Label of the Month: Deeperfect

Since its launch more than two decades ago, Deeperfect has remained one of the most respected labels in the tech, tech house and minimal scenes. Undoubtedly, the key to the imprint’s success has been the long-standing DIY attitude of its founder, Italian DJ and producer Stefano Noferini. 

Having first started DJing in 1980, he recalls Florence and Tuscany having “a really underground spirit”, particularly thanks to clubs like Tenax. Stefano adds that whatever the scene may have been lacking in size, it made up for in other ways. “Maybe it was not huge compared to some big European cities like Berlin and London, but it was very passionate and hot”. All this proved beneficial as it allowed him to build a community around the sets he was playing locally: “it helped me a lot because we were all very young DJs, but we cared about the music quality”. 

Stefano’s breakthrough moment arrived when he made his debut at Cocoricò in Riccione around a decade later. “That was my first step inside the scene,” he recalls. While he remembers the first room being techno-focused – “because in Italy progressive techno works very well” – his first experience there was playing in the second room when they started expanding to house music. “It was nice, but it was also strange for that club,” he considers, adding that people were initially surprised.

In the years that followed, Stefano went on to perform at globally-renowned clubs, including Ministry of Sound London, Space Miami, Space Ibiza and Cocoon Frankfurt. Having become one of Italy’s most respected artists by this point, he decided to take the next logical step: launch his own record label. 

Deeperfect began life as a vinyl-only imprint with a focus on spotlighting local talents. “I remember the feedback sheet was just a fax,” Stefano laughs of receiving written reactions about their earliest releases. The operation expanded in 2010 when the label began working with Self, a large distribution company in Italy that started circulating their product around the world. 

Stefano – who also runs DPE Records, has released on Toolroom and SPINNIN', and whose Club Edition radio show is broadcast by 110 stations in 15 countries – fondly remembers the first time that Deeperfect had feedback from an international DJ. “It was a real surprise,” he says, drawing comparisons between the industry 15 years ago and nowadays. “It’s completely different,” he suggests. One of the biggest changes, he believes, is the way in which  music is promoted, especially the switch from physical to virtual…

Turning the clock back again, to a time before social media, let alone viral moments, Stefano instead took matters into his own hands — quite literally. “When I’d play a club, I would go to the DJ with a record and then say ‘this is our new release’,” he says, reflecting on the process as being “easy”. 

In the years that followed, Deeperfect expanded to CD releases and, in 2007, it digitized its catalog and started selling its music on Beatport. “That was the year when a lot changed in our life,” Stefano says, highlighting it as the first time the imprint reached an international level. “It became a huge reference for the underground scene.”

With a discography that now spans 500 tracks by artists including Stefano Noferini himself, UMEK, Stephan Bodzin and Nicole Moudaber, Stefano says he and his team are “very happy to still be here talking about the music”. But why does he think Deeperfect has managed to remain at the top of its game for so long? “Two things: consistency and community.”

Of the former, Stefano says “we have many releases charting and getting support worldwide which, for me and the team, is a success; plus, the fact that the label has stayed strong for 10 years”. In relation to the second factor, Stefano describes Deeperfect as a “platform for both established names and new talents”, though he is keen to make clear that the focus is always on rising artists. 

He also puts its success down to the quality of its releases, and the fact that nothing has really changed from a decade ago. “We have the same soul,” he says simply, going on to define Deeperfect as a family. 

Of course, the label is only one side of Deeperfect, as it has also long been a highly successful party series. “The label’s sound needed a physical space so that the fanbase could meet and hear the music live,” Stefano says. Though he finds it hard to pinpoint exactly what the crowd is like, he summarises their events as “like a collaboration, because you can test tracks and connect with the crowd”. 

These special moments have not slowed down. In October, at ADE, Deeperfect hosted a label showcase – ‘Eat The Beat’ – inside a train. The unique space proved extremely popular with fans as the event sold out. Having never played in such a setting before, Stefano was equally excited afterwards. “The atmosphere was incredible,” he enthuses, adding that the “crazy” ride was non-stop from midnight until 4 AM. The reaction that Stefano received afterwards led him to a realisation: “I had a lot of comments about it, so I then understood that our crowd prefers different places instead of the usual club”. 

Regardless of location, however, Stefano says the goal of Deeperfect is always the same: “to bring our level of energy to a dance floors around the world” – whether that’s someone on the roster behind behind the decks, or big name DJs playing a release from the label in their sets (of which there have been many over the years).

When it comes to looking for a new track or artist to sign, Stefano and his team do not have any specific criteria as such, but he says there are several non-negotiables. “It’s always the groove first,” he laughs, “because it’s the main thing that I want to hear from the track, and it’s what our sound is based on. Functionality is important, too, especially in terms of a song being suitable for club play: “the quality, the arrangement, the mixing, the sound”. Beyond this, they look for personality and, perhaps most crucially, originality. “It’s got to feel honest, not something that’s copied from another artist’s sound or trying to emulate somebody else,” he says bluntly.

True to its ethos of being a launchpad for rising producers, like the “very talented” Gio Lucca, Deeperfect recently started its own academy. “If you are a new DJ, or haven't yet made a name for yourself, that doesn’t matter,” says Stefano, poetically summarising the beating heart of the label. “For us, it’s always music before the name.” 

Listen to Deeperfect's Label of the Month Chart below: