Prodamkey records / Plasmek records / Electrix records / Some Bizzare / TRUCKSTOP76TH / MONOTONE Records
Technic, scratch and eclecticism :
these are the words to describe Max Durante, veteran DJ and music producer of the Italian electronic music scene.
He started his career as professional dj in 1987, he is one of the most highly appreciated Italian djs.
Respected for his mixing-technic and for his ability to mix groove and experimentalism…
His first impact with electronic music was in the 80's with the Kraftwerk’s music.
Electro was Max’s first passion, this was his first step into the music.
Hip hop/electro was important in his dj experience, in the 1985’s he started scratching and cutting, and this has influenced his way of mixing today as a good turntablist too.
Considered one of the best European electronic dj, his dj sets are brilliant, and for this reason he has been named "the wizard of the decks"!!!
He started his dj profession after his radio experience in 1986 in a private local radio in Rome.
From 1987 he began to work in clubs, mixing underground music, in the 88/89’s, especially acid house (another old passion of Max) and electro/ freestyle of Brooklyn.
From 1987 to 1990, he worked in particular in clubs in Rome : Histerya, Mithos, Bolido' ( Black Out ), Luxuria , Nisida (this was his first club, he was the resident DJ in 1987).
From 1991 he dedicated himself completely to big parties mixing good technogroove ( UR / Plus 8 ).
Here he gained the experience for taking part in important Italian festivals / raves.
In september 1992 he released his first record "Roman's Attack" for the Roman Hot Trax rec (Acv sublabel).
The record was co-produced in 1991 with the D'Arcangelo brothers (today on Rephlex rec.), together they built up the project called Automatic Sound Unlimited; under this name he released 3 records on Hot Trax label between ’91 and ‘94.
From 1994 to 1998, Max was busy performing his DJ shows around Europe.
In December 1999 he built up together with three other friends the label project called ‘’Prodamkey rec.", where he released a limited 500 copies Ep which immediately sold out.
The label in the near future will be a net-label, you will be able to buy records only by Internet.
In 2000 he produced together with Anthony Rother a track for Psi49net records released in March 2001 and in the same year he started to produce together with Keith Tucker (Aux 88) a record project called Fuzion, from Detroit to Rome.
In 2002 he co-produced with Dj Hell and Tuxedomoon some new tracks of the group, one called '' Lether Bliss'' was released on ''Gigolo Compilation 6'' and on the SonarFestival compilation, the others tracks unfortunately will be momentanly unreleased, for problems of the band.
In 2003 he did a Megamix for Gigolo records, released as a bootleg format, an EP for the Swiss label 7B.
He released on Electrix records UK the record with K. Tucker (FUZION , from Detroit to Rome), etc… This record collected good critics from the most important djs/producers and music magazines :
DJ Rolando (Los Hermanos/UR) - “Digital System is slammin’.”
Laurent Garnier (F-Com) - “Beautiful stuff on both sides - great release.”
Plump DJs (Fabric) - “Very competent electro - late night rather than mid-set.”
Tiga (Turbo) - “Amazing record…manages to stand out even in the over-saturated electro genre. Fusion Theme is a killer old-school techno jam. Digital System - electro hit. Love it.
The Hacker (Gigolo/Goodlife) - “I love it, especially Digital System - I play it and put it in my monthly playlist in Trax, the biggest French techno magazine!”br>
Glo3 (Trust, Austria) - “My favourite is definitely Digital System -
gritty, funky, old school Detroit-tech. Excellent. B2 is nice as well.”
The track Digital System ( ELECTRIX ) is also on the MISH MASH compilation by TIEFSCHWARZ on Four Music records.
Summer 2003 he remixed an old track ( 1980 ) '' Mosku Esta Helado '' of legendary spanish band Esplendor Geometrico, released in the 2004 on Geometric rec. the cd and on Starwhores rec. the vinyl.
On July 2006 he released '' High Heel Shoes '' a nasty Lp on legendary label ''Some Bizzare Ltd.'' under the name of MEKA ( from ' mechanical ' and the Japanese anime culture of super robots called ' Mecha' ).
