Angelic upstarts

Last year was a good one for off-centre electronic music. Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu put out some of 2007's best albums - Boxcutter, Neil Landstrumm and U-ziq - and the Aphex-affiliated Rephlex also scored with 'Eksel' by D'Arcangelo. The work of two Italian brothers, its mixture of glitchy abstraction, electro drums and trippy Italo melodies has made it something of a slow-burner. One of the many acts to play Bloc, I managed to prise the boys away from their computers - and got some tongue in cheek answers in return...

What's it like to work together seeing as you are brothers? Do you have any
arguments when you are working on the studio?
"No, we are always straight in there, kicking the balls."

Are there any other brothers or sisters in your family?
"Yes, we are quadruplets, and there are two other brothers who perform our
PAs from time to time."

Is D'Arcangelo your real name or a stage name? Does it mean 'dark angel' in
Italian?
"It is our one and only real birth name so we see ourselves as that as a
result."

You have been making music for over ten years - what inspired you in the first place?
"Actually our first release was more than 15 years ago. We've been making music since the 80s, it's our chosen form of self-expression beyond visual art, writing etc. We are inspired by many aspects of our universe. Our thoughts and feelings and interactions."

Was Marco Passarani and the Nature organisation an inspiration for you when you were starting up?
"No, we give respect to him/them, but we had already started before that hook-up."

Does Italy have a healthy electronic music scene?
"Healthy? Everywhere has a scene, sometimes it's small and concentrated,
sometimes on more of a mass scale. We don’t like to nationalize music."

You didn't release a lot of material for a few years - from 2002 to 2006. Were you working in day jobs or did you just want to take a break?
"We released a handful of tracks and did some touring. We are always making music; making it a commercial product is not the main objective. We are also involved in industrial and aesthetic design as well as computer programming, when it suits us."

You say on your MySpace that you sound like "two old gits pretending to be deaf". You don¹t look that old in your pictures - are you?!
"All the D'Arcangelo brothers are now 55 years old, but we have a regenerative disorder that keeps us looking young."

I like your music because it mixes up a lot of older electronic styles but also brings your own approach to it  - is this your aim?
"There is no aim. It is just like breathing or making love. It's an impulse. We don't like to find ourselves repeating ourselves or reaching conclusions that are not unique."

I really like 'Eksel' because it focuses a lot on melodies  - was it a conscious decision to make a softer, more melodic sound?
"No. have you heard 'Broken Toys Corner'?"

Are you playing live at Bloc? What kind of set will you play -  harder than the album?
"Depends what mood the kids are in, but we don't have to decide now. It will be musically special."

What are your next release plans -  hopefully it won¹t be such a big break until the next release...
"Make us an offer, we'll see."

Comments

[aid]

ha ha. difficult beggars...

[Barry]

yeah i dont understand why some "artists" do inerviews like that , i doubt he goes on like a wanker all the time , and it costs nothing to be sound about it ...

[aid]

it's braindance see? they're brainier than your average schmo...

[Brophy]

and can therefore give smart ass answers!