Who the hell is Neuroxyde?

Who the hell is Neuroxyde?

7 July, 2009 | 2.08AM

• Written by: Zack Rico
• Filed under: Music News: neurotraxx, neuroxyde, starlight

Few dance music producers have sold in excess of 100,000 singles worldwide. Neuroxyde managed six figures in France alone, in 2007. And he’s a skinny Italian kid.

Yet despite his chart topping success, his fast-rising record labels Starlight and Neurotraxx, his 10 years in the business, his DJ residencies, and his mass appeal club music, not many people know who Neuroxyde is.

With his latest club cut ‘Yebo Yebo’ sitting at No.6 in the Beatport Top 10, we decided it was high time to find out who the hell Simone Bocchino really is.

How did you first discover electronic music? 

I was born in the late 1970s and thanks to a lucky coincidence I hit my teenage years during a time when there were many electronic music programs on the airwaves. Everyday my ears would be pasted to my parents’ old radio. It was the rave age and in my city you could breathe that atmosphere of musical innovation.

I remember hours and hours of waiting in line to buy vinyl not even knowing that, years later, I would be playing them as a DJ.

The joy of taking a new record home, locking the door, and listening to it for hours. I had total incomprehension of what writing a song meant. I kept asking myself, ‘how can I become a DJ?’. Maybe it was destiny, or maybe it was my stubborn dreams. As time went by, that question turned into a goal.

After all this time, the music remains my greatest love ever.

What was it like where you grew up, with the rave scene exploding?

I think I’m not wrong when I say I was born in one of the most beautiful cities of the world: Rome.

Between 1990 and 2000 I was fortunate to attend many vibrant musical events around my country.

In my city, and in general in Italy, many great artists and bands were born during that period - musicians who had worldwide success. Who could forget all the albums that Robert Miles or Eiffel 65 sold?

It seemed like my hometown of Rome, where I lived for many months of the year, was the place for artists to rise.

It was a very creative period which deeply influenced my musical choices. It was the age of respect for DJs, who became beloved giant figures.

All the musical events were crowded and the line-ups were full of big artists.

I was one of those guys in the crowd with his arms folded watching DJs play for hours. I never got tired of the incredible shows being performed with a mixer and two Technics.

A chance encounter with Prezioso and Marvin, who released my first successful track ‘Tell Me Why’, kick started my career properly.

Thanks to them I discovered a systematic approach to musical production and gained a habit of listening to new kinds of music.

In the meantime, I started to understand what standing behind a DJ console meant, even if I had no idea how to make people dance.

Have things changed much in the studio since those early days?

Creating a track in those days was not simple. Today, with a good laptop, software and music libraries, you have enormous potential in your hands, and you have the capacity to take advantage of it.

In the past you would need million dollar studios. It was hard. It took a lot of days and money to arrange and complete production, mixing and mastering. It was crazy working with Cubase 1.0.1! Each sound was built from tens of synthesizers and electronic percussion.

All the midi parts led to one or more parts that were synchronized with the rest of the track.

Occasionally samples were used but it was more cool to sample directly from old vinyl. Today many people prefer getting a premade loop instead of creating new ones.

Because of this, many things have changed. First of all I discovered the joy to create something from scratch with my own hands.

It is something people learned to appreciate over the years and I see it every time I played in front of hundreds of people.

Like my colleagues, I evolved into new musical horizons. I longed to take part in many different projects and produce many different styles.

During these years, I think I gained a complete music background, from traditional club music to Detroit techno.

Over time I made some good choices about my career, and made sure that I was doing my best for a larger and larger public.

Talking of your widening influence, in 2007 you won a ‘silver disk’ in France for over 140,000 singles sold. Why do you think your music is so popular in France? 

We never left anything up to chance

I still cannot explain it. Surely a huge dose of luck helped me to have strong feedback in that country, but as with all big hits, I think it was a series of lucky circumstances that I took advantage of.

Also I think that everything that happened in the year 2007, like producing the most sold record in Spain that summer, couldn’t have come true without the support and deep professionalism of my friends and partners David Jones and Aqua Diva (who both manage my label Starlight), and Valentina (my label partner).

We have worked together on projects for many years, and they are always my point of reference. I haven’t produced anything that hasn’t been weighed and carefully considered by all of us.

Maybe this is one of the reasons why my records have been so popular in France. We never left anything up to chance.

Behind each single there was always attention to detail. I still remember the emotions I felt during that time when we checked the charts and were left speechless at selling nine to 10 thousand copies a week! Those days were really amazing, and I moved to Paris for several months because I felt the need to experience everything that was happening there.

I will always be grateful to the French people for that.

When I came back to Rome we decided that it was the right time to make a new step, face a new challenge, and create our own record labels.

