracks that stimulate the senses and excite the imagination, Fabio Giannelli and Alessandro Gasperini – aka Glowal – have earned the respect of electronic music fans from every nation. The Italian duo's melodic techno and deep house tracks bless the catalogs of taste-making labels like Sapiens Recordings, Afterlife, Diynamic Music, Innervisions, and many more. 

Giannelli and Gasperini grew up on opposite ends of the 

. From the age of 12-19, Giannelli lived in the southern city of Brindisi in Puglia. 

The reigning queen of Italian techno, Deborah De Luca will rock a hometown stream on July 5th, 2021. In partnership with Beatport, she will DJ from the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy. The event will stream via her Facebook page. Located only a stone’s throw from where she was born in Le Vele, Scampia, this is sure to be a passionate set for the Italian DJ and producer.

De Luca’s hard-hitting techno reverberating through the massive 54,000 seat stadium will undoubtedly be a sight to behold. The stadium is the third-largest in Italy. And it holds a special place in De Luca’s heart as it’s where her home-turf team Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, affectionately known as Napoli plays.

De Luca hasn’t slowed down one bit over the last year, despite COVID eviscerating the dance music industry. In 2020 she released her acclaimed album “She Sleeps” to rave reviews from the techno world. She also continued to release singles and EPs at a breakneck rate on her Solamente imprint. 

This isn’t the first stream for De Luca from her beloved Naples. Back in 2020, she streamed from atop Vele De Scampia. The housing project where she was born and spent her early youth. It was made famous in the critically acclaimed crime drama Gomorrah. De Luca’s stream was meant to shed her suburb in a more positive light and showcase the urban beauty as a gorgeous backdrop to her heart-stopping beats.

The live stream event may further prove that returning to the dance floor won't stop the streaming game. Utilizing fantastic vistas and well-known locales for streaming events is a trend that allows artists to highlight their favorite places to audiences that may never get a chance to experience them. And for De Luca it lets her share her pride in her home.

Tune in to the stream live via Facebook on Monday, July 5, 2021, at 11:45 AM.

Deborah De Luca Will Drop A Special Hometown Stream From Naples, Italy

"The scene was not very prolific back then," he explains, "but there were some very good parties thrown 40km from my hometown at Torre Regina Giovanna and Mediterraneo." Giannelli would head to these spots every weekend to listen to local and international artists. 

Gasperini hails from the Tuscan city of Pisa, a region steeped in the rich history of the Italian electronic music scene. According to Gasperini, "Tuscany has been the home of some of the first clubs and some of the first Italian legends, such as Insomnia Discoacropoli D'Italia, Jaiss, Tenax, Imperiale, Duplè, and Kama Kama." 

His first club nights were disco events on big occasions like Halloween and NYE in the mid to late 00s. He managed to get in, despite his young age, thanks to his brother, an events promoter at the time. 

"I was madly in love with that new world," Gasperini tells us. "The progressive house influence of the 1990s and 2000s was very important for my dedication to the world of DJing."

Giannelli's first live music experience came when he was seven years old, listening to his brother DJ at a small beach party near his hometown. "This was also the moment when I fell in love with parties and DJing." Later on, Giannelli moved to the more cosmopolitan cities of Milan, Rimini, and Barcelona, allowing him to experience the breadth of club culture.

Both artists began playing instruments from a young age. For Giannelli, this was "a little bit of piano and guitar that was self-taught. I also tried a bit of drums at one point when I was very young, but pretty soon I fell in love with sequencers and VSTs and understood that it was my way of expression." 

The purity of acoustic music is a side to Giannelli that stays with him. Similarly, Gasperini "played the piano for a few years around the age of 10." But after moving away from home, he realized that, sadly, he could no longer attend his lessons. 

Glowal - Cries

IV84 - Secret Weapons Part 11
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It wasn't long before the artists gravitated towards producing dance music. Gasperini's first production, "Rain," which came out in 2013, was a joint project written with his former partner, Andrea Scaglini. Released on Fahrenheit

by Mario Più, dropping it was a "very satisfying experience, [but] the best part was definitely seeing it work on the dancefloor."

