UPFRONTBEATS

When we think of talent, M.F.S Observatory have been creating sounds which have defined the underground scene. The boys, who reside in Italy, have been championed by many, including Maya Jane Coles and reboot. Impressed by their musical prowess, M.F.S Observatory are borrowing their talents to labels such as Smiley Fingers, Music is 4 Lovers and BumpCut Records. However, it’s their forthcoming release ‘Freak It’ on Roush, which includes Killed Kassette, that has been bringing M.F.S Observatory to forefront once again.

Their label, Observatory Music, has seen them host a collection of emerging talent, from the likes of Andre Salmon, Davina Moss and Black Girl / White Girl. Additionally, M.F.S Observatory’s passion for music has presented them with the opportunity to create killer remixes, as well as providing Maya Jane Cole’s ‘Weak’ with alternative rendition which saw the dance floor explode.

UpFrontBeats caught up with M.F.S Observatory to discuss their forthcoming track ‘Freak It’ on Roush, which is set for release on the 27th September. We talked tracks, Observatory Music and things to come in future. We just wanted to thank M.F.S Observatory for this month’s well crafted guest mix, which is definitely worth a listen.

Recently, we’ve been listening to Tiga’s ‘Last Party on Earth’ Podcast which featured Pete Tong. He talks about the evolution of house and techno music, but who has influenced your career and are you able to describe your earliest memories and how you’ve ended up where you are’

Our career has been influenced by the sounds and melodies of two artists in particular. Which continue to be of great inspiration for us, I refer to Maya Jane Coles and Butch. It all started when by chance on a hot August day in Naples, we were at home browsing the net and in the related videos, Butch’s track called No worries appeared. From there we decided to cultivate that passion more deeply and make it part of our everyday life.

Your forthcoming release, ‘Freak It’, which is set for release this September on Roush sees you team up with Killed Kassette, but can you share with us your thought process behind the track’ How did the collaboration first evolve and work’ Why Roush’

We started collaborating with Killed Kassette for an ep after he collaborated with a track on our Observatory Music label. We decided to start the creation of an ep, we exchanged ideas and evaluation, after which we started creating the sound, not being able to be in the studio at the same time, we exchanged stems to be able to share our 100% sound. We did a quite well job, we signed 2 eps one with Roush, the other with UndergroundAudio and a track for VA on Criminal Hype Records.

In your well-crafted guest-mix, ‘Coming to Town’ makes a welcome return to the spotlight, but in your opinion, what has been the most successful piece of music you have written and why’

Coming to town was one of our most famous track, it was played almost everywhere by Maya Jane Coles and Reboot.
But surely our most famous song for the moment is our Remix for Maya Jane Coles for the track called Weak out on Skint Records. In practice, the culmination of a dream, which we continue to cultivate relentlessly with much more passion.

Are you able to summarise M.F.S Observatory’s sound in three defining words’

Musical, Rich and Mellow.

As we draw to a close on this year’s summer season, which tracks or artists have you been playing and supporting in your DJ sets’ Are you able to share with us your track of the season’

We always try to play our production as much as possible in our set but we also like to support the artist. We fail in love with this 2 tracks this summer one is from JAZ called Acid bomb out on Roush Label and the other is Anabel Englund, RYBO – Something New (Jey Kurmis Remix) out on Percomanicacs.

Observatory Music sees you guys provide a platform for not just your own work but also the work of emerging talent, are you able to explain the ethos behind the label’ What ingredients must a track contain if they are looking to be signed onto the label’ What does the future hold for the label’

We always try to offer a unique sound on Observatory Music label, we always try to look for new talents and mix the ep with a remix of some established artist to have a great final result. There are many new features for Observatory a lot of music coming soon, I can say a few names but I can’t say everything else, there will be remixes and eps by artists like Lubelski, David Jach, Ray Okpara and others, where just follow us to know all the others Announcements.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve seen you take control of Beatport’s live session, which we thoroughly enjoyed, and Rinse France’s air waves. Is there anything in particular you have yet to achieve’ Do you have any short-term goals’

We have many goals to achieve, one has just been achieved and it was to close our second ep with VIVa MUSIC, after some time we succeeded and we will go out with two EP tracks on VIVa LIMITED.
One of our goals this year is to improve our gigs and maybe start to do a little tour around Europe but still a dream at the moment.

You guys continually seem busy in the studio, but are there any plugins or hardware which you’ve been getting the most success out of’ Any essential bits of equipment that artists should be investing in’

We try to spend a lot of time in the studio, we love to use in our production the Roland TR8S for the drum and for the bass a Moog synth called MiniTaur, we recommend them because they are high-quality products with a unique sound.

You guys seem to be constantly working hard on new projects and music, but what do you do to take your mind off work and DJing’ How do you ensure you maintain a work/life balance’

We are also passionate about cinema and we are students. Mattia is studying music and Sound Design while Francesco is studying engineering, we also work to support ourselves. So we have a lot to do, but the music remains our priority

What can we expect from M.F.S Observatory as we draw into the latter part of the year’ Anything exciting we should be listening out for’ Any gigs which you are particular looking forward to playing’

We have full release calendar set up we will debut on UndergroundAudio in November and we will back as mentioned before on VIVa MUSIC with 2 tracks Ep.