Synaesthetic Tapes 05 / Italoscillazioni
Milan-based musician and synth-collector ItalOscillazioni curated a playlist of Italo Disco gems and talked to Synaesthetic Magazine about his artistic vision
A collector and connoisseur of vintage synthesizers, Elvio Seta, 25, is the mind behind ItalOscillazioni, a one-man project that aims to bring together Italo Disco and analogue live sets. Passionate about the osbcure Italo sound of the early 1980s, Elvio is committed to re-propose this lesser known face of the genre live through original compositions.
Elvio started his affair with music first as an instrument collector moved by his passion for the new wave and synth pop sound , and only later evolved into a composer. Despite the distinctive Mediterranean nature of the project, Elvio matured an interest towards Italo and Italy only when living in Berlin where the genre was thriving.
“Over the years,” Elvio tells us, “I realised that many of the things I adored - like synths - were symbols of my country. I therefore started to research and compare between things produced in Italy and abroad, and I understood that the Italian market often offered a better quality. I’m not happy of being Italian because I believe that Italians are superior to other people, but purely because I had the chance of discovering things that otherwise I would have never had a chance to know, like savouring a good glass of homemade white wine.”
IalOscillazioni pictured in his home studio
Surely the recent Italo Disco revival matured in the last couple of years, undoubtedly contributed to create a lot of confusion around the genre.
Elvio clears the air explaining how “many people are currently abusing of the Italo Disco label, without considering that the genre has many sides to it. Most people associate the term with a certain golden age Italo, that includes the most popular tracks from the mid-1980s. Think of Koto or Sauavage. However, there’s more to it. Italo is also the late 1970s disco music sung in Italian by Italians, like Pino D’Angiò, or those early 1980s obscure budget productions that weren’t strictly pop neither disco made to fill discotheques. That’s the Italo I love the most.”
Although these records had many production limits and sold close to nothing - a handicap that makes them nearly impossible to find these days - they have been pivotal to form ItalOscillazioni’s sound.
“I love their instrumental parts, which back then were considered synth-pop,” explains Elvio, “They had a distinctively cheap sound and a certain production superficiality, which actually makes them down-to-earth and pure. I believe that’s the true spirit of Italo.”
Watch ItalOscillazioni latest live set, recorded for arts and entertainment promotion La Cannibale
Pivotal to ItalOscillazioni’s mission to replicate that trademark sound is its collection of vintage and rare synths. When asked to pick one from his studio, Elvio is pretty sure, “Solton Project100 sits on top of them all.
“Only a few have been produced, making it nearly impossible to find these days. If compared to other synths in its price range like Sequential C, Prophet 5 or Arp Odissey, I believe it comes with a way more interesting, surprising, and esoteric sound. It surely is different from the rest.”
Despite ItalOscillazioni’s marked Italo Disco imprint, Elvio is a design connoisseur with tastes that span across at least three decades. “I’m passionate about 1960s, 70s, and 80s fashion and design. I dedicate loads of time to the study of those years’ magazines, films, and costumes, with particular attention dedicated to the 1960s space age aesthetics and to 1970s furniture design in Italy. Every time I have to create an image for ItalOscillazioni’s music it comes natural to refer to this passion. It’s simply who I am.”
Listen to ItalOscillazioni’s picks for his Synaesthetic_Tapes below: