Inspired by Chicago House, Acid House, Hip-Hop, Funk, and Acid Jazz, Italian dance music duo Supernova has been producing music for over 17 years. Deep-rooted in the underground music scene, Supernova has worked with the best and continues to do so, even curating their own events which host a who’s who of dance legends (Loco Dice, Dixon, Carl Craig, Dennis Ferrer, Guy Guber, Fatboy Slim, and Claudio Coccoluto). Both classically trained musicians, Emiliano Emijay Nencioni and Giacomo Godi use live instruments, decks, and Ableton to create Electronic Dance Music without restrictions. With appearances at Elrow (Barcelona/Ibiza), The BPM Festival, Monegros Desert Festival, Ministry Of Sound (London), Cavo Paradiso (Mykonos), and Space (Ibiza), Supernova expanded their reach in the music industry when they created their own record label, Lapsus, in 2009. Remixing some of the biggest classics of House Music, (Frankie Knuckles “The Whistle Song”, Kerri Chandler “Bar A Thym”, Jakatta “American Dream” and Romanthony “What Price Love”), Supernova adds even more to their playlist. Their successful collaboration with Kevin Saunderson garnered them a hit with “Beat Me Back”. Continuing to maintain their affiliation with Defected Records, Supernova had released productions including remixes of seminal records “Can You Feel It” and “Strings of Life“. Supernova just released a two-track “My Vision” EP on Nick Curly and Gorge’s 8Bit Records label on March 20th, 2020 to stellar reviews. With their latest release “The Future Extended Mix” with Dario D’Attis due out this Friday, May 8, 2020, on Lapsus Music, I got a chance to speak to Supernova about their journey as musicians, what it means to have their own record label, and the role charisma plays when playing live.
Hello, This is RiMo from Fresh Music Freaks and I’m here with the incredible music production duo Supernova. How are both of you?
Hi, thanks for reaching out. We are fine and we are living this weird moment focused on the music and close to our families.
So many musicians focus on specific elements of a song and often this becomes what one would call their signature style. How would you describe your music style(s) and has your style changed through the years?
It’s difficult to talk about one genre after seventeen years of Supernova even if our background comes from House Music for sure. We like to be eclectic and we love to be influenced by what we live around and we feel the music like a personal evolution.
Can you please tell me what it’s like to own a record label? Also, can you please tell me when did you decide to increase the number of your record labels and why?
We have three record labels at the moment. Lapsus Music which celebrated ten years in 2019, Downtown Underground, and Blackboard. It’s a job that needs a lot of energy and we spend a lot of time on it but it gives us back many good vibes. It’s very important for us to express ourselves freely and always try to experience new visions of our sound through our labels. Labels are also a great opportunity to be in touch with a lot of artists and friends. Lapsus, Downtown, and Blackboard are like big music families.
Your song, “My Vision” is a sophisticated song with multiple layers with a Deep House old school feel. It’s a powerhouse of House. In “The Deep Side of Things”, I love the Drum and Bass and it brought me back to my early days of listening to House music for the first