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I met Paride Saraceni by chance during ADE 2017. Not much later, I interviewed this talented DJ, producer and architect. Soon after that, Paride played at Techno Tuesday, but not without recording a promo video that day in Amsterdam, with yours truly in it. About his curious debut: "The ‘ranking’ would be decided by an ‘applause meter’ that would register how loud people would shout and clap their hands at the end of my set!"
“My very first public gig in a nightclub was in 2009. It was a DJ competition held in Riccione (Italy). I had heard of the contest through MySpace, I think. Since I was in Italy for the summer, I decided to enroll. The prize for the winner would be a gig at the well-known Cocorico club during the following season.”
Rare vinyl
“It was the time when I first encountered techno-minimal music. I collected a lot of records from a local record store in Geneva (Switzerland), where I was living at the time with my family. I also had a few rare vinyls that I had bought in Florence when I visited it a few weeks earlier. At the time, buying vinyl was still a huge experience for me, as I just felt a total disconnection between the record, who produced it and where it came from. Vinyls looked completely mystical and I felt super proud when I was able to buy a new one that had not been officially released yet. That gave me the feeling that I was the only one who had it. It felt quite special indeed.”
Applause meter
“A few days after I signed up for the competition, I received a call from the club owner confirming my presence. He also explained how the competition worked. Quite extraordinary and funny enough: the ‘ranking’ would be decided by an ‘applause meter’ that would register how loud people would shout and clap their hands at the end of my set! When I heard the conditions this felt pretty unusual, but I was most of all happy to participate. During that phone-call he club owner kept on saying: ‘Hey! SaracenO!’ It was hilarious. In the end he never succeeded in getting my name right.” (laughs)
National holiday
“The day of the gig finally arrived. I packed my bag with records and CDs, got my dad to drive me to Pescara’s train station and jumped on a train to Riccione. It was Ferragosto, the 15th of August, which is a national holiday in Italy. So, when I arrived in Riccione, the streets were completely desolate. When I looked at the itinerary, the club appeared to be a few kilometers away. Quite a few.” (laughs)
Red Ferrari
“Around noon I arrived at the club and realized that it was closed. I called the owner, who promptly answered: ‘Hey! SaracenO! What’s up?’ He told me that there was a delay and that the party wouldn’t start until 2 PM. There was nothing left but waiting outside of the club until 2. Then I saw a red Ferrari coming up the hill. The owner – a short man with sunglasses – sat behind the wheel. He came out greeted and me in his usual way: ‘Hey SaracenO!’.”
Afterparty
“We then went into the club and I started playing. Slowly the venue filled up. It was an afterparty, so soon I was approached by some of the guests. The crowd included a few pretty run-down gangster-looking men, pimps, and a few Brazilian prostitutes. They asked if I wanted pills, coke or perhaps something else? I was 17 at that point…”
Dub-techno
“After politely refusing all offers, I got back to my set and played a few Dub-techno tracks, some minimal and early tech house tunes such as Butch’s Turkey or Lemos’ Blow It, and a few Polar Noise records that eventually became hits. I remember a tune which matched the situation just perfectly: it was a vinyl named Qu’est-ce Que Vous Voulez? I still have no idea who produced that track.”
Finale
“At the end of my gig, I went to the owner and asked if he had liked my set. He yelled: ‘SaracenO! Your set was amazing! I will put you right in the final!’ I was quite dumbfounded by that statement. At this point my presumptions about the contest turned into certainties!” (laughs)
Strange experience
“The owner offered me a drink and then I went back to the train station. It was a very strange experience. Of course, I was still quite happy to have finally played in front of a good hundred people. And it was funny to see how this guy managed to get DJs to play for free at his afterhour party that he threw for his drugdealer and pimp friends! Until this day, I am still laughing about the ‘applause meter’!”
Kick and bass
“What I learned that night, is that there’s more to techno than a kick and a bass. From that moment on, I started researching and producing music with more ‘musical’ qualities and organic elements. A few years later, in 2010, the tech house scene bloomed and offered a perfect environment for me to express myself. What I would like to say to younger DJs is: try not to restraint yourself to the music people expect you to play. Have your own experiences and learn from your gigs. There is no good or bad. Only you can find your own path.”
“These days, I perform on an international basis and I have a lot in store for you. As far as releases go, I recently released an EP on Redrum Music with remixed by Nicole Moudaber and Skober. I have a few more releases up my sleeve, including a remix of Pirupa’s Non Stop, a remix for Uto Karem and a third for Rafael Cerato. On top of that, in 2018 the first ‘baby’ will be released on my own label Post Scriptum Music. So I am far from done.”
This article is originally published on DJMag.nl on November 30th 2017