Music has always been a priority in Carlo’s life, anyone who witnesses him gracing the decks can attest to this. Carlo can turn a careful observer into a dancer through the raw emotion and passion in his music. He runs Rawthentic Music, one of Canada’s top underground record labels, and vinyl label On Edge Society. We were honored to speak with Carlo about his labels, music and Lovefest in Serbia where he will play soon. Enjoy!
First I would like to thank you for your time? How are you? What’s new?
You’re welcome, thanks for having me. I’m doing well, busy summer of course, so lots of touring fun!
Your latest single „Rebellion“ come out on John Digweed’s Bedrock label. What was your inspiration or idea behind this track?
Well, given the label that Bedrock is, it really allows an artist to have freedom. Bedrock releases a variety of underground music styles, so it really gave me a chance to step outside the box a bit.
You teamed up with Nathan Barato to create Rawthentic Music, and you are managing it today. There are many great releases on the label that are being played by some big names on the scene. What releases that you would recommend for us to hear?
Yes well Nathan and his brother originally started the label, then I jumped on board. So Nathan and I were running it together for a while before I took it over alone. It’s now on its 10th year which is pretty crazy, and yes there have been a ton of super quality releases. I recommend you listen to the new Macromism release which is actually out as of July 27. It’s a beast of a release!
Kareem Cali and you founded vinyl label On Edge Society, could you tell us something more about it? What was the starting idea? What is your goal?
Well, Kareem and I have been friends for a long time and always shared the same passion for music and certain style. He’s been a fan of Rawthentic and I’ve been a fan of Inmotion. He’s also helped me out with Rawthentic over the years, so it came as a natural progression to eventually do something together whenever the time was right. As far as OES goes, we wanted to create something fresh, special and important. Our first love was Techno and we both really felt techno was progressing so strongly within the scene, so it came naturally to start OES and in a techno driven direction. Our mission is basically to release high quality techno from artists we really love. Instead of accepting demos we are generally trying to go after the certain artists we want to work with. I don’t think anybody is a fan of the direction the digital world is going, so we wanted to go back to the roots with OES.
What do tracks need to be released on your label? What is the criteria? How do you choose the artists that you want to include in On Edge Society project?
Well it’s a very specific style of techno. It’s Raw, its loopy, its trippy, its organic, its groovy, its chunky. I guess it takes to a more analogue sound. In terms of the artists we choose. It basically comes to down to guys who have both inspired both Kareem and I over time, whether it’s new school guys or super old school.
’’Black Air’’ EP by Marco Faraone is the latest release on label On Edge Society and it represents some serious techno with two new tracks and remixes by Regal and Flug. Is this kind of sound that prevails on the release? How did came to this release and cooperation with Marco?
Yes exactly. Black air is the very definitive sound OES wants to portray. Marco has also been a good friend of us both and we really loved his direction over the past few years and decided he would be a perfect fit to represent OES and the sound we are going for. Marco is a beast and musically we are all on the same page at this point in our careers.
You are planning to build a brand with On Edge Society with expansion that are expected for next year, can you tell us something more about this?
Yes that’s obviously the main goal. Not trying to be just a label that releases music. We want to create a brand. Merchandising, label showcases etc. So we are currently making a plan for 2016, where this progression will really begin. Right now our focus is to release quality music and let our name be known.
Are the any upcoming releases on On Edge Society that you would like to mention that we shouldn’t miss?
YES! You shouldn’t miss any of them, but our next couple will include artist such as Marco Effe, DJ Hyperactive, Dustin Zahn, Truss me, Roberto Clementi. A lot of killer music to look forward to with OES. We are really excited to say the least.
Summer is on, it’s a festival time, what are you preparing for Lovefest in Serbia?
Yes, and I can’t wait for this show! I don’t prepare much because that takes the fun out of DJ’ing. But you can expect some raw groovy intense techno from me. Also a bunch of new tracks from myself I’ve been testing.
Do you have a message for our readers who will see you play at Lovefest?
Serbia, I cannot wait to play for you! I haven’t been to Serbia often but I hope we can change that for the future. Much love!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/carloliodj
Website: RA: Carlo Lio
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/carlolio
Twitter: www.twitter.com/carlolio
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