Giannelli's first production came about in 2005 when he was just 19 years old. "The track name was "Tweak." I made it with a laptop and two normal computer speakers." Despite his limited audio equipment at the time, his creative flair was recognized two years later by Italian DJs Paolo Martini and Gianni Bini, who released the track on their label, Ocean Dark. "I was very surprised by the support it got, being played by some influential DJs and being included in some important compilations at the time."

Telling your family that you'd like to pursue a career as a full-time musician is something that's often met with expressions of concern. Giannelli's experience was no exception. When he first broke the news to them, they didn't react very well at first. "I'd also decided to leave home alone very young to pursue 'the dream'. But very soon they understood that this had to be my way of life; [they realized that] this was the only way for me to be really happy, and they supported my choices."

Gasperini's family has always supported—sometimes doubtfully— his choices. "They always wanted me to have a plan B... and I understood their concern. I was afraid that if I focused on other things, then I wouldn't get the same results with music, or rather, it would be more difficult to get the same results." Nevertheless, he's happy that he ended up taking the plunge and that his family is now more curious than worried about where music will take him.

Runway Studio with Glowal #3

RunWay Studio’nun kalbi üçüncü bölümde de İstanbul Havalimanı’nda atmaya devam ediyor! Yaptıkları remikslerle evrensel bir takipçi kitlesini arkasında sürükleyen ünlü İtalyan müzik grubu Glowal ile müthiş performans karşınızda! Ayrıca ödüllü yaratıcı tasarım stüdyosu Awesome Bros’un “Magical Visual Journey” ışık showunu da kaçırmayın, iyi seyirler.

İGA İstanbul Havalimanı hakkındaki tüm gelişmelerden haberdar olmak için kanalımıza abone olmayı unutmayın ► http://bit.ly/igairport 

İGA İstanbul Havalimanı hakkında diğer videolarımız için ► 

Runway Studio with @Burak Yeter #2 | 8K Video https://youtu.be/JmTwY9CpAJU 

Runway Studio with @BeeGee #1 https://youtu.be/ukIQTR853gk 

“Bir Zafer Anıtı: İstanbul Havalimanı” Belgeseli https://youtu.be/nk30SiXAWkk 

İstanbul Havalimanı'nda Güvenli Seyahat İçin Her Şey Hazır! https://youtu.be/D8F0wTPtoJ8 

Büyük Göç Belgeseli https://youtu.be/1YQnYijJYvE 

İstanbul Havalimanı | Hava Trafik Kontrol Kulesi https://youtu.be/GVCLNrK_7U0 

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Glowal came together gradually. Giannelli experienced a difficult period in his life at the end of 2015 due to some bad personal situations and choices he was faced with. 

"I was losing all of my focus. Meanwhile, I had started another job. I was still making music, but I was stuck in this negative circle." Giannelli and Gasperini got in contact in 2016 to schedule the release, on Giannelli's label, of an EP that Gasperini had produced alongside Andrea Scaglini. Gasperini was also organizing events and invited Giannelli to play near his hometown.

After Gasperini and Scaglini went their separate ways, Gasperini released music as a solo artist for almost a year. "During this time," Giannelli recalls, "we regularly kept in touch... At some point [Gasperini] told me: 'You shouldn't even think about leaving the music career, because you are born for it. Why don't we join forces?'" Following his gut instinct, Giannelli immediately said yes without giving the question too much thought. 

Giannelli felt that he needed to start from zero with something fresh, and Gasperini was the right person to do it with. 

"We started talking deeply, exchanging ideas, making music, and working on all different aspects of the new project. Everything started like this, really naturally." Their first 

together was entirely improvised, yet the flow that bound the pair together soon revealed a strong connection between them. 

