DANIELE BALDELLI: Now I'm used to taking the plane. My first flight ever was to go to the Vivid Live Festival in Sydney in 2011! Recently I had a good experience at the Boiler Room in Bali, Indonesia. Just back from a tour in Japan...I'm sure I will be happy to be back in NY!
"In 2019, it will be 50 years of DJing...and I like that!" – Daniele Baldelli
I am always amazed by the influence and importance of your career, which is at the core of DJ culture and has defined what nightlife and super clubs are today. In your opinion, what is the best thing that modern clubbing has kept from that golden age of the early '80s?
Of course, the Tabu Club, La Baia degli Angeli, and the club Cosmic [the three legendary Italian clubs where Daniele built up his sound] are indelible to my story, but I honestly do not miss the past. I've DJed for 40 years in my unique and eclectic way and I play every kind of music as I have always done. I have fun and I always put all my passion into it. The thing that most gratifies me is that the new generations are discovering me. In 2019, it will be 50 years of DJing...and I like that!
Tell us about a regular night at your Cosmic club in the early '80s.
At Cosmic, I always started with some electronic effects that I took directly from the vinyls, mixing them fast one behind the other. People would be on the dancefloor waiting and thinking about which track I would choose to start, and then the magic began to sound at 90 or 100 bpm, then up to 115 bpm after three hours.
One of Daniele's latest projects, Cosmic Temple.
You’ve been very busy these last years, both as a DJ and a producer. You're about to release a new album. What can you tell us about it?
It's a Balearic album I created in the company of DJ Rocca called Quagga. My other partner is Dario Piana, with whom I have made an EP of three tracks titled Infinity Machine (Leng Records). I also worked with Marco Dionigi, and together we made so many remixes. We have a project called Funkadiba, and our third album is forthcoming! I also need to mention my Cosmic Temple project: six vinyls, a total of 18 tracks, composed by me and made in-studio with live musicians. Put together, the six covers form a unique artwork that reproduces the Cosmic logo in a particular way.
What would you stay is the cosmic-est thing to do in Italy right now?
Every year in December, I organize a great event called Remember Cosmic where many fans come in to listen to my original track lists from 1979 to 1984. Cosmic sound is always here in my sets, even when my productions go in new directions.
On Sunday, August 6th, Le Bain presents Nouveau York
featuring Daniele Baldelli
The Standard, High Line | 9pm
