Artists
ItaloJohnson: the mystery men
ItaloJohnson don’t want anything getting in the way of what they do best
For international men of mystery, ItaloJohnson are an open, affable bunch. They’ll chat about social lives, family lives, parties, hangovers, their own in-band friendship, recording processes, influences, their musical pasts: they’ll even own up to having made gabba records in past lives. Nothing seems to be off-limits in conversation – except they won’t let their names or identifying details about jobs or other aliases go on record.
Their timelessly poised, bumping and bassy house records come out on vinyl with barely any online presence, next to no information or clues to their makers’ identity, and months between each release. And yet they’ve become some of the most collectible and heavily rinsed tunes in the house underground, and made the trio ever more sought-after as DJs as time goes on.
So what gives? Sitting in a glossy Docklands hotel room with Mixmag, the three 30-something Berliners – who we’ll refer to just as ‘R’, ‘M’ and ‘J’ – make it instantly clear that they’re not publicity-shy sensitive genius types or full of grandiose keep-it-underground theories. Burial or Zomby they most certainly aren’t. The half-Italian R is the most forthcoming of the trio, and seems like a de facto spokesman; it’s him we deal with on email, and he who welcomes us in. J is the quietest, but seems like a ‘doer’ – he’s by no means withdrawn, but it’s noticeable he springs to life when the conversation turns to DJing, dancing or the pressing and packing of their vinyl (which he personally hand-stamps). The pair of them are visibly Berlin club people, with part-shaved techno hair and understated sportswear; in contrast M, the oldest of the three, has the air of a Renaissance aristo. He has a background in classical music and looks the part: tall and slender with a high-necked dark sweater, neat curls and laconic air (exaggerated somewhat by the fact he’s sprawling in his chair due to being laid low with flu).
It’s obvious that these three personalities work well together. Not once in an hour-long conversation do they talk over one another or seem to disagree: typically, their answers are passed around, fleshed out by each of their personal takes as they work their way around the topic. Much like the steady-stepping curves and grooves of their music, which seem to unfold very naturally, this makes it very easy to believe them when they say that everything about ItaloJohnson happened very organically.
“We never planned it [their anonymity and the vinyl-only releases] or even talked about it among the three of us,” says R. “It is just the natural way our ideas are. We each have a different background in how we socialise with music, but there’s a lot of overlap, and that area where we overlap decides what we do. It was what we all liked, so it’s what we all did.”
The birth of that unspoken understanding among the trio is a real 21st century dancefloor fairytale. Ask for their shared reference points and M says, “there’s only one important one, right...?” The others nod and smile. “Panorama Bar,” he continues, “from 2006 to 2008.” “We all met on the dancefloor there in 2006,” explains R, “and it hit us like lightning! We knew each other a bit before then, we all had our own musical stories, but this was the time we became friends, and discovered that we all had the exact same ideas about sound. We were just ready at that moment: minimal and microhouse was dominating everything in Germany but becoming stale, then Panorama Bar came along with residents like Cassy and Prosumer who played straight-ahead house music but with this real sharp style. It was raw beats, stripped down, really groovy, funky, repetitive... we loved it.”