Hannes Bieger

Hannes Beiger has lived a multitude of musical lives. The Berlin-based producer, engineer, and analog synth expert has been a guitarist, rare grooves DJ, live performer, and one of the most lauded studio engineers in all of house and techno. Yet, through it all, he's maintained a deep reverence for the philosophical impact of music and a love for how sound moves people. At his core, he holds the spirit of a songwriter. Yet, his deep love for the warmth and raw power of analog synths and drum machines informs him. A true titan of techno, Beiger's years of experience engineering records for the world's top-tier producers, have given him an invaluable understanding of how dance music is most compelling.


But long before he discovered the captivating power of the electronic kick drum, he was a child obsessed with classic rock. His earliest musical memories are heavy with the sounds of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones.

"A typical afternoon for me, age six would be sitting with headphones in front of the home stereo and flipping over the Sgt. Pepper vinyl over and over again," he remembers fondly. "And the record now is absolutely destroyed. I think it's still in my mother's house. And it's it's full of fingerprints and crackles, and scratches."


His father was a vinyl collector. And fortunately for young Hannes, he wasn't too picky about the condition his records were kept in. The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is a significant record for many people, but for Bieger, it helped unlock something that he wouldn't fully realize until much later in life.


"It was significant because it was so wild, it was so colorful. I always had the feeling that this drug infused period of the Beatles kind of resonates very well with the children's mind, because it's so playful and very innocent. And that really had a profound impact on me. I would even go so far that probably Revolver by the Beatles is maybe my earliest exposure to something that you could say, is electronic music. The way they started to use the studio as an instrument by itself. And for example, use the various speeds of the tape to kind of pitch down the drum recordings. I think it's these little bits and pieces, which really laid the foundation for what I'm doing today."


His real role model was Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. He wanted to play guitar just like him. However, his guitar teacher had other plans. 





"He was more of a jazz guy. And I was [one of his] younger students. I think his vision was to kind of lead me towards jazz at a very young age, which he didn't succeed with because I always just wanted to learn how to play the intro riff of 'Honky Tonk Woman,'" Beiger laughs. "What was great actually is that he never really directly showed me how to play these things, even though he could probably play them in his sleep, but taught me how to learn figuring [it] out myself. For this I'm very grateful."


Ever the voracious consumer of music, Beiger found his way into some of the more wild and experimental records in his dad's collection. And as he dove deeper into the obscure, he discovered acid jazz, breakbeat, and trip-hop. 


The bands he was in transformed from straightforward rock music to the fringes of electronic music. At one point, he played in a band that had a scratch DJ. Yet, it wasn't until he moved to Berlin in 1999 that he discovered the unrelenting power of a synthesized kick drum.


In Berlin, he says the kick drum was inescapable. And as compelling as techno and house were, his background in songwriting initially made it difficult for him to get a firm grasp on how club music is contextualized.


"You're used to [a] different density of information per time. And club music, obviously works in a very different way with time also being perceived in a very different way on the dance floor."


He had to relearn how to structure music. "I had experience from being in the club as a dancer, but not as a live performer in the club environment like I'm doing now, and certainly not as a DJ. And so the first tracks that I produced were more like songs with beats, and in that sense, not really playable from a DJ perspective. And in those years, I was part of several projects, where I fulfilled the role of the instrumental player and studio engineer."


His skills as a studio engineer increased in demand. And he says that as he dedicated more time to that, he left his own goals of producing and performing behind.


"I think those those years were important. I stopped, I started taking a break from from producing in 2006, I think, which then lasted over 10 years. And in that time, obviously, I got very busy as a mixing engineer. And so thousands and thousands of tracks flowed through my system here. And, of course, I condensed a lot of that information into my musical thinking."



When he returned to production and performance in 2018, he had a decade of experience working with dance music's most lauded artists like Adam Beyer, Adriatique, Stephen Bodzin, Dixon, Georgia Anjuli, and Dubfire, to name a few.