Which is when you launched Starlight and Neurotraxx?

After our work under the Hastard production team, we launched those two labels. They are independent, but work very closely with each other.

I personally manage Neurotraxx and the new Neurotraxx Deluxe, and continually collaborate with Starlight.

There is a lot of synergy between our two companies. We also are fortunate to work in big structures with four recording studios equipped with the best technologies.

Though, having said that, what makes the difference between a good and a bad producer is the ability to freely express ideas, not the equipment available.

In the next few days I will be in the Milan office, where we are producing David Jones and Second Life’s new singles.

We are also working on a new project for Neuroxyde. I’m sure these will have great feedback in the clubs and from the public.

In the last year, we’ve worked hard to create something that everyone can appreciate, regardless of their chosen music genre.

I can absolutely say that we’ve been right so far. Productions from both labels are played by some of the best DJs around the world and they are generally loved by people.

Why do you think DJs and clubbers are digging your labels and music so much?

That is payment for all the sacrifices we have made. Our main objectives are still the same - to not disappoint, to create the right expectations, and to show that we are able to compete at a high level with anyone.

We like to give talented artists the opportunity to grow and receive the attention they deserve.

We also provide them with all the legal, technical, and human support they need. Through this approach, we have delivered names like Doomwork (who’s had a top 10 on Beatport), Aki Bergen (he’s had two No.1’s in Beatport deep house chart), Dankann (one of the fastest rising artists in progressive house in 2009), and Sisko Electrofanatik (who’s had a No.1 in Beatport’s minimal chart).

Those successes are from across the board. Deep house, minimal, percussive techno - you guys cover a lot of bases.

Just like humans evolve, our music does too. My passion for techno music was the initial stimulus for the whole project, but the more my label gained an identity, the more I felt the need to give opportunities to artists that made good music and styles that I felt were good.

I have had the fortune of licensing tracks from young and talented guys and we tried to find ways to give them the creative space that they deserve.

But at the same time I wanted to remain focused on the importance of my own creativity and not confine it to the conventions of particular styles.

Today, Neurotraxx and Neurotraxx Deluxe aim to keep a high quality level. The object is to make people listen to our way of making music and to challenge the best producers with pride and a good dose of self esteem.

These are things that you have to do to make the best of this industry.

Your album ‘Happy Hour (The Dark Side)’ was released in April, and it’s full of high quality techno bangers. Have you discovered “your sound”?

I don’t think I’ll ever discover what my actual sound is. My last album was made just for fun, and there were many ideas floating about that I just wanted to put them into music without following a precise scheme.

The result is what many people hear, music and nothing more. ‘Cardiotonic’ and ‘Mojito Bull’ both entered the techno top 10 on Beatport which is great.

I let everyone appreciate, hate, or simply ignore my music. I must say that at the moment I’m charmed by the way techno and tech house sounds are always evolving, much more than other genres, and how tracks linked to this world have great effect on the dancefloor.

During my last tour of the Ukraine I saw entire clubs go crazy for apparently boring tracks which turned out to have high potency. They were built with a functional structure that was meant to induce that kind of response from the public.

It would have been foolish not to play them!

So you have no remorse for making mass appeal techno?

My sound is the sincere expression of what I am. I think I am an eclectic and also a bit of an egocentric guy.

Anyone who follows me knows that you can expect anything from me, maybe my new album will be dubstep!

At the moment I like to hit hard by creating breathless grooves and experiment with new sounds, like in my last single ‘Yebo Yebo’.

Are you happy with the way techno has evolved?

I don’t want to say that a young talent does not have to put himself to the test and find his own way into this world. I’m just saying that publishers often release music without paying enough attention to the quality. They are pulled by the idea of easy money instead of musical growth

Today talking about techno is not so easy. There is a huge amount of new music coming out, so that makes things hard. I don’t like the way many people easily call themselves both a “producer and DJ”. Thanks to the good work of a portal like Beatport, you can now have thousands of releases and thousands of artists but not all of them are of a good quality.

In the last few years with the newly available technologies almost anyone can produce a song in two hours and find someone who will release it, at the expense of people who work hard behind each project, struggling to carry whole production teams.

That kind of upsets me. I wouldn’t ever wake up one day and try to be an astronaut just because I thought it was neat.

I don’t want to say that a young talent does not have to put himself to the test and find his own way into this world. I’m just saying that publishers often release music without paying enough attention to the quality. They are pulled by the idea of easy money instead of musical growth.

Luckily the great names of techno go on surprising everybody with each new release. To be a producer now means to play the game, dare, propose new sounds and do all that a DJ should do: transmit emotions with his music and make people dance.

Are there any producers or artists out there who you think are doing a good job?