Some Bizzare is the seminal label set up in 1981 by Stevo Pearce that has brought the world some of the best selling pop music as well as incredibly inventive and unique industrial and dance tracks of the era.
From Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and The The to Einsturzende Neubauten and Cabaret Voltaire...
CLUBS/EVENTS/STREET PARADES
MAX DURANTE
Max took part in the most important central European events :
"+8 records tour" '91 Roma,
''Xtc rave'' '91 Roma,
"Total Confusion" '92 Sulmona,
"Simpson trip 1992" Roma,
"Insanity Rage 1992" Roma,
"Andrew rave 1992" Roma,
"Acid Games 1992" Roma,
"Energy 92" Zurich,
"Energy 93" Zurich,
"Sonic Trance 1993" Roma,
"The End Of Beginning 1993" Roma,
"Cubik 94" Roggwill,
"Cubik 95" Roggwill,
"Supernova" '95 Basel,
''Lethargy 95" Zurich,
''Balelec 96" Losanna,
''Atlantis 96'' Neuchatel,
''Freaks 96" Ginevra,
''F.M.P.98" Bordeaux,
"Grey Planet Festival" '98 Zurich,
''Electrobuzz'' Zurich,
"Distorsonie 1999" Bologna,
"Distorsonie 2000" Bologna,
"Hackmeeting 2000" Roma,
"Mix 2000" Belgium,
"Kozzmozz 21" Gent,
"Bios Festival 2002''Athens,
"Distorsonie 2002'' Bologna,
''Dissonanze 2002'' Roma,
"Electro_experimental club 2002" Madrid,
''Distorsonie 2003'' Bologna,
''Bit:z Festival 2003'' Roma,
"Synch Festival 2004" Athens,
"CCC Contemporary Culture Convention IV 2004" Bern,
"Electroma 2004" Roma,
"Stereolize 2 2004" Paris,
"Pixel 04'' Strasbourg,
"Party never seen 2006" Paris,
"Gemma Festival 2006" Roma,
"Synch Festival 2006" Athens,
"Stardust VS Friendselectric Rio Club 2007" Berlin,
"Electrode 2007 Roma", "Pixel 07 Strasbourg", etc…
He also performed together with Prefuse 73 at Dissonanze 2002, great show!!!
As well as his brilliant performance with the father of italo disco Alexander Robotnick at Distorsonie 2003, side by side with Blaine Reininger from Tuxedomoon at Distorsonie 2002, and during the same festival showing up with Anthony Rother too!
In 1998 Lilian Fellmann journalist from the Swiss newspaper , Neue Zuercher Zeitung wrote about him: “his hands are so fast that it’s hard to follow his movement, his scratches are balm for the eyes and the ears”.
In 2000, the Italian fanzine Orbeat, described his performance at the festival Distorsonie 2000 @ Link in Bologna : “his dj set with 3 turntables was amazing, keeping the crowd 'till 6.30 clapping all the time"
He was considered by “The Wire” one of the best acts at the “Bios festival “ in Athens, where he performed in 2002.
clubs :
Ultraschall - Munich, Cave - Salzburg, Rote Fabrik - Zurich, Douala - Ravensburg, Gothic - Zurich, MS Stubnitz - Rostock, Wasserwerk - Bern,
BOA - Luzern, Case A Chocs - Neuchatel, Dynamo - Zurich, Nitsa - Barcelona, Link - Bologna, Sputnik - Napoli, Classico Village - Roma, Forte Prenestino - Roma, IT - Roma, Ex-Magazzini - Roma, Goa - Roma, Brancaleone - Roma,
Juno' - S.Severino Marche, Neusteheimat - Stammheim, Kraftfeld - Winterthur, Gaswerk - Winterthur, Egocity -Zurich, ISC - Bern, Miroir - Athens,
D-side - Roma, L'ektrica@Akab - Roma, Fabric - London , Le Triptyque - Paris, Hive - Zurich, Kiosk - Lille, Maria am Ostbahnhof - Berlin, Rio - Berlin,
8Z8 - Madrid... to name a few...
