Luca Bacchetti is the first to admit it. Just as musical inspiration runs through his veins and is his very lifeblood, so too is a certain restlessness and a propensity for boredom for a singular musical output that accompanies it. There’s simply too much music to draw from and too much beauty in life that inspires creative expression – whether it be from art or through travel, both of which he embraces with the same lust that accompanies his inspiring sonic shapeshifting career over the past decade.
Pay a visit to his apartment and you’ll see artistic inspiration runs deep; it’s expressed via the paintings on the walls, or the photographic stills and videos he’s taken while travelling or the vast collection of music spanning everything from Miles Davis to The Doors, all of which make the Italian’s eye sparkle with excitement when mentioned.
When there’s so much varying beauty and inspiration to mine from, you can understand why Luca Bacchetti the producer and DJ could never be defined or even confined to one thing. Or why Luca Bacchetti the label owner named his imprint ENDLESS, as a way of acknowledging the fact that you can never experience everything in life. It doesn’t stop. From birth to death you can never listen to every piece of music or travel to every corner of the earth…so with so much to absorb, how could one possibly limit themselves to anything in life, particularly music?
You’ve been living in Barcelona for a few years now. Has residing in Spain contributed to the way you produce tracks? Many of your songs have great swinging percussions which to fit perfectly in a Spanish and Latin American environment.
When I decided to move to Barcelona, my thinking was that the city would have acted as a further stimulus to my already sunny disposition. Obviously cities like Berlin are absolutely fantastic, but they just don’t have that element which I’m always looking for.
My sound was already very funky and rich with percussions before I got here. The reason is simple: I’m 100% Italian! There’s Latin flowing through my veins; but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for introspection too. It is the continual searching which feeds my enthusiasm and motivates me in my work. Plus Barcelona is the most Latin American city we have here in Europe. When I’m in Peru or Argentina I feel at home… in some Barcelona neighbourhoods there’s a real South American feel, it’s great!
Did growing up in Lucca, Italy have an impact on you musically?
In an indirect way, that is to say the fact that the place where I grew up did not really have a music scene of it’s own allowed me to develop a very special relationship with music, if I had grown-up in Milan or Rome I would probably have had more of a chance to grow quicker, but at the same time I would have been too conditioned by what was around me. I used my imagination, it wouldn’t have made sense to stick simply to my town or country, music after all is this, you can go anywhere with it.
People know you for producing electronic music but you also have a strong love for Hip-Hop as well. During the 90s, Hip-Hop and house music could be played in the same clubs, especially with the Hip-Hop dancers also being house dancers. Over time, they became segregated. At this point in time, do you think that clubbers are becoming more open-minded to hearing Hip-Hop and house in the same night?
Talk of styles is something which is more of interest to the press than someone who just wants to have fun. Anyhow, it’s a wheel that keeps turning and the styles are constantly evolving. At the end of the 80s and during the 90s Hip-Hop was something else to what it is now and represented a whole different world. I’m no prophet but I really believe that the day will come when you can play everything in a club. After all there are only two kinds of music: good and bad, and they should take the release date off the covers!
The first album you bought?
I think Paul’s Boutique by Beastie Boys was the first LP that I bought with my own money. Great investment, huh?
Do you know how to play any instruments?
I played the clarinet for a few years, but I don’t think of myself as a musician… more of a DJ who thinks like a musician, playing it by ear.
When creating mix albums, does it allow you a bigger palette to express yourself musically opposed to strictly producing individual records or is it the same freedom?
LB-In the end I always decide which territory to explore…the difference is that a mix album contains a lot of music which isn’t mine, which I feel really in tune with; but wouldn’t necessarily have been able to produce. We are each unique, as is our music. In this I am free, but I am never satisfied, I always want to do (not have) more. Let’s not kid ourselves – freedom is something very few really have because the market place imposes certain compromises. That boy in his bedroom in many cases disappears and transforms into someone else.
How do you manage your time between constantly touring, running your label and producing music?
It ‘s very difficult for me as for many of my colleagues in this line of work and is not something that just takes-up just eight hours a day; but your whole life. Maybe this is one of my faults: my life is my work. As you’ll appreciate there are no pauses, the creative mind is always on.
One of your big inspirations for creating is your love of travel. Which cities do you fancy the most for inspiration?
I could answer all of them! The crazy thing is that when I retire to my Tuscan mountains, my mind invariably wonders to NY or LA; but when I’m in those cities I think of how beautiful it would be to be back in Tuscany at 800 meters surrounded by my mountains. Only you can guide your music and make it fantastic.
Finally, you’re also a visual artist as well. Have you done any curating? That would be something great to see.
It’s something I’ve been promising myself for 2 years; but because of time I haven’t been able to organise it yet. I’ve already got a clear idea of what I want to do, it’s just a matter of time.
https://soundcloud.com/lucabacchetti