Happy Friday Blaggers, I’m back with an absolute banger of an interview with Inesha, one Half of Italian electro/techno production duo, Blatta & Inesha. Most of the British readers amongst us may not have heard of these guys as yet, but I can assure you, they are one of the hottest acts in Europe right now, playing some of the most popular venues, including Social Club in Paris arguably one of the most famous venues in mainland Europe. We find out their past influences within music, what they were up to before being techno pirates and what Sharon Stone is really like. Yeah, you fucking heard it here first. That’s not the end either; they have also given us the mix they done for Annie Nightingale’s Italian special on Radio1, but without the nancy BBC voiceovers and at 320kbps‚Ķ.. oh and a track-listing‚Ķ.BOOM! Enjoy‚Ķ..

So tell the readers of BlagSound how you guys met Inesha? How long have you known each other?

I would say about 7 or 8 years, before Blatta &Inesha, we were playing together in a band, I was playing turntables and Blatta the guitar, after a while we realized that it’s almost impossible to pay the bills playing in a band and the next step was totally natural since me and Blatta were taking care of the electronic parts of the band and we were already together everyday in the studio.

You both grew up on the Italian island of Sicily in Catania; give us a small insight into what it was like growing up there…..

Today Catania is a nice university city with lots of things to do and with a very big electronic music scene. Back in the day I remember my “childhood” being filled with extreme boredom. We were teenagers in the early 90′s, we grew up in the years of mafia mass murders and this city was sadly famous for the big number of people murdered and the government had to send in the army, I remember on the road from my house to school there were soldiers everywhere…so in this kind of paranoid climate, I know it could sound like a bit of a clich√©, but music definitely helps when you are 13 or 14, to create your own little world in your bedroom.

What were your musical backgrounds growing up before you got together and started producing?

I started listening to music thanks to my uncle, he was living with me and my mum when I was a kid and I spent entire days looking at him recording tapes and looking at the covers of the records. He had a huge collection of soul, disco and rock n roll records. Then I fell in love with hip hop and I started DJ’ing thanks to a friend of mine who had a pair of turntables at home. I became a scratch DJ and I won the DMC and ITF championships several times. At home I always practiced scratching on very fast electro and Miami bass beats and while searching for more of this sound I discovered the early nu-skool breaks stuff which gave me the basics to get into House and Techno music.

Was there any particular DJ/Producer/Artist that made you want get into the music industry?

So many, probably Kraftwerk were the first reason why I wanted to produce electronic music, the first time I heard their “The Man Machine” album it literally blew my mind. I can also mention artists or producers that apparently have nothing to share with dance or electronic music. One of them is definitely El – P from Company Flow (his instrumental album “Little Johnny from the hospital” is one of the most underestimated records ever, but to me is one of the biggest highlights of mad sampling skills in music), Q-Bert, Mixmaster Mike, DJ Shadow, and in general all the American electronic west coast scene of the late 90′s and early 2000′s turned me on to what we play today.

It’s a good time for Italian electro producers with the likes of Crookers, Congorock and The Bloody Beetroots all killing it right now, what do you think sets you guys apart from the rest?

The people you mentioned are all very talented artists and good friends but even just for a geographical reason we never felt part of an Italian scene or stuff like that. One reason, on a musical and technical level could be a strong disco music background in Italy and on the human side could be the drive and determination to compete or simply share your music with DJ’s, producers and crowds from bigger dance market cities and countries and the desire to escape from a culturally limited country such as Italy today.

If you could get into the studio with anyone in the world, who would it be?

At the moment I would have to say Boys Noize or James Blake.

Tell us about the mix-tape you have so generously given us (for free download) that you done for BBC Radio1 a few weeks ago? Is there a story behind the mix?

We received a lovely request by Annie Nightingale to do a mix for her show. She’s a good friend and she has always supported Blatta &Inesha from day one. Music wise it’s a turning point. We are completely into the new tough, emerging sound of techno right now and with this mix-tape we wanted to tell the world that there is life after the side-chain and it’s a better quality life, hence the name of the mix-tape ‘Techno is not minimal anymore’.

How did 2010 treat you? Good year?

Very very good! We have been so busy, we toured constantly in Europe and we had amazing tours in North American and Asia. We got to see so many cool cities and states such as San Francisco, Seoul, Chicago, Mexico, New York and Toronto. One highlight of the year was that I sat next to Sharon Stone on my way to Los Angeles. I’ll tell you a secret, she’s a royal CUNT. Also, in the studio has been a very experimental year and I am happy about the route we are heading down.

What was your favourite gig of 2010?

Probably Marsatac Festival in Marseille, we started playing in front of 50 people because Mr Oizo started playing in the other room 15 minutes before us, but we ended the gig with 5000 screaming people in front of us. In general every time we go there, France proves to us that it’s one of the best countries that you can play in Europe! I would love to say the same about the UK but we don’t play there enough yet.

Do you have any goals for 2011? Where would you like to be by the end of this year?

On a desert island with Kim Kardashian.

Tell us about your up coming releases Inesha…..

We have an ep coming out on Crux records and contains two tracks, the first is called ‚ÄòDaddys Home’ with Doc Trashz and the second song is called ‚ÄòMy Lady Don’t Mind’ plus remixes. That will be out in either March or April. We also have a single coming out on German label Freaks Me Out and is called ‚ÄòBasso Grasso’ and that will be out around April too we hope.

And finally, tell us about any up and coming Italian electro acts we should watch out for…..

Doc Trashz, we just did a track together called Daddy’s Home which is in the mix-tape and it’s going be out soon on Crux records. Doc has mad productions skills and I’ve never seen him have anything but a perfect set and as for DJ’s definitely Tayone, he is in my opinion one of the best DJ’s in the world (and one of my best friends) he got super super turntablism skills and great taste for music!!!

There you have it Blaggers, you now know Sharon Stone is a cunt, Sicily wasn’t the nicest of places to grow up in the 90′s and I am just a genius for blagging this interview. I loved doing this, now go and download the mix and show your appreciation to the boys by visiting their very own website and soundcloud. I also urge you to go and check out the tune that got me into these guys, the track is called Bite Your Lip ‚Äì Blatta & Inesha.

[box type="info"] Official website:http://www.blattainesha.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blatta-Inesha/219823110008

Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/blatta-inesha

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/blattainesha[/box]

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[learn_more caption="Track Listing"] TECHNO IS NOT MINIMAL ANYMORE

1 Roberto Pregadio & Romano Mussolini – Kriminal

2 Blatta & Inesha – Basso Grasso

3 Sinichi Osawa & Paul Chambers – Singapore Swing – Sound Of Stereo Rmx

4 Blatta & Inesha and Calvertron – Let’s Dance

5 Armand Van Helden & Steve Aoki – Brrrat! – His Majesty Andre Rmx

6 Fisherspooner – Infidels Of the World Unite – Sinichi Osawa Rmx

7 Mumbai Scienze – Gold

8 Doc Trashz – Avair Diskus – Blatta & Inesha rmx

9 Blatta & Inesha and Doc Trashz – Daddy’s Home

10 Boys Noize – Nott 11 Doc Trashz – We Are Warriors

12 Mustard Pimp and Blatta & Inesha – Dirty Knees

13 Cool Kids Can’t Die – Katmandu

14 Tiger Love – Pussy Cocaine[/learn_more]