Form is temporary and class is permanent, and that is certainly the case with our next guest interview. We have been fortunate enough to catch up with Italian pioneer, highly respected DJ and now amazing producer, Narcotic Symphony, also known as, Fabio N-Joy. Fabio is someone who has given a lot to his audiences, known for eclectic DJ sets, catching a flow between a wide range of genres, but most recently he delivered his debut album, in the form of “Nature” on Introspection Recordings. We immediately fell in love with the classy textures, and melodic energy around the album. A legend in the building…
Listen to the “Nature” album here whilst you read: https://soundcloud.com/narcoticsymphony-music/sets/nature-723774416
Hi Fabio, thanks for talking to us. How has the past year effected you musically?
Hi, it’s a pleasure for me to talk to you. The past year was very special for everyone, unfortunately we were hit by a tidal wave called Covid-19 which in a short time changed our lives and deprived us of our freedom. We have been closed in our homes for a long time, and so I tried to transfer my emotions into music.
We have seen cities empty and animals take back the spaces we private. The virus brought us to our knees, but on one thing it could not do anything, it was able to stop
us, but failed to stop nature. Cities have become greener due to the absence of humans, animals roamed free in our cities and our seas and rivers have been enriched with fish due to the decrease in pollution caused by the closure of factories. Seeing nature take back its own spaces in this way marked my sensitivity, making me understand that perhaps we human beings have taken advantage of nature, we have trampled on it, producing pollution for our personal purposes. Hence the desire to dedicate an album to her, nature, arises in me.
Can you tell us about your Narcotic Symphony alias?
This alias has a specific meaning, it comes from the idea of wanting to communicate to the people who would have listened to me, a sort of addiction to music, as if the symphony were something that takes possession of one’s body and spirit, like a drug, something that, for better or for worse, cannot be done without,
And it’s the same feeling I get with my music, I couldn’t live without it.
How long did your album “Nature” take to produce? Tell us about the journey
It took about 8 months to make my album “Nature”, at the beginning I didn’t think about an album, but simply about the creation of Nature as a single,
but then going forward I realized that behind this track, there was an important meaning, which deserved the right weight, where I had to give it more importance.
My emotions were mixed, a bit the lockdown that depressed us, and a bit instead the desire for freedom that was exploding inside me, making me think about that fantastic day where everything would end and we would all be back dancing together. This led me to make several tracks and make it a simple single, an album, of 12 tracks.
It was at that moment that the collaboration with Introspection was born, thanks to the relationship of professional and friendly esteem that exists between me and Lorenzo Magnozzi, owner of Introspection Recordings.
Do you have one party/special time DJing which stands out more than others?
Like any DJ, among the many memories I have thanks to many years spent behind the consoles, I have my moments of the heart. One of these is definitely the first time I have played in front of 3000 people, I had been a DJ for a few years and I had not yet played in front of such a large audience, but then there was a call from a very famous club in Tuscany in Italy. This club was the Kama Kama, a well-known Italian nightclub, where for many years special international guest stars such as Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano and Loco Dice have passed. That was the first time I performed in front of a lot of people and felt unforgettable sensations.
Are you listening to much modern music? What do you look for when searching for new music?
I have been listening to a lot of music for many years, being an artist who plays vinyl, I love to spend whole days inside the shops that still sell vinyls today, but when I can’t do it, I listen to records online, even if I think it’s not the same thing , because the emotion you get from putting a turntable needle on vinyl is indefinable. I love to listen to a bit of everything, I’m an eclectic DJ, I think a good DJ set is made up of various musical genres. One thing I love to do, they are long DJ sets, where a slow musical progression is performed inside, starting with very low bpm around 115, and going up to even 130 bpm.
I love progression, experimentation with multiple musical genres, going from deep house, to tech house, techno, minimal up to detroit techno, acid. I don’t consider myself a DJ belonging to a single musical genre, but I love to wander, and I love to insert many acapella voices.
You have been DJing for many years, is there any club in particular you wish to play but yet haven’t had the chance?
In all these years I have happened to play in many clubs, but obviously there are clubs that I am fond of, where I have been to dance and to see international artists play.
A club that I particularly love, also thanks to my stay on the island for many years, is definitely the Amnesia of Ibiza, in particular the Terrace. I think it is a place where you feel a particular energy, where you can play everything freely and you can dare to play even more particular things. Another club where I would be happy to play, is the Robert Jonson in Frankfurt, because I believe that this is also a club where you can share your dj set with the public in a total way, also thanks to the fact that it is not a huge and dispersive club, where the consolle is close to people.
Last of all, what does music mean to you?
For me, music is synonymous with freedom, it is a journey within myself, my emotions and my dreams. Music has always been fundamental for me, it has accompanied my whole life, both in good and bad times, it has been my anti-depressive therapy,
but at the same time she was my best friend and encouraging. I could never think of a world without music, it has accompanied me during my growth and will always be beside me. Because as Friedrich Nietzsche said,
“Without music, life would be a mistake”
Buy “Nature” here: https://www.beatport.com/release/nature/3278734
Find Narcotic Symphony:
https://www.facebook.com/Narcotic-Symphony-102678801625098
https://www.instagram.com/narcoticsymphony/