He also had a renewed drive to return to his roots. His musical inclination had always been to perform music. DJing was fine, but he wanted to helm the controls and recapture the visceral feeling of a band manipulating the sound on the spot. So he developed a dynamic live set that allowed him to expose the long musical arcs and slithering, sultry melodies of his music.


Even when he was listening to the Beatles on repeat, he absorbed a fundamental truth about music and musicians. As an artist, you are merely a conduit for the music, a vessel for the sound to channel through. And when he wrote "A Million Souls," that fact couldn't have been more evident.


After six weeks on tour in South America and a two-week delay to get home, he arrived in Berlin with very little time to work on his own music for 2019. He returned home halfway through January of that year and went straight into the studio for a string of client projects. He tried to write some personal music in the short time he had, but it just wasn't hitting right.

"The pressure was mounting … And I was I was getting in the danger zone of not having any music I could release in 2019 because I was so late at it. I was nervous, and I felt the pressure. And then I basically just wrote 'A Million Souls' on a Monday morning in a dream. I woke up with the groove and reverb melody in my mind, and I sent myself an email from my bed with a couple of notes. And luckily, I could recover the feeling that I had about the track later at the studio from the notes that I took."


The haunting vocals of Francesca Lombardo elevate the entrancing melody of "A Million Souls." It's as if together Lombardo and Bieger brilliantly captured the feeling of a waking dream. And in a way, he's translated the brilliance of the 60s records he voraciously consumed as a child into modern melodic techno.


"I think [that] characterizes the ideal state of making music. And I think this is really how we, in general should perceive making music [with] some sort of humble attitude, tapping into some kind of energy flow. I don't I don't see myself so much as a designer of my own music. It's more like a gardener in a way, or somebody who receives these ideas and then tries to help them grow into the final musical pieces."




 Even with some perspective, it's difficult for Glowal to pinpoint their single most significant achievement. So instead, Gasperini points to several joyous moments in their short history.

AL037 - Glowal - Behind Us

Buy AL037: https://smarturl.it/037unity
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Out of darkness can only come light. ‘Unity’ is a 31-track opus, a symbol of togetherness curated by Tale Of Us, including artists already on Afterlife and some new names to the label. Accompanied by a continuous journey through this new music, mixed by Tale Of Us, we hope this compilation brings some escape at a challenging time.

It is more important than ever that we stand together and do what we can to help our loved ones, our communities and humanity as a whole. All profits from ‘Unity’ will be donated to the Coronavirus medical relief fund of the most heavily-affected region so far, Lombardy in Italy. It is a cause particularly close to the hearts of us all at Afterlife. 

Tale Of Us cover the full spectrum of Afterlife sounds, from stirring, sunrise epics and eyes-down techno to more inward-looking moments, individually expressing a collective vision. Crystalline melodies and emotive oscillations connect each work and form the strands which Tale Of Us weave into a momentous Voyage. From the opening tones of the label founders’ own track ‘Alone’, every turn flows further into the Realm Of Consciousness, an unbounded dimension which ends in light.

"Production-wise, some of our biggest moments include the release of 'Cries' on Innervisions, which really introduced Glowal to the scene. The collaboration we did with Adana Twins for 'My Computer' via Diynamic music. And 'Roda' with Simon Batten on Sapiens, Agoria's Label, which is where we've also decided to release our first album coming up in 2022."

He also mentions their many collaborations with the Afterlife brand and the launch of their label, 

. The pair has a lot to be thankful for and a massive network of industry supporters. 

SOEL

SOEL's music reflects a rich sonic palate informed by a lifetime absorbing a multi-colored patchwork of sounds. Equally refined, emotional, dark, and cinematic. He is a master of twisting synths into gorgeous wavering layers of beauty. His moody, melodic techno has wowed acclaimed producers like Adriatique, Tale Of Us, and Recondite. And the list of labels he's released on is remarkable, including Afterlife, Siamese, Mobilee, TAU and Plangent. 



He often draws from his Arabic roots and the rich cosmopolitan culture of Milan for inspiration. He grew up a stone's throw from the temple of opera, La Scala. As a result, classical music influences his music heavily as well. Yet, his father had the most profound impact on his musical DNA.

"My father was collecting vinyl and cassette tapes and listening to a lot of blues and a lot of jazz. Louis Armstrong, Myles Davis, and Ry Cooder. So a lot of black music, a lot of soulful music."

Milan's proximity to so many iconic dance music cities meant that by the time he was old enough to go to the club, he rarely spent a weekend or holiday at home. "Every single time I had a break from school, or a weekend off or something like that me and my friends would just jump on a train or a low fare airplane and then just go."



READ THIS NEXT: Gray Area Spotlight: Hannes Bieger



He was obsessed with club culture and techno. "I did over 15 Time Warps. Festivals in Germany, Italy, and then Holland. University festivals during the summers. There were huge enormous festivals in Spain. Even small clubs. My favorite was a Cocoon club in Frankfurt, which was owned by Sven Vath."

He was all about the club, his friends and, "just having fun during the weekends. That's it."



Cocoon Club's DJ Booth



His move from the dancefloor to the decks was gradual, he says. Fascinated by dance music's culture of playing exclusive music, he spent hours digging for and collecting tracks. So before he even touched the turntables, he was already an expert curator.

The biggest draw to create has always been the peak dance floor experience. He still lives for the moments when you lose yourself in the beat. When the world seems to fade from view, all that remains is you, the music, and the lights.

It's almost visceral when he reflects on one of those moments during a Time Warp pre-party at Robert Johnson in Frankfurt.



"At 3 or 4 am, Ricardo Villalobos played this random singer from Iraq or Syria. And I knew that I know this kind of music. It was such a random thing, but such a surprise in a positive way. Because my friends and the people that were in that in the club back then, they didn't know what it is, but just went crazy. That's the power of the artist and the DJ."

He chases that feeling with every set he plays. The transcendence of his music is built for it. And as SOEL continues to build a massive library of music, he drifts further away from providing those moments as a DJ. Instead, he believes that those moments are more impactful when he's playing his music.

"I produce so much music. So much music, that I think the only way to really express myself is by playing only live. I think it's the creative point of view, honestly. And sometimes DJ sets are not, something that satisfies me."

His catalog is tremendous, forty hours of unreleased genre-spanning music from ambient electronic to peak hour techno. His decision to play more live sets allows him to stretch, build a vibe, and build a narrative. Performing dance music in a live environment is an act of storytelling. SOEL wishes to enter himself into that legacy of artists who are our raconteurs. 



READ THIS NEXT: From Detroit to Berlin: How Techno Took Over the World



SOEL intends to make sure all of his work is out in the world for people to appreciate. His imprint Oracolo is part of that mission. Described as "A label where musical concepts and aesthetic boundaries are seen as a way to unify - not separate." Oracolo is the antithesis of his ethos.

Despite having no formal training, SOEL has established a unique musical footprint. The consummate creative, he says that he's been training for this his whole life. Creativity blossoms naturally when fed exposure to creative endeavors.

"Honestly, I think our brain is really a sponge. When you get exposed a lot simply because you're curious and you like something, I think this will come naturally. Nobody [can] actually teach you to be creative. So, think simply, let it come on naturally."





When asked about the origins of Sementa, Giannelli tells us, "We were thinking about setting up our own playground since day one." The pandemic gave the pair enough time to think deeply about it and finally took action. 

"Basically, it was conceived to be a platform of free expression. At the moment, we've mostly released our music, but we are open to other artists as well." The duo intends to allow the label to grow organically without dealing with the pressure to release every month. 

In the few years since their conception, Glowal has performed in some incredible venues across the globe. When quizzed on which has been their favorite so far, they respond that it's tricky to narrow it down. Gasperini explains, "Every place has its characteristic. Sometimes, it's the big place that's good because it's got that 'bang.' Sometimes, it's the more intimate atmosphere that makes it special." Ultimately, the pair love playing and partying everywhere.

