Italian artist Federico Castriota aka Noha has been building an enviable discography and has been well and truly on our radar for some time now. His Panick! Panick! imprint has acted as the perfect platform from which to present his intricate, thought provoking minimal vision. With visions in mind we caught up with Federico to discuss his upcoming ‘Instagram Visions’ EP for the esteemed Metereze label. Noha explains what this title means to him, “I have a strong belief that we place as much trust in the visions presented to us digitally as we do in our real-life experiences.”
In a slight departure from our usual review style we caught up with Noha to hear more about his EP in his own words. “It all began when Raresh played one of my earliest tracks, “Ceramica”. After seeing a video of him playing it, I reached out and sent him more of my music, which marked the beginning of our friendship. A few years later, he asked me if I was interested in collaborating on an EP for his label, Metereze. This must have been about four years ago.”
“In terms of location, I have written my music in various places, particularly over the last few years when I have been constantly on the move without settling down. In the last 4 years I have lived in Berlin, Japan, Montreal, and New York before eventually returning to Rome. However, I distinctly remember creating the track ‘me, you’ while visiting my friend Elon at his upstate New York retreat.“
“The first track to be signed for the EP was ‘Japanese Ghosts.’ I began working on this track while living in Tsukuba, near Tokyo. The power of the track lies in its simplicity and ever-present tension. When Raresh heard it, he got back to me saying, ‘Ok, now we have the first track.’The second track we chose was ‘Controversy.’ I remember producing this track right after finishing another one called ‘Europa,’ which I released on my label Panickpanick! I had a specific feeling in mind and wanted a deep driving groove with almost no melody, focusing entirely on the power of the drums. It was something completely imagined for the dance floor.“
“‘Instagram Visions’ was perhaps the biggest surprise for me, as I clearly remember thinking, ‘Nobody will ever like this,’ let alone Raresh asking me to include it in the EP. He’s always been very wise, telling me to never filter anything I was doing and just send him any new ideas I had. This proves, once again, that sometimes we get too much in our heads when listening again to what we produce. This is one of those tracks that I produced with total expressive freedom, just having fun while jamming. It’s an approach that has become my natural way of making music.”
“Once we confirmed the first three tracks, I remember sitting down one day and thinking, ‘Ok, let’s finish the EP.’ I told myself it would make sense to try something different. At the time, having a breakbeat groove was something entirely new and incredibly fun for me. I wanted to create a track that would take listeners on a very introspective journey. I have always been a lover of EPs with very distinct tracks, rather than multiple variations of the same idea.“
It is always interesting to learn more about an artists’ writing process and perhaps where they envisage the track being played, “Every time I sit down to make music, I can’t help but envision myself playing a live set during a daytime slot at an open-air festival. This image has been a tremendous source of inspiration for me and has played a significant role in the creation of my music. In fact, it has been the driving force behind my decision to finally start and perform my live set.“
“Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to play my live set at StereoBar in Montreal. It was an unforgettable experience that felt like a defining moment in my journey. It was as if this performance was the final piece of the puzzle that brought everything together.“
Clearly Noha is a huge fan of hardware and you can hear the subtle nuances in his music. We were especially interested to learn more about his gear, especially the synth and bass sounds in ‘Japanese Ghosts’, “Over the years, I have continued to purchase and test out various hardware. For the most part, the gear that I utilized in this record was based on a meticulously curated list that included the Roland 909, MFB Tanzbar, Make Noise Shared System, and the Electribe Mx. It’s important to mention that I use the Omnisphere VST in almost every track that I produce. In particular, for “Japanese Ghosts,” the bassline was created using a Roland SH-101.“
“Instagram Visions” EP from Noha on Metereze is now available via Deejay.de.
Info on Noha
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More info on Metereze
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