#MusicInTheAir Podcast hosts this week :
ODEON

Today for the MusicInTheAir Podcast on Villahangar debuts Odeon, Italian producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ, born in Rome. “I grew up in a very quiet Roman neighborhood and I currently live alone, in a much less chaotic and noisy area – he says. – I have a home studio that I have built entirely by myself over the years, and I am really good”.

With music, the beginning was completely random. He says: “I’ll be honest, I didn’t start at the age of two with the piano. It all started like this, by chance, one day an opportunity presented itself to me and a guy taught me to put records in time with old CDJ pioneer 100s and everything else was a succession of evenings, parties, studio sessions, sleepless nights… in short, a very eventful life”.

Odeon composes unconventional electronic music contaminated by lo-fi soundscapes, organic drums and everything he has been able to sample from his studio over the years. In fact, about the musical genres that influence him the most, he says: “The whole melodic techno scene, ambient music, very organic productions and the hip-hop lofi genre that has accompanied me for several years”.

An accurate search for sound, in the name of creative flair, which he explains as follows: “It started from the foundation of our pro-audio company “Engineering Samples”. I have always been passionate about sound-design and over the years I have found my workflow in creating sample packs, presets and environmental recordings. I currently have a lot of studio and outdoor microphones, modular synths, drum machines and semi-modular synths that help me in the process, making it a lot more creative.”

His productions caught the attention of Steve Angello, who supported and released his side project “Justin Case”, the single Complicated on Size Records. This song stimulated him to change direction and try new sounds with other projects including “Evans”, a small Lo-Fi Hiphop project with which he managed to climb several labels collecting more than 5 million streams between Spotify, Apple music and more.

Odeon is therefore today an electronic/organic house and lo-fi project, after years of working behind the scenes for various artists. A personal step in the spotlight, with a personal touch. This project is characterized by a unique blend of electronic and organic sounds, with influences from a wide range of genres. With one goal: to dream of creating a captivating and engaging listening experience for the audience and connect with them through music.

He says: “I’ve always been inspired by ‘different’ music. It all started with Skrillex’s first album, what can I say, I fell in love with its sound. I tried electro-house and then I approached progressive house, but it wasn’t for me. I had several musical projects in the early years, one in particular with two friends with whom I currently still collaborate, the “Tight Lexor” with whom I spent a really good time, and it was all a real musical evolution. Over the years I discovered my passion for pure electronics, and I ventured into several electronic, techno, house projects and I produced several artists on the international scene. If you hadn’t understood, I’m a bit of a producer behind the scenes.”

He played a lot in Italy, in England for months in club clubs, at a younger age, near London, doing some dates in Berlin and Amsterdam during several ADEs, “obviously not with the Odeon project”, he says.

Today he is part of the Wanderlust Vision project, of which he takes care of the audio part of the experiences, the advertising productions and the Sound-Design of songs, and sometimes trying to give his artistic vision. He says: “Thanks to Engineering Samples I am collaborating with several companies such as Native Instruments, LANDR, Mixvibes regarding my work as a Sound-Designer and I have many hours of teaching and students at the moment. So yes, I follow many projects, very promising.

I also opened a Youtube channel where I dispense advice on production and show what I do during my sessions. I currently collaborate with several companies including Milk Audio Store, Ollo Audio and Make Noise”.

Currently, I’m working on many Italian and non-Italian things, “but I don’t want to reveal too many things,” – he says – I plan to bring live sets rather than DJ sets, I’m fixing everything I need to start.

For his Podcast for Villahangar, he says: “I tried to create a mood that fully represented me, different”.

What music do you listen to when you take off your DJ headphones?

It depends on the days, I really like to hear chill beats, sometimes I like to discover much more aggressive artists. Difficult to define the type of music, I would say, I listen to a wide selection of musical genres to stay up to date on news!

Do you have favorite artists/djs/producers?

Artists who particularly inspire me are Oliver Henry, Axel Boman, Ross From Friends and Jasper Tygner. Just to name a few.

Speaking of releases and labels, what were your most recent projects, what are the current ones and those of the near future?

Currently I only have one release on Wanderlust Records, which is “Perilune”, but I’m preparing a lot of material, currently I don’t have many things planned with the project immediately, I’m still trying to find a square with the sound of the project.

What can you tell us about your collaboration with Steve Angello? What is the style of the Size Records label? What can you tell us about your experience with this label?

The collaboration was born by chance, I met the manager of Swedish during a tour in Amsterdam and him himself asked me to send material for the label. The record came out two years later, so let’s say it wasn’t too good an experience. I’m glad I came out on Size Records because it’s always been a dream, a bit like Axwell’s Axtone.

What do you think of the Italian electronic music scene? What do you think are the differences with Europe and the rest of the world?

The scene is very interesting, if I have to be honest, I feel many talents that fail to emerge completely. The difference lies in the investment, you must invest in your music, productions and product finalization. Sometimes I think that believing in your product is the most important thing!

What evolution do you think electronic music is experiencing on the international scene?

From my point of view, I have found and discovered artists from nothing with an excellent quality from the point of view of general sound and productions. But sometimes it seems that everything is turning in reverse, I would rather call it involution for certain points of view. I see many producers who aim a lot to copy sounds to seek “success”, to follow the trend. In general, there are many very valid artists outside the box that sooner or later will be discovered.