#MusicInTheAir Podcast hosts this week :
SCALA

The protagonist of this week’s MusicInTheAir is Scala, born and raised in Sanremo. He lived for a year in Berlin, several months in Amsterdam and then returned to Milan where he still lives and works.

Scala is a digital artist: game designer by day and electronic music producer by night. He is also A&r and Spotify curator for Wanderlust Vision, a creative agency that deals with product development and branding in the form of event platforms and record labels.

His passion? Capturing emotions and expressing them in a balanced harmony through digital mediums. Influenced by Organic House, Downtempo, House, Techno and some melodic techno. He tells: “Over time, I also had my evolution in terms of artistic vision: initially I was a great fan of the whole EDM scene, then when I started playing in events of greater caliber with artists deriving from different scenes I started, perhaps by absorption, one of my biggest flaws is to keep up with the advancement / updating of my musical taste, every 6 months good or bad I add a level. I often set aside or gave away projects that, despite being very personal, were no longer in line with my vision, others instead, I put aside (archive ideas 😀 ) to resume them the day that will serve “.

When he takes off his DJ headphones, he always tends to listen to basic electronic music. He says: “I often tend to listen to my productions or the selections I provide weekly for the playlists I’m curating. I have several tracks out of genre, more “commercial” that I listen to very willingly”.

His journey began in Berlin where he lived and studied electronic music production at the Dbs music school.

During his trip he lived and improved his skills in Amsterdam and then headed to Milan where he had his first contacts with Universal Music, Trap Nation, Elysian and Wanderlust as a music producer, sound designer and then with A&R. 

He explains, about his musical path: “Generally, since I was a child, I have always had a predisposition to artistic subjects, among these, the strongest was music. One of my two brothers was the gateway to this whole world as a great fan and organizer of events: like many I started working in clubs as a pr, then, not for centrality but rather for stylistic issues I proposed myself as a DJ because I believed that the residents of that moment in my area were not open to new scenes, from there we created a format called “Electro Pleasure” that has had life for about 6 years where every Wednesday in summer we had the possibility to call mid high level names of the EDM scene. From here on I will move to Berlin to study at DBS music and therefore my whole journey in the world of music production begins”.

In Wanderlust he focused even more on his artistic approach to music production, as well as improving his perception, vision and above all skills in general. He says: “In the music scene, in addition to my artistic project, I have been working for 3 years within the Wanderlust team as an A&R and producer and coding side we have been on a mobile project for over 3 years. I work in the development field with a team, we make supplies for agencies, we purely take care of creating virtual environments, creating multiplayer systems etc.”.

But the experience as a A&r and producer, before Wanderlust, was also able to mature at Cloverthree, a creative agency based in Milan to then move to Wanderlust, but with a very similar role but being able to deal with the genre he is really passionate about. He explains: “Through my scouting work, the company invested in emerging singers to help them consolidate their artistic project through a total re-branding (communication, sound line etc.)”.

Having been more producer than DJ, he has nevertheless played in France, Italy and Switzerland. As far as his musical projects are concerned, there are many creative stimuli. He says: “Ideally I would like to find consistency in my next releases but in practice I am the worst enemy of myself and I tend to be extremely selective on my sound line so much so that I preferred in the past to give up many of my projects for other artists (in some respects it turned out to be a correct move) but in any case, I am positive for the next ones”. Last summer he played in different places between the Ligurian Riviera, Lombardy etc. “But otherwise, I spent the summer purely on vacation with friends and girlfriend :D,” he says.

Speaking of releases and labels, he recently released, last November 11^th, his latest song “Quaranta” which is part of Periodica – Concrete, the first Wanderlust album of which he was artistic director together with Tudor Laurini aka Klaus. For the future, however, the next release will be a remix, he explains: “I care a lot about it and will be released through Villahangar, from March onwards instead… They are surprises :).”

For projects for the present and immediate future, he carries out the tasks previously mentioned, “Specifically, I am dealing with schedule 23 and improving promotional strategies release after release”, he explains. With a great news for the new year just around the corner: “From January, however, I will also become part of the Villahangar team, always focusing on promotional strategies, playlist curator and artist”.

What instruments do you play? You’ve made productions as a ghost. Do you want to tell us about it? Are you now heading in another direction?

I had the opportunity to sign almost all the productions I did for third parties, so I would say more producer and less ghost, even if yes, the latter are also present. While when I was starting out, I hated this kind of process, growing up I realized that there are so many situations that require it. The ghost falls within the scope of services, such as sound branding, soundtracks etc… I did a lot of them but, the projects to which I was most attached, I almost always signed them as a producer.

You are A&R for Wanderlust Vision. What can you tell us specifically about it? What about your experience with Wanderlust Vision? What is its style as label?

Wanderlust is a reality composed of about 16 guys, almost all of the same age and we are divided into three departments: recordings, events and product development. Being our team, for the most part, composed of professionals from different scenes such as design, fashion and communication, we have had the opportunity to cross different visions and experiences and I believe that today the result is clearly perceptible through the entire line of communication that I consider decidedly out of the average line of the typical label. It gives us the opportunity to be a label completely out of the chorus and I think it is clearly perceptible through all our editorial line.

The label does not have a defined style as much as a moodboard, we tend to look for introspective songs that can become for our fanbase, pillars for travels and special moments.

What do you think of the current music scene of the country where you live? What do you think are the differences with Europe and the rest of the world?

I believe that in Italy, our electronic culture, although it is becoming increasingly popular, must make further space. In addition, there are bureaucratic conditions that do not favor investments in the world of clubbing by third parties, and for this reason the clubs suitable for this vision are still few. Without mentioning cities like Berlin (it would be too easy), I believe that in the north of Europe the culture of electronic music is much more rooted and respected and the artists belonging to those scenes benefit a lot.

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

Electronic music, as I said before, is also making space in the pop scene (see the last song by Drake made with Blackcoffee, Rampa and &Me) I am positive about it.

A further opening of targets can be beneficial not so much for the economic aspect (it certainly plays its part), but to rebalance meritocracy in favor of numerous electronic projects that although they are extremely qualitative, do not always manage to find the right exposure to make sense of their path.

What can you tell us musically about your Podcast for Villahangar?

The day after I recorded the podcast, I woke up and while I was having breakfast, I heard the whole set minute by minute: I like it! I consider it varied, energetic and warm as a mood, it ranges a lot between house, techno, organic house and downtempo. Hope you like 🙂