DJs of the Year: Tale of Us

Despite that, the pair do have their own night in Ibiza – or at least they did for five consecutive Fridays this summer under the Life And Death banner. There, too, they took to uncharted territory and made it their own, stripping back a DC10 dancefloor more used to big Circoloco productions to its bare bones. With the help of label friends like Mind Against and Recondite, they put on a darkened, purist's warehouse techno rave. It was another success.

"We like Ibiza, but the reality is it doesn't belong to us so much," says Matteo. "We brought our great vision of a party. We had more experimental line-ups, and more interesting music, in our opinion. The island can start brands and careers, but for us our brand was already successful and our career was fine. We were like, if we're going to do Ibiza, we're going to do it right. We had great feedback. We're not sure if we're going to do it again, we'll see. We sowed some seeds."

Later, Matteo enthuses over the concept for photographer Christian Lamb's austere, stylish pictures of the pair in Spain, Iceland and America, while Carmine shows us his home studio, a red-lit attic room packed with pianos, keyboards and Italian Dylan Dog comic books. He plays us his minimal piano compositions and pats us happily on the shoulder when we agree they sound beautiful. "We think about putting them out," he says, "but there's plenty of time. We don't want to show too many sides."

To call artists 'ones to watch' is a cliché, but it applies to Tale Of Us. Keep an eye on them, because they're always changing. "We live in times where it seems easy to have overnight success," says Dixon, with whom they've worked and played. "Often this leads to artists being lazy. Some even think that having great ideas is all you need. But the hard work that every artist or craftsman must put in is almost forgotten. Tale Of Us, though, invest everything and go the extra mile. I really respect them for this."

"The Tale Of Us is our story," says Matteo, pacing the floor while Carmine opens a window to let the smoke out and the cold Berlin night in. "The concept doesn't allow us to stagnate. We're not a lifestyle act and we can't stop evolving our sound. It's a journey, and the end is the end. Once it stops, you're dead." We should just enjoy that journey wherever it – and Tale Of Us – takes us.

Taken from the January issue of Mixmag, out now