And parades: Street Parade '95 (Zurich), Paris Parade '98 (Paris).
ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO REMIXED BY Max Durante feat. KEY (Star Whores)
2004 'Mosku Esta Helado' REMIX '' 12 "
Max Durante featuring KEY (7B Rec. Zurich)
2004 'Scratch on Pop' 3 tracks EP
Max Durante featuring KEY (Electroma)
2004 'Accelerate' (original mix) on Electroma Festival V / A compilation CD
Max Durante featuring KEY (Truckstop76th rec.)
2004 'Acid bubbles’ various artists EP ‘’ STRAIGHT ON ‘’
Max Durante featuring KEY (Truckstop76th rec.)
2006 ' Vampire ' various artists EP ‘’ USCITA 28 ‘’
MEKA aka Max Durante / Key (Some Bizarre)
2006 ' HIGH HEEL SHOES ' CD
2006 ' HIGH HEEL SHOES ' maxi single
MEKA aka Max Durante / Key (Some Bizarre/ Universal)
2006 ' Accelerate (Remix) ' Redefining The Prologue V / A compilation
Max Durante (Subdance rec.)
2006 ' THE STATE OF RHYTHM CONTROL ' mixed lp
Seventhysix & Max Durante (MinimalRome rec.)
2006 ' Roma Acida '
Max Durante (Truckstop76th rec.)
2007 ' HUMAN TURNTABLE 2 ' lp
Max Durante (Laboraudio net-label)
2007
Ipnotica k
Ipnotica g
Max Durante (Monotone )
2008
Elektron X (Ocean Drive Mix)
With the record projects Max obtains a lot of positive reviews on the most important music magazines :
Spex (D), Frontpage (D), Under One Sky (USA), Muzik (UK), De:Bug (D), Generator (UK), Jockey Slut (UK), Hotpress (UK), iDJ (UK), DJ Mag (UK), WIRE (UK), to name a few.
TECHNè - LIBERA ESPOSIZIONE MENSILE DELLE ARTI sabato 28 giugno 2008 presso l'EX-LAVANDERIA (p.zza S, Maria della Pietà -Monte Mario) -padiglione 31 S.Maria della Pietà
ESPOSIZIONE DI : -PITTURA -FOTOGRAFIA -DIGITAL ART -DESIGN -INSTALLAZIONI -SCULTURA
il programma della giornata è il seguente:
h. 17.00- PRESENTAZIONE LIBRI Urbano Biagi - " Maglia con testa di lupo " Rolando Agostini - " Il sapore della luna cruda " (lettura poesie) h 18.00- BUFFET h 18.30 - MONOLOGO TEATRALE Marco Masolin in: "Ulisse, il vincitore di Troia" h. 19.00-PERIFEZIE "Poesie dette per te - un ascolto movimentato" David Santoro Rita Iacomino Alex Mendizabal h 20.00 - CORTO CINEMATOGRAFICO Paolo Pettiato - "il Santo Graal" (regia) A seguire presentazione del libro: Paolo Pettinato - " Lapis Gradalis" h 21.00 - CENA h 22.00 - CONCERTO CECANIBBIO BAND( rock anni 70)
INFO TECHNè arte@exlavanderia.it 3408515925 - 3392785757 www. exlavanderia. it
PER L'USO PUBBLICO SOCIALE E CULTURALE DELL'EX MANICOMIO DI ROMA S. MARIA DELLA PIETà
Available now on 12" black vinyl, limited green vinyl and digital download.
"Pure electro 12" that encompasses the more sophisticated end of the genre by using authentic old skool effects and primitive drum machines - all masterfully programmed by Alpha 606. Influences are quite clear - old skool 'freestyle' and Miami Bass, to contemporaries such as Drexciya and Den Haag's DJ Overdose. Ace." - Warpmart
