Italian born Antonio Colantuoni is a rising dj starlet on London’s underground circuit. Back in his home town of Rome, alongside being a sound technician for a large production studio, he helped to organise huge raves and was also a sought after dj. Recent experiences on the international club circuit have seen him playing at music festivals in Portugal (Minimise to Maximise festival & Electronix Festival both 2007), while steadily building his career as a producer / dj in London.
Since being in London for the last 2 years and has quickly been signed by 2 up and coming labels Malatoid and Ifidota Music. He has also been holding down residencies at the popular underground tech-house party ‘Family Affair’ as well as ‘Alex Viera presents…’ at original Shoreditch stomping ground Café 1001. Other Live gigs at popular London Clubs ‘The Egg’, ‘The Aquarium’ and the Ex-Factory Club in Vauxhall are a regular for T Boy. His Live DJ sets are always groundbreaking, and he is constantly pushing the boundaries of his own fresh twist on the classic tech-house sound.
At the moment he spends the majority of his time at Ifidota Music’s Platinum Loft Studio in Shoreditch, where he is main studio engineer. He regularly works alongside talents such as Pure Science, Leslie Lawrence, Howie B, a Guy called Gerald (Juice Box Records) and other London tech-house heroes.
His first much awaited EP, ‘Full Range’ is about to be released. This Saturday he has his label release party at café 1001, followed by another residency at Family Affair, which due to popularity has moved home to bigger venue Sosho this weekend. Both parties are headed up by legend of techno – Dan Curtin plus some top local talents. This looks like it’s going to be one bank holiday to really remember…
Congratulations on your Full Range EP, your first release for Ifidota Music. Can you tell us about the release and it’s musical style and also what this release means to you?
Thanks… In my first release I wanted to show a mix of different styles always between pure techno-techno minimal and tech-house… I love to fuse these main styles to obtain a sound that can be just mine, even if now my future productions are looking a lot to tech-house.
Your label release party is at café 1001 this Saturday, where you hold down a monthly residency with Alex Viera. What makes this venue a special place for you to play at?
I think the place is great because we don’t need to plan the monthly party (Alex Vieira night) we just go there play for the people is there, and is always packed , and the people is always different and want to dance… I mean it is in the pumping heart of East London, Bricklane, so there is always lots of people who likes good music there… It is one of the real last underground venues we have in this area.. on Saturday you’ll see this!
Over the last 12 months you’ve been working hard in the studio for Ifidota Music – who has been your favourite producer to work with during this time and why?
For sure ifidota is been giving me the great opportunity to work also with international producers like A Guy Called Gerald (JB Collaborations), also Ziggy Kinder who gave me great advice for my live acts. There is also a project with Leslie Lawrence who truely knows a lot about the real sound of techno… and with this last one, Leslie, I’m working for JB collaborations out soon where you’ll find collaborations from Ziggy Kinder, A Guy Called Gerald, Colin Dale, Nils Hess, Assad Rizvi and obviously the great JB, one of the last pure djs on the scene!
You have a DJ partnership with Enzo Tedeschi called ‘Never Trust DJs’. Tell us about how you both work together.
With Enzo is easy, we work really well together because we kind of complete each other … I was born more as a technician and track maker, he is the pure dj between us and his big culture in music (he djs since the age of 13!) is essencial in our collaboration ,plus he is growing a lot also in production.. and we believe our dj sets together are really appreciated by the crowd even more than when we play by ourselves…
Has your music style changed much since you moved from Rome to London 2 years ago?
In Rome I was more a technician for a recording studio plus organizer of big drum’n bass and hard techno events alongside Evilsound and I was learning how to make tracks in the studio but my sound was much more electro than minimal or house, so yes definitely London gave me the possibility also to get closer to a complete new sound and to improve my production skills also with some more specific courses I took there…
What producers are you most feeling at the moment?
As I said I love Hugo, Matt Star for techouse, but also Reboot(Cocoon), Dan Curtin and all the Mobilee crew (love Marcin Czubala always from Mobilee) but also the Italian school with great artists like Marco Carola, Rino Cerrone, Uto karem Markantonio..etc..
What are your favourite parties in London?
Easy…Family Affair!!! I also really like the atmosphere the guys from Loo Kee have shown since now… and for the after parties D-Late is one of my favourite…
What are your top 5 tracks at the moment?
1. Kioto – Tboy
2. Do Our Thang – Kanio
3. Morgenstimmung – Matt Star
4. Perfect Circles – Alex Flatner (Reboot Rmx)
5. Stel and Atan – Hugo (Jay Haze Rmx)
You DJ alongside fellow Ifidota boys Sandeman and Mr Dickie at the hugely popular underground party Family Affair. You have recently been working with them in the studio – what sort of music are they producing at the moment?
I’ll never stop to talk well about this couple of young talents… is also part of my family here!!by the way is a bouncy tekhouse but also with minimal influences which makes the difference especially on the dance floor… the guys are working hard for their first release, but they know what they want and wich level they want to achieve, receiving remixes from guys like Mark Ashken and Kanio…it speaks by itself…
Ifidota’s Charlotte Michelle 11th recently played alongside Steve Lawler and Audiofly at Ministry of Sound – tell us something about her and her style of music.
Charlotte is great!… as dj she has got her unique style, dreamy and deep, but she can be also strong spinning great classics or unreleased promos, always on vinyls, that smash the dance floor… she is one of the few that still buy vinyls and I can just appreciate this… she also releasing in the next few months on Ifidota with a really personal sound mainly based on melodies, with a pure German techno intention for the rhythmics…
What gigs do you have planned for the next few months?
At the moment apart from residencies and parties in East London we r working hard in studio concentrating more on that, but there are a lot of plans for the new season and a lot going on, so what I can say is just stay tuned..
What do you miss most about living in Italy?
Easy…the food first!…and may be the weather but I’m getting quite use to the cloudy London’s weather hehehe….plus a lot of friends I have there but they always find an excuse to come and visit me in the sin city…
What do you like best about living in London?
The atmosphere and the ‘air’ of modern culture you can breathe here always fuse with an older culture that makes this place unique in the world!
