UPFRONTBEATS

Continuing on from their successful debut release ‘Disco Down’ Downtown Underground, which went straight in the Traxsource House Top 10, Brokenears have seen a well deserved increase in popularity and excitement surrounding their forthcoming records.

This year has seen Brokenears release on a variety of well established labels; most notably Flashmob Records and Lapsus Music. However, it has been their most recent return to Javi Bora’a imprint Too Many Rules with ‘Body Monster’, which has been creating essential vibes on the dance floor this summer.

UpFrontBeats caught up with Brokenears to discuss ‘Body Monster’, how they go about working collaboratively together in the studio and their current predictions for the title of track of the summer season. Additionally, Brokenears have provided us with a well crafted guest mix which we are excited to bring you.

Reflecting on your career, how has your past influenced your music production and journey’ Are there any defining moments which inspired you create solid house music and techno’ Is a there a particular track which you are most proud of and why’

We begin by thanking you for hosting us in your Guest Mix. Our Brokenears project (composed by Marco Santoro and Andrea Maggino) was born in October 2018, but for over 10 years we have collaborated in other musical productions and in b2b gigs. Then we decided to create a musical project that expresses the fusion of our musical tastes, and Brokenears is born.

Working collaboratively has its benefits, but can you explain to us the challenges faced when producing music in a group. What are the rewards’ Are there any particular skills you associate yourselves with’

Working in collaboration is not always easy, because you need to find the right balance in productions and also in the live dj set, but when you are friends for a long time then everything becomes easier. Each of us has his skills in stuido, maybe I (Marco) am more skilled in the use of software and the technical part, Andrea is very good at perceiving, during production, how a track could work better on a dance floor.

Congratulations on your successful EP release ‘Body Monster’ on Javi Bora’s imprint Too May Rules; it’s definitely one of the hottest labels around at the moment. However, can you provide us a little insight about how the tracks came about’ Any new production tools or software incorporated into the tracks’

All our productions in the studio are never premeditated, sometimes we start with a sample, or a vocal or even a simple bass line. The tracks of this EP on Too Many Rules were born almost immediately after having had the discrete success of “No Man”. We are always in touch with Javi Bora, we are very similar in musical style and he immediately wanted to give us space for our EP. In these two tracks we used different instruments. In “Body Monster” we really like the Vocal cuts that give it the right grit, an in “Conversation” instead we focused on groove and bassline. It’s a track suitable for the dance floor.

With the sheer number of tracks bring released today, how do you ensure you differentiate from the rest’ Can you share with us some of your ideas about keeping a track original’ Any trends you are trying to promote’

We try to differentiate ourselves by maintaining our ‘ sound”. We are lovers of Soul and Classic House, so we always take inspiration from there to then make them our in style and sound. Our biggest trend is 360 ° house music, perhaps with important vocal elements, or small 60/70s samples. We try to promote only the nice music that we like. 🙂

As we enter the peak summertime madness, are there any tracks which feature constantly in your sets’ Any have the accolade of being track of the summer season’

In our live dj-sets there are tracks ranging from house music to tech house, with tribal influences and vocal elements. We like many tracks in this period, like Roberto Surace’s ‘Joys’ on Defected, also the new track by Solardo and Eli Brown ‘XTC’ is a bomb and tracks by Purple Disco Machine, Junior Sanchez, and many more.

We believe it is important to discuss mental well-being, but how do you guys like to chill and unwind’

It may seem obvious, but Andrea and I relax a lot when we are closed in the studio for hours. The last few months we have really worked hard on productions, but this has never stressed us. Then here in Salento (Italy) we have a beautiful sea, when we can we go and relax there 🙂

Promoting music through social media and streaming sites has become the way forward, but how important do you find social media and streaming sites in finding and selecting tracks and talent to play’ Do you believe they do more harm than good’

The world of dance discography has changed for some time now, and like everything else it is necessary to adapt to the times of the present … Social media helps so much to promote our work, but we think they should always be used in the right way … we prefer to dedicate more of our time in the studio, but we must still use them 🙂

With the expansion of electronic music across the globe, which events or places have you enjoyed performing at and why’ Any memorable sets you’ve had the opportunity to listen and experience’

We live in South of Italy, in Salento – Puglia which is nicknamed the small Ibiza. In the summer we perform in many clubs in the area, but our desire is to get maybe to be part of an Elrow event or maybe Defected…you never know 🙂

With a growing catalogue of music, but what can we expect from you over the next couple of months’ Do you have any more planned releases’ Where can we hear you playing’

We have many projects for the next few months, some of which are in the process of closing and others that are already planned, such as, the follow up of “Feeling Good” will be released on Downtown Underground Supernova’s imprint. In September one of our tracks will be released on Big Beat and then more… maybe follow us on our social media to stay updated 🙂

• FB: facebook.com/brokenearsdj
• Twitter: twitter.com/brokenearsdj
• Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/brokenearsdj
• Beatport: beatport.com/artist/brokenears