Nobody makes music like Alessandro and Davide Piatto, two brothers whose careers roughly tracks with the most interesting, most flamboyant and ultimately most long-lasting movements in Italian electronic music history. More unique: they’re still at it, still unearthing fresh new sounds when most of their contemporaries moved on to more reliable careers, either as sound engineers recording other people’s tracks or music producers supervising corporate projects and TV jingles.

TenGrams is their latest project, releasing a couple of albums and several smaller packages of tracks influenced by early techno and the music that itself influenced early techno. SpaceLab showcases this sound with “Devious” and “Pop Song” which veer somewhere between the dreamy retro of synthwave and classic techno – all the genres that themselves pushed disco into the modern age now pushing house back into its constituent elements, like proto-house in a modern envelope. The percussion is set lovingly: you can pick up on the Piattos’ obsession with the beat and most of these tracks seem to be built around their highly elect love of vintage 808s and other machines.

TenGrams: SpaceLab (N.O.I.A. Records)
1. TenGrams: Devious (05:06)
2. TenGrams: Translucent (06:25)
3. TenGrams: Pop Song (05:50)
4. TenGrams: Discodub (04:43)
5. TenGrams: Another Day [Bonus Track] (06:05)

 

5 Magazine Issue 159First published in 5 Magazine #159 featuring Jimpster, Lester Fitzpatrick, Pool Boy, Chip E. & more. Become a member of 5 Magazine for First & Full Access to Real House Music for only $1 per issue!