There are tens of artists that I respect. I must name Justice and the Chemical Brothers. I learned how to experiment with music from them and how much a song can be simultaneously nutty and energetic.

I’m still fascinated by the way a certain kind of music can change the concept of producing, modifying and improving whole generations of musicians.

Looking at the past, Depeche Mode and U2 influenced my musical culture, as did Sven Väth.

Are there any other DJs like Sven who have influenced you?

Both Sven Väth and Steve Lawler still remain my point of reference for DJs. I also love artists like Mark Knight, Sultan, Gui Boratto, and Shlomi Aber, just to name a few.

David Jones is one of the most technically perfect artists I know, and each day I learn something new from him.

There are also a few younger guys that I find interesting: Doomwork, Sisko Electrofanatik, and Robbie Renzi. They will surely get recognition in the future.

When was the last time a DJ blew you away? 

Minilogue played in a cool club in my city and it was one of the most amazing DJ sets I’ve ever seen.

For that occasion they had to move the DJ booth to another part of the club because the band had so many instruments, synths, computers, and controllers, and the original booth was too small for them to play in.

Usually I don’t go wild during the gigs of other DJs because I prefer to pay attention to their performance, musical choices, and to learn from more experienced people.

That time Minilogue were really stunning. They played in such an involving way that I danced till they finished their last beat. Man, I loved them!

‘Yebo Yebo’ is currently riding high in the Top 10 of Beatport. Why do you think the track is doing so well at present?

‘Yebo Yebo’ is the essence of dance. In African the word means ‘Yes’, and it perfectly transmits what I wanted to inject into this song: optimism.

Africans are sunny people par excellence, humorous, and positive. Often we hear about tragedies, wars, and terrible abuses coming from that part of the world, but they keep going like no other people could do.

Their music is the biggest expression of their comprehension of the essence of life, something that maybe we don’t fully understand yet.

I’ve always tried to create a world around my songs and with ‘Yebo Yebo’ the idea was to produce a song that made people dance, smile and be happy, without being too serious.

Maybe this is the reason why it’s doing well. To create a song carrying all the features I wanted to express wasn’t easy, and I love to think that the hard work done during the last 10 years of productions has helped.

No other word is more suitable to yell when finally things go like we want them to: YEBO!

What kind of studio does it take to create your beats?

I have a lot of good stuff in my studio. I have no particular preference about sequencers, I can work with Nuendo on Windows or with Logic Audio 8 on a Mac. I think they’re both very good music production systems.

Like most producers I have loads of plug-ins of every type, but I always end up using the same stuff.

I don’t like very many virtual instruments because I’m a fan of hardware. I have two Access Virus’ (C and TI) and many synthesizers like Waldorf Pulse, Waldorf Q, Doepfer, Korg Trinity, Korg Triton, a Minimoog, Roland SH 101, JP8000 and some others!

A Mackie Big Knob has lately become essential for my work, together with the three pairs of audio monitors: KRK Vxt 8, Dynaudio BM5, and Adam A-7.

6 essential Neuroxyde tracks

Combo ‘So Sexy’ (Neuroxyde Remix)

With an irresistible rolling bassline, Neuroxyde’s remix of Combo’s ‘So Sexy’ is a perfect mid set banger. Full of energy, tribal percussion, and smart FX, it does damage wherever it’s played.

Mooka ‘Cat In A Strange Barn’ (Neuroxyde Remix)

Hypnotic minimal collides with haunting bleeps to create a late night, druggy techno vibe. It’s uptempo, machine driven funk.

Neuroxyde, Luca Lombardi ‘Exagon’

Neuroxyde proves he’s more than capable of funking it up, with a soulful deep house collaboration with Luca Lombardi.

Retaining Neuroxyde’s trademark energetic beats, the sunny laidback vibe of ‘Exagon’ is a blissful journey.

Neuroxyde ‘Hot Cookies’

Like Peace Division on speed, Neuroxyde’s ‘Hot Cookies’ is a master class in tribal techno that is underpinned by constantly changing drum loops.

The track brought Neuroxyde a new DJ fanbase hailing from the housier end of the spectrum.

Neuroxyde, David Jones, Andy T ‘Balkanika’

Taking the Balkan folk techno trend a step further, Neuroxyde’s collaboration with his longtime friends David Jones and Andy T, saw the sample-heavy formula blended with a multitude of percussion loops and 8-bit sample manipulation.

Neuroxyde ‘It Will Pay You To Buy Me’

One of the standout cuts from Neuroxyde dancefloor banger LP ‘Happy Hour’ (The Dark Side), ‘It Will Pay You To Buy Me’ pays homage to Detroit techno with dark and warm pads layered over crisp hi frequency drums.

It’s a dark journey into late night techno territory, with a modern FX heavy twist.

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• Check out Neuroxyde on Beatport