WORDS: ADAM ANONYMOUS, PHOTOGRAPHY: MATT BURDEN
BIG IN MILAN
HAVING CAUSED RIPPLES WITH HIS ECLECTIC MINI-ALBUM
‘1UP’, BIRMINGHAM-BASED PRODUCER MILANESE HAS
BROADENED HIS SCOPE TO TIDAL WAVE LEVELS VIA DEBUT
FULL LENGTH ‘EXTEND’. PREPARE FOR NOISE, HE SAYS,
“LIKE A COMPUTER GAME GONE WRONG.”
“I used to love going down the chippy on Archway sounds silly when you say it with a lisp.” to become massive. A lot of the artists definitely
Road to play Street Fighter II and get a saveloy,” deserve a wider audience.”
recalls the man who’s come to be known as Steve Breaking out in 2004 with 12-inch ‘Vanilla Monkey’
Milanese, relating his formative London days with on bass-happy imprint Arcola, a track recently re- The album’s stand-out moment, single ‘Dead Man
misty-eyed nostalgia. “I still have some old games to vived on Miss Kittin’s ‘A Bugged Out Mix’, Milanese’s Walking’, nods to darker pastures still, bypassing
play with friends after the pub; four-player Golden- introduction to the wider world was ‘1Up’ on Arcola’s dubstep’s spacey tendencies for a grimier outlook,
eye on the N64 is just too much fun. I was always parent label Warp. A scattershot, frankly befuddling aided by criminally underrated Planet Mu label-
Baron Samedi. He had a rude hat.” mish-mash of styles constantly threatening brilliance mates, Manchester crew Virus Syndicate.
but never entirely moulding into a satisfying whole, “I did a couple of nights with Virus Syndicate and
Though it may sound like throwaway accounts of a two years on he’s back altogether more refined on was well into their stuff,” he expands. “I asked if they
lost childhood, such console chat goes some way Worcester’s near-peerless Planet Mu. wanted a remix and they sent me a vocal. ‘Dead
to explaining Milanese’s digital breakdowns. It also Man Walking’ was the kind of track I’d wanted to do
betrays the rationale behind fresh LP ‘Extend’. “The tracks on ‘1Up’ were taken from a two or for ages, so when they gave me the vocal I knew
“Like ‘1Up’, ‘Extend’ is a video game reference to three-year writing period,” Milanese explains. “‘Ex- exactly what to do with it. If it’s not too late already
getting an extra life/power up,” he laughs. “But it’s tend’ is more focused. It still has raw aggression and I think grimy stuff still has something to say and I
also meant to be a development of the ideas I set emotion, but it’s controlled and less reckless, which want to do more with it.”
out on ‘1Up’.” sounds more sinister and menacing.”
In the meantime, now relocated to the Midlands,
Having grown up playing piano in his native Arch- He’s not wrong. Put simply, it’s jungle fed through a it’s not just Milanese’s sonic fortunes looking up. “I
way, a young Steve soon became enthralled with mincer with industrially sharp blades cut from grime, moved to Birmingham a few years ago. I was unem-
house and techno on pirate stations, and began leftfield electronica and, most prominently, dubstep. ployed for ages, in debt, doing a house up, tearing
creating tracks on a four-track with tape loops and down ceilings and plastering walls. When I eventu-
a drum machine. Playing out techno and jungle at So why has the evolutionary arm of grime and drum ally got a job it was so bad I let out all my anger by
squat parties in the mid to late ’90s, he then shifted & bass proved so popular with street spinners to writing music. It’s better now,” he laughs, “so I might
attentions to a degree in electronic music. It wasn’t IDM geeks? “There’s indulgent, excessive bass,” start writing really happy music.”
long until he coined the moniker Milanese. says Milanese of dubstep, “the space that gives is its
“It’s a nickname I got from working at an Italian atmosphere and there’s a lot of experimenting going Judging by the addictive oppressiveness of ‘Extend’,
restaurant years ago,” he chuckles. “People always on. The people into it also seem to be very positive keep ’em crossed perverse inspiration isn’t replaced
pronounce it ‘Milaneez’, but friends say ‘Milaneeth’. It and open-minded. It would be great for dubstep by smiles and cheeriness quite yet though.
56
K56_Milanese.indd 56 17/10/06 21:03:14
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65