Giorgia Angiuli: I didn’t have the chance to spend a lot of time with toys when I was a kid

Giorgia Angiuli about her musical roots, the impact of coronavirus on the club scene, new music, love of vintage toys and waiting to be on the road again

Giorgia Angiuli is a new and fresh face on the electronic music scene, but she already has an impressive portfolio that includes releases on the best labels that are responsible for the most cutting-edge techno and house, a solo album and numerous gigs all over the world in top nightclubs and high status festivals.

Born into a family of musicians in the heel of Italy’s boot—the Puglia region—Giorgia, from her childhood years, was classically trained as a guitarist. She came through passion to wide gammas of musical genres and even played in folk and new metal teenage bands. The turning point was when Giorgia discovered Radiohead album “Kid A” which made her fall in love with electronic music. From that moment she started to develop her own unique sound that combined her classical musical background with deep understanding of the melodic and composition, catchy dancefloor groove and a dreamy dimension created by her melancholic way of singing. All this working well together components have been based on the backbone on Giorgia’s incomparable way of musical production with using keyboards, drum pad and theremin with the sounds of a toy flute, sax, trumpets and many other toys.

Starting from 2013, when Giorgia Angiuli felt that she finally found her identity in electronic music and upgraded her skills enough, she got her first residency in Tenax Club in Florence. Her talent, unique sound and way of presenting the music was soon spotted by the leading entrepreneurs of contemporary electronic music, and it didn’t take long to wait for releases on Stil vor Talent, Crosstown Rebels, Kindisch, KMS, Harry Klein and many others significant labels. This couldn’t be not followed by never-ending tours where Giorgia introduced her sound to the dancefloors all around the globe.

We had a nice opportunity to talk with Giorgia about slowly coming back to live Italy’s club scene after the lockdown, COVID-19 impact on the nightlife, impressions from the first gig after the quarantine, passion for vintage toys and objects, musical plans and much more as well.

Interview: Dmitry Tolkunov

Hi Giorgia! Thank you very much for finding time for this interview, it is a really big honour for us. First of all, it will be interesting to know what are you working on now—any new releases in plan?

Thanks for having me. I have just released an ep titled TRUST THE HOURS, inspired by the momentum and I am working on a new project that I will share soon online, creating a track getting inspiration from a painting. In the past months, I worked a lot in the studio and, of course, I will release new music soon.

Seems you got back to performing live, at least in Italy as I’ve noticed you are having some gigs. How is club life in Italy after these strange and long quarantine days?

A few weeks ago, after four months, I played in Trieste. It was an overwhelming feeling and my hands were shaking. I felt alive again.

We can survive without art, but we can’t feel completely alive without it. In Italy we had a very long and strict lockdown so, right now, everything looks quite normal. There are few events, but at least something is happening.

What kind of impact do you think this COVID-19 pandemic will leave on the electronic music club scene?

COVID-19 drew a dark sky on our lives, but I want to stay positive, thinking that the sun will come back to shine very soon.

Now it is very complicated to predict a possible future about events, we just need to be patient and trust the hours. I think we all realized how sad it is a life without music, it is like watching a movie in black and white.

You are known like an electronic music artist with a very unique and mind-blowing approach in musical production that makes your live shows exciting. You don’t just play music from a laptop like many producers do and use a lot of vintage synths and children toys for different special effects and sounds. Where did this passion for using toys in your musical production come from, did you have many toys when you were a child?

I studied classical guitar, I grew up in a family of musicians, and I had a strict education. I didn’t watch cartoons and I didn’t have the chance to spend a lot of time with toys when I was a kid. Then, when I went to live alone, I started to be in love with vintage toys, vintage objects in general (clothing, lamps, watches) and I started to collect many different things.

Everything happened in a natural way. I decided to introduce weird instruments in my performances, and I was fascinated by many artists from the 900 as Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio, Charlemagne Palestine. I just tried to find my way, feeling comfortable. I love to do research and I don’t put limits to my music, art helps us to expand our imagination every day.

As I know you are a classically trained musician with a serious educational background. Can you tell a bit about your way in music since your child years and how did the passion for electronic music came to you?

I studied classical guitar at the Conservatorium, then I played new metal and folk music, and I fell in love with Kid A by Radiohead … I think this album was the key to discovering electronic music. I got my first Ableton, and I never stopped using it. Electronic music for me means to have the opportunity to always discover new ways for creating music.

Do you play only your music on your shows or you can occasionally put on some other people’s tracks?

I play only my music because I play only live sets.

Did you ever think about starting your own label that will represent your sound?

I have just opened my label named “United”, which released the United 03 on 10 August.

In the last few years, you were touring really intensely all around the globe. After all these journeys, do you have some places that left a special place in your heart and where you really enjoy performing and would like to go their black as soon as there is a possibility?

I travelled a lot and I am very grateful for all the beautiful landscapes I visited in the last years. I think my favourite place for parties is South America. I love the people and the happy vibes.

Do you miss touring or its ok to have a kind of a break after this long crazy ride that you had during the last few years?

I was super tired of travelling a lot but I really miss it. So, to be honest, I can’t wait to be on the road again … passion means satisfaction.

Read more: The sound of music with Dmitry Tolkunov ...