Episode 17: MARCO PASSARANI

The first time I had a conversation longer than 2 minutes with Marco Passarani was in the back of a van heading to a party in Tokyo, where a mutual love of Latin freestyle music sparked a discussion of Italo disco sexpot Vivian Vee. At the time, Marco and I were working at the Red Bull Music Academy, where he was for many years a studio mentor, showing young producers raised on plug-ins how to operate 808s, 909s and all manner of even weirder drum machines and synths.

Marco has been releasing records since 1993 – including big cuts on Running Back, Numbers, Peacefrog, and Offen Music – and has a studio in his native Rome that looks like a spaceship. It’s right next door to a pizza place where he goes every day, and this steady diet of carbs, cheese, espresso and cigarettes fuels his prolific output as Passarani and half of the disco duo Tiger & Woods, as well as his many other endeavors over the years including DJing all over the world, running record labels, distribution companies, making music for artificial intelligence, and working in record stores, which he’s done on and off since the age of 10.

Marco is in a singular position to explain the birth and the evolution of Rome’s rave scene, being a native who was there since the very beginning. In this episode, he walks us through the transition from disco and house to rave, the evolution of city's unique "broken beat" sound and what went down at long-forgotten spots like Borgo Sabatino and Piper. We also talk about his complex relationship to Italo disco, smiley pants, the DJ hustle and why techno was and still is the future.

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Things discussed in this episode:
- The Wildlife of the Quieter Ones - Check out Passarani’s rad new album on Aus Music; 16 tracks that showcase his timeless dexterity with electro, techno, house and IDM.

- Everything You Wanted to Know About Techno... - Even more amazing stories and science about the business side of techno as Marco Passarani talks to Gerd Janson in this Red Bull Music Academy lecture from 2008.

- Intergalactic FM / Cybernetic Broadcasting System - Pioneering internet radio for electronic music run by The Hague’s Ferenc aka I-F (of Clone Records). Poke around the internet for the entire archives of this show, which is how your favorite DJ/producers learned about electro and Italo-disco in the first place.

- Lory D Set on Boiler Room - Rome legend Lory D DJ sesh for raging Glasgow label Numbers (who also re-released some of his tracks).

- Numbers & Lory D - More about the man, the myth, the legend.

- Tiger & Woods Bandcamp - Get your disco fix here.

- Tiger & Woods website – Your home for all things groovy.

- Spaghetti disco - Read more about the Italian disco scene over at Dazed.

- Photos of abandoned Italian disco clubs: And more on their architecture here.

- Luca Cuchetti on Radio Centro Suono, 1992 - The sound of Rome circa 1992.

Marco Passarani’s Recommended Tracks of the “Sound of Rome”:

Lory D “Sickness”
Lory D “Terrordrome”
Lory D / Sounds Never Seen “Egocentrip”
Leo Anibaldi “Universal”
Leo Anibaldi “Possession”
Leo Anibaldi “Attack Random”

Tracks in this episode include:
Passarani - “Complex Beta”
Charley - “Spacer Woman”
Leo Anibaldi “Raiders of the Future”
D.H.S. “House of God”
Lory D “Sickness”
Passarani & Monteduro “Untitled Clip”
Tiger & Woods “Come Down”
Tiger & Woods “Machete”
Passarani “Rays of Thunder”