The Italian house and techno scene is massive, with game-changing artists like Tale Of Us, Agents of Time, Ivory, Armonica, and many more. Gasperini and Giannelli agree that the country's top clubbing destinations can be found in Milan, Rome, Turin, but also Puglia and Tuscany. "For our sound, there are nice spots in those places. [But] Techno, the punchier kind, is popular everywhere in Italy."

When working on new material, Glowal never construct a track around a predetermined formula. Instead, Giannelli explains, "It depends on our state of mind in the moment while writing, and about what touches the soul in that precise moment." As a result, their music can be socially-driven, as with "AI Talk," a track that reflects the 

Nala

It's not enough to call LA-based musician Nala, aka Stefania Aronin, a producer or DJ. She radiates artistry in everything she does. Informed by a slant towards the experimental, her off-kilter psychedelic house is a refreshing disruptor for a scene she says, “got wedged into this idea of what dance music was.” She shatters the formulaic chad-house aesthetic with her strikingly authentic lyrics. It’s proof that house music can slap the subs and captivate the mind. 

In 2020 she signed a management deal with purveyors of west coast weird, Dirtybird, a perfect match for someone who created her own lane so early in her career. COO Aundy Crenshaw and Claude Von Stroke encouraged her to embrace her unique style.

They were both excited that she brought a sound that broke from traditional tech-house. Her open format DJ sets and indie inspired beats are a vessel to help push the label forward. She says during one of their first conversations, Von Stroke expressed how tired he was of paint-by-numbers tech house.

Writing that way is simply at odds with who she is. “I just can't talk about things that are superficial. It's just not part of my character. It feels wrong. It feels like nails on a chalkboard internally.”

As she recites the words for “Sun Is Hot,” the second track from her Dirtybird debut EP Psychic Attack, she explains how she disguised a meditation on the health of Mother Earth beneath what sounds like something steamy and sultry.

“That’s a song is about global warming, first and foremost,” she says. “But then its open for interpretation. It could also be about sex. It's funny 'cause NPR was like, 'Oh, this is a dirty song.' And I was like, 'It's about global warming.” She tells the story with a perfect deadpan.

“I don’t know how to be a closed book,” she admits. “Most of my writing is confessional. I think a lot of what art is supposed to be on a philosophical level is something that people relate to. It's part of the human experience. And that's why we are obsessed with art to begin with. Because it makes us feel something. It makes us feel less alone. And I just love making people feel less alone.”

In college, Aronin switched from a psychology major to advertising because psychology got too dark. Yet she continues to find ways to dissect human existence. Nala's confessional lyrics seek to connect.

“I wrote Psychic Attack, because I was really overwhelmed with the news last year," she explains about the title song on her Dirtybird debut. "I wrote that song out of a space of anxiety. But I think a lot of people could relate to that, because it was so chaotic. It was psychological warfare.”

She spends several minutes reciting lyrics to new songs during our call. And with each turn of phrase, it’s clear how adept she is with her words. She’s also so clearly excited about every aspect of her work. She radiates positivity and bravery. 

Being bold is natural she says. “I don't have even like an ounce of doubt that it won't work,” she says about her fuck it Im'a go for it attitude. Her mental framework is devoid of the self-doubt that stops most people from trying. “I just don't have that kind of dialogue in my head for whatever reason. I push it out, probably as a self-protective measure.” 

Or maybe it’s a touch of confidence mixed with a dash of creative magnetism. She’s consistently able to draw exactly what she wants directly into her orbit.

Three months before she signed with Dirtybird she decided to break from her indie background and go full-on into dance music. She was already well known on the Dj circuit in Miami and LA. Her music was getting played in H&M stores across the country. But she felt she needed a label ecosystem to pull her off the plateau.

She set her intention and told herself, “I need to shift focus. What is going to be best for me? I need to find a label that I can work with. And out from the sky came Dirtybird!”

The family atmosphere that seeps through all that Dirtybird does was the perfect match for Aronin. "I got really lucky that I managed to find a community of people. Because even the other artists on the label VNSSA, Walker & Royce, Ardalan we're all family now. And it's so nice to be around people that are so positive and supportive, have a good message and [are] inclusive and happy."

She now sits in the perfect position to carry her message to a wider audience. “I want everyone to feel. I want people to relate. I want them to know that their experience is not isolated. And that to me is the most fulfilling. The best I can do is create music with a message that resonates with people.”

Giannelli says their music also communicates the pain of struggle, spurred by the desire to trigger your senses. 

"Honestly, sometimes I feel so much pressure from seeing what's happening around me that I need to let it out somehow, and writing is a good way to share thoughts and translate them into music." 

With tracks that stimulate the senses and excite the imagination, Fabio Giannelli and Alessandro Gasperini – aka Glowal – have earned the respect of electronic music fans from every nation. The Italian duo's melodic techno and deep house tracks bless the catalogs of taste-making labels like Sapiens Recordings, Afterlife, Diynamic Music, Innervisions, and many more. 

Giannelli and Gasperini grew up on opposite ends of the Italian peninsula. From the age of 12-19, Giannelli lived in the southern city of Brindisi in Puglia. 

"The scene was not very prolific back then," he explains, "but there were some very good parties thrown 40km from my hometown at Torre Regina Giovanna and Mediterraneo." Giannelli would head to these spots every weekend to listen to local and international artists. 

Gasperini hails from the Tuscan city of Pisa, a region steeped in the rich history of the Italian electronic music scene. According to Gasperini, "Tuscany has been the home of some of the first clubs and some of the first Italian legends, such as Insomnia Discoacropoli D'Italia, Jaiss, Tenax, Imperiale, Duplè, and Kama Kama." 

His first club nights were disco events on big occasions like Halloween and NYE in the mid to late 00s. He managed to get in, despite his young age, thanks to his brother, an events promoter at the time. 

"I was madly in love with that new world," Gasperini tells us. "The progressive house influence of the 1990s and 2000s was very important for my dedication to the world of DJing."

Giannelli's first live music experience came when he was seven years old, listening to his brother DJ at a small beach party near his hometown. "This was also the moment when I fell in love with parties and DJing." Later on, Giannelli moved to the more cosmopolitan cities of Milan, Rimini, and Barcelona, allowing him to experience the breadth of club culture.

Both artists began playing instruments from a young age. For Giannelli, this was "a little bit of piano and guitar that was self-taught. I also tried a bit of drums at one point when I was very young, but pretty soon I fell in love with sequencers and VSTs and understood that it was my way of expression." 

The purity of acoustic music is a side to Giannelli that stays with him. Similarly, Gasperini "played the piano for a few years around the age of 10." But after moving away from home, he realized that, sadly, he could no longer attend his lessons. 

It wasn't long before the artists gravitated towards producing dance music. Gasperini's first production, "Rain," which came out in 2013, was a joint project written with his former partner, Andrea Scaglini. Released on Fahrenheit in 2013 by Mario Più, dropping it was a "very satisfying experience, [but] the best part was definitely seeing it work on the dancefloor."

Giannelli's first production came about in 2005 when he was just 19 years old. "The track name was "Tweak." I made it with a laptop and two normal computer speakers." Despite his limited audio equipment at the time, his creative flair was recognized two years later by Italian DJs Paolo Martini and Gianni Bini, who released the track on their label, Ocean Dark. "I was very surprised by the support it got, being played by some influential DJs and being included in some important compilations at the time."

Telling your family that you'd like to pursue a career as a full-time musician is something that's often met with expressions of concern. Giannelli's experience was no exception. When he first broke the news to them, they didn't react very well at first. "I'd also decided to leave home alone very young to pursue 'the dream'. But very soon they understood that this had to be my way of life; [they realized that] this was the only way for me to be really happy, and they supported my choices."

Gasperini's family has always supported—sometimes doubtfully— his choices. "They always wanted me to have a plan B... and I understood their concern. I was afraid that if I focused on other things, then I wouldn't get the same results with music, or rather, it would be more difficult to get the same results." Nevertheless, he's happy that he ended up taking the plunge and that his family is now more curious than worried about where music will take him.

Glowal came together gradually. Giannelli experienced a difficult period in his life at the end of 2015 due to some bad personal situations and choices he was faced with. 

"I was losing all of my focus. Meanwhile, I had started another job. I was still making music, but I was stuck in this negative circle." Giannelli and Gasperini got in contact in 2016 to schedule the release, on Giannelli's label, of an EP that Gasperini had produced alongside Andrea Scaglini. Gasperini was also organizing events and invited Giannelli to play near his hometown.

After Gasperini and Scaglini went their separate ways, Gasperini released music as a solo artist for almost a year. "During this time," Giannelli recalls, "we regularly kept in touch... At some point [Gasperini] told me: 'You shouldn't even think about leaving the music career, because you are born for it. Why don't we join forces?'" Following his gut instinct, Giannelli immediately said yes without giving the question too much thought. 

Giannelli felt that he needed to start from zero with something fresh, and Gasperini was the right person to do it with. 

"We started talking deeply, exchanging ideas, making music, and working on all different aspects of the new project. Everything started like this, really naturally." Their first live performance together was entirely improvised, yet the flow that bound the pair together soon revealed a strong connection between them. 

 Even with some perspective, it's difficult for Glowal to pinpoint their single most significant achievement. So instead, Gasperini points to several joyous moments in their short history.

"Production-wise, some of our biggest moments include the release of 'Cries' on Innervisions, which really introduced Glowal to the scene. The collaboration we did with Adana Twins for 'My Computer' via Diynamic music. And 'Roda' with Simon Batten on Sapiens, Agoria's Label, which is where we've also decided to release our first album coming up in 2022."

He also mentions their many collaborations with the Afterlife brand and the launch of their label, Sementa. The pair has a lot to be thankful for and a massive network of industry supporters. 



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When asked about the origins of Sementa, Giannelli tells us, "We were thinking about setting up our own playground since day one." The pandemic gave the pair enough time to think deeply about it and finally took action. 

"Basically, it was conceived to be a platform of free expression. At the moment, we've mostly released our music, but we are open to other artists as well." The duo intends to allow the label to grow organically without dealing with the pressure to release every month. 

In the few years since their conception, Glowal has performed in some incredible venues across the globe. When quizzed on which has been their favorite so far, they respond that it's tricky to narrow it down. Gasperini explains, "Every place has its characteristic. Sometimes, it's the big place that's good because it's got that 'bang.' Sometimes, it's the more intimate atmosphere that makes it special." Ultimately, the pair love playing and partying everywhere.

The Italian house and techno scene is massive, with game-changing artists like Tale Of Us, Agents of Time, Ivory, Armonica, and many more. Gasperini and Giannelli agree that the country's top clubbing destinations can be found in Milan, Rome, Turin, but also Puglia and Tuscany. "For our sound, there are nice spots in those places. [But] Techno, the punchier kind, is popular everywhere in Italy."

When working on new material, Glowal never construct a track around a predetermined formula. Instead, Giannelli explains, "It depends on our state of mind in the moment while writing, and about what touches the soul in that precise moment." As a result, their music can be socially-driven, as with "AI Talk," a track that reflects the climate change crisis. 

Giannelli says their music also communicates the pain of struggle, spurred by the desire to trigger your senses. 

"Honestly, sometimes I feel so much pressure from seeing what's happening around me that I need to let it out somehow, and writing is a good way to share thoughts and translate them into music." 







Glowal

Articles

Melisa Yuriar