Artist Spotlight
Burgeoning artist Simone Liberali is making moves within the dance music space as he is known for creating captivating, dynamic, and progressive music. After an early introduction to dance music via tracks by Daft Punk and Bob Sinclar, his journey really kicked off with clubbing and attending shows every weekend. “Before becoming a DJ and producer I was a clubber—every weekend with my friends we went to the clubs,” he says. “We stayed in Milan or we also liked traveling by train, bus, or car to other places in Italy that offered electronic music, such as the Cocoricó in Riccione or the Tenax in Florence. I’ve also participated as a client in various festivals and clubs around the world such as Time Warp and Love Family Park many times. I’ve always been fascinated by electronic music and the DJ. I always thought that one day I wanted to be in that position, playing my music and proposing my sound.” He purchased his first turntables at 16 and began practicing in his bedroom. His friends asked him to play at their small events, and people enjoyed his music. This led him to seriously consider becoming a professional DJ. Inspired by the positive feedback to his DJing, Liberali started his music career right away while attending college. While his first releases garnered positive feedback, he began receiving legitimate booking requests immediately, including a tour in South America. He signed with Cumac Bookings, which is still his current agency, and dropped out of college to pursue music full time. Surprisingly, during his first year as a producer, his track “Can’t You See” blew up on the charts and was the most-played song during the 2017 BPM Festival. “It was a great satisfaction and a great joy,” he says. “It was the first year that I was making music and this success has helped me and opened several doors.” “Consistancy, determination, sacrifices, passion, and always trying to improve yourself are the keys to growth,” Liberali adds. “I always have my mind focused on my goals and what can lead me to improve. I started to work on more music and my tracks were played by all the most important DJs in the world, and this allowed my name to spread more and more.” Known for infusing Latin music into his style, Liberali explains, “[My music] refers to traditional Latin music because of the percussive instruments and the rhythmics. I am a fan of the percussive groove both in DJ sets and in my productions, and I often use traditional Latin music in the studio to get some inspiration.” After years of producing music in his tiny basement studio, Liberali moved into a more proper studio space. One of the first songs he produced was “Landslide,” a personal favorite. “It has something special,” Liberali says. “In the studio, I started a jam as always, playing and recording different sounds, and the instrumental idea came out in one day. Later, I thought the track needed an exclusive vocal line, so I contacted Jinadu and sent him the demo. He liked it a lot and within a few days, he had already sent me the stems of his voice. I made some adjustments to the arrangement, and I sent it to my friend Nic Fanciulli for his Saved Records. He loved it and released it.” Despite his success, he says that with his current perspective, he’d give his younger self a bit of advice. “Experience, perseverance, and having studied a lot over the years have brought me to various notions that would have been very useful also in the past,” he says. In addition, he notes that he could have enrolled in a music conservatory instead of studying economics in college. In the future, Simone Liberali plans to open a record label that showcases his unique music tastes. He plans on “inaugurating it with an album of mine and also discovering other talents to bring into the project, taking this brand around the world.”
