- Rich, soulful techno from one of Italy's finest.
- Hard work can pay off. Just ask Elisa Bee. The Sardinian producer and DJ has been working diligently since 2007, exploring and then refining a style of techno that has that rare, hard-to-put-your-finger-on quality: a soulful reverence, paying homage to the old days and the originators without just copying them. She struck it (relatively) big with an EP on Unknown To The Unknown in 2017 and has since become a fixture on labels like Hardgroove, Symbolism and Balkan Vinyl, imprints that specialize in a kind of meat-and-potatoes techno that underlines both the fundamentals and subtle innovation. She's also a resident at Milan's Tempio Del Futuro Perduto, which she talks about at length in the interview below.
Now, in 2023, Elisa Bee is part of a vanguard of younger techno producers who carry the flag for the '90s without resorting to pastiche or the bigger-is-better aesthetic of much of the rest of the contemporary European techno landscape. Her RA Podcast is as buttery smooth as it is propulsive, flying through tracks from like-minded artists like Austin Ato, Nocow and Black Girl/White Girl. Sleek, vintage and futuristic all at once.
What have you been up to recently?
I've been producing new music (more than usual!), studying one of my favourite artists, Franco Battiato, and getting a lot of inspiration from him, sipping herbal tea and trying to follow a diet while constantly ordering pizza. I also lived between Milan and my homeland Sardinia, so I traveled many many times in the last few months for both gigs and family.
How and where was the mix recorded? And can you tell us the idea behind it?
The mix was recorded in my Sardinian living room with two Pioneer CDJs 2000NXS and a Pioneer DJM 250MK2, I added just a bit of reverb somewhere after the recording session. My dog Rupert was there, he slept all the time... he's the only dog I know that relaxes while listening to techno.
There isn't a specific idea behind it, I tried to recreate what I think is a great musical journey to live in the club: acid, very groovy, also dark sometimes, energetic, dreamy at the end. I love the fact that most of the featured artists are friends or people I talk to on a regular basis, humans and producers I respect and truly admire. I know I'm lucky to receive a lot of music every day, it helps my incessant digging and fuels my creativity.
What's one club or party that had a major impact on you as an artist?
Definitely one club: Tempio Del Futuro Perduto in Milan. Being one of the residents (since 2022) of this special place is one of my career highlights for sure. Playing there is just bliss, my recent all-night-long six-hours set confirmed how great is the energy you can breathe there, I always feel completely free to express myself—being the DJ or dancing in the crowd. Tempio’s crew curates every detail to make people’s experience the best and safest possible.
But why is this place so special and unique? Not only for club nights. In their own words: "Tempio is the first independent multidisciplinary cultural center recognised by Italian law. Born from the collective need to live safe spaces with avant-garde inclusive policies. Inside an abandoned building that housed a train factory, a group of artists under 35 has given new life to an entire neighbourhood thanks to humanitarian, creative, artistic and eco-sustainable activities. Among the daily activities there are dozens of traditional and multi-ethnic performing arts workshops, exhibitions, training courses and processes of insertion into work for refugees and ex-inmate, a professional psychological support studio specialising in problems of the youth and artistic world, sex education conferences, design and 3D printing studios, music production studios, a vinyl shop, the largest book sharing project and the most important wall of kindness in Italy. The cultural center lives without commercial sponsors, the engine that gives life to all this are cultural initiatives, weekly clubbing events and festivals..." Being finally legal has been a huge victory for its wide community, especially in a country like Italy where the wind is definitely not blowing in our favour.
What's one social or political cause you want the world to pay more attention to?
I don't even know where to start to list all the reasons why humanity and the planet we live in are on the edge of the abyss. We have countless causes to fight for. I do believe that if each one of us acts decently in our own life, accepting and healing ourselves, embracing uniqueness and diversity, everyone would enjoy positive effects from both inside and outside our body and mind. It doesn't mean I don't care. About issues not close to me, on the contrary: I truly believe that the ripples of my actions can travel far away, although just hitting the surroundings while transmitting the good energy, not so differently from a Newton's cradle.
What are you looking forward to in the near future?
Definitely looking forward to releasing my new tracks, especially my Unknown To The Unknown - Dance Trax comeback after six years (the EP will be out on May 5th) and my I Love Acid debut EP (303 hand stamped copies, vinyl-only release). I'll also have some very special gigs I'll announce soon and I can't wait to add the final touches to my brand new studio. Last but not least: start those yoga classes I'm postponing since 2021.
TracklistReload - Birth Of A Disco Dancer
Austin Ato - Get Madd (Maad Mix)
Jerome Hill - Stax Had The Funk
Elisa Bee - Forever Seeking
Joshua James - Love To Do It (Mella Dee's 'Law & Disorder' Mix)
DJ Savage - Long Time
Tan Tan & The Sixth Sense - Untitled 4
Tan Tan & The Sixth Sense - Untitled 2
Pushmann - Fever
Rebecca Goldberg - Automated (Mark Broom Remix)
Hertz Collision - Next One
Najel Monteiro - The Industry
Lumertz & William Marqs - Antagonismo
Confidential Recipe - TUUL2
Pro One 79 - DarkMatter
WTCHCRFT - Rain Delay
Nocow - Sputnik
Nocow - U Got This
BlackGirl/WhiteGirl - Bananas (Extended Mix)
Ravetrx - Facebook Karen
Nouveau Monica - Pulsating