Last year was surely a highlight for Napoli-based DJ & producer BlackRachas who managed to get the biggest DJ’s on the earth to get to play his sublime tracks.
Cocoon’s head Honcho Sven Väth signed his track “Paracasta” and has been playing it over and over again. It’s a sublime yet trippy piece of techno workout! One other track that got everyone moving is called “Rotary”. It hit many sets around the world.
We had a chat with BlackRachas a while ago. Scroll down and read about what he had to say.
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Hey Raffaele, nice to meet.
Hey there, great to chat to you 🙂
For the people reading this who haven’t heard your music before, how would you describe your style and the key elements that define it?
It’s not a real style, all the chaos I have inwardly, I try to assemble it to make each track to represent me as I am.
Then let us get right down to the music. We heard some of your tracks that appeared on Kompakt and Cocoon. What amazing energy you have released in the recent past!! Where does all of this come from?
They are the result of many sacrifices, after working with perseverance and tenacity. Each of us imposes mental limits, but these can be set aside… the music is the only possible key!
Tell us about “Paracasta” on the Dots & Pearls vol 5 on Sven Väths Cocoon Recordings. First, tell us the story behind the track and then how you ended up on the VA!
I still remember that day, when a friend told me “Paracasta” had a sound that would well-fit on Cocoon. But Cocoon was something unattainable for me. I believe nothing happens by chance, I am very fatalistic in my thinking. So, I printed a promo vinyl for Sven with my contacts. I believed in it … and as I said before, the sacrifices before got rewarded.
Then there is “Rotary”. What a monster this is! When road tested you must have the entire crowd in the palm of your hand?
Three adjectives: emotion, adrenaline, satisfaction …
How did this track come together?
I worked a lot on the bearing sound of “Rotary”, I was impressed from the first moment. From there on, in one night without even realizing it, I finished its writing … incredible …
And also here, fancy telling us about how you ended up on a Speicher (Kompakt) release?
Everything happened when I sent the “Rotary” demo to Michael Mayer, owner of Kompakt Records. Hhe remembered my track, which he had already noticed in a B2B with Solomun at Pacha in Ibiza last summer. And from there our collaboration began.
You have been getting a lot of support from industry finest like Solumun, Sven Väth and more. How does that make you feel and how do you use these connections?
Honoured, it’s nice when artists of this calibre choose to include my work in their sets. It’s an emotion unique and difficult to explain.
What’s next for you? Do you have new releases coming up?
I have many tracks ready to be published. I’m defining the next releases, but I assure you we’ll see some good ones.
What about gigs? Where can we see you play in the near future?
Right now I’m concentrating exclusively on the production of new tracks, but I’m starting to plan my dates for the summer. Soon you’ll know everything.
Want to tell us about the story behind your artist name, Blackrachas?
The BlackRachas project was born almost as a joke, with the idea and the desire to produce and play something unconventional. It was born in a difficult moment of my life, where everything seemed to be saturated and banal. I had to do something and I started going against the current flow, with a single goal in mind … making music.
For fans who don’t know much about you, could you tell us a bit about your music background?
I started on vinyl when a beer and a dirty needle gave you unique emotions, each of us has a background, I will try to prove it with facts.
What about your childhood was unique and most contributed to the artist you’ve become?
I approached music when I was very young, through the discovery of many musical instruments, especially the piano. my family lived with music, my father (musician) made my passion grow. Then reaching a certain maturity, I embarked on what I think was the right way, making electronic music my life, but my father never fully understood my choice, and he always underestimated what I was doing … you know, it’s difficult to keep fighting for something you believe in when you feel you are not 100% supported by the people you love … but now I know I made it proud of me … and I hope I never stop doing it!
What kind of music did you listen to growing up, and does it have any influence on your current sound? If not, what or who are your inspirations?
I listen to all the music, every track can give me something, every sound is music, any noise could become something unique.
How did you ultimately end up producing and playing electronic music?
I simply started producing what I would have liked to play … Then I finished there 🙂
Did you see all this coming? The attention, the appreciation?
Thank you for the support of all the people I care about most, the ones that every time I fell, they raised me but above all. I thank those who are supporting what I do, I’m really honoured.
What if BlackRachas would have been a beverage, what would it be?
Definitely a Negroni. 🙂
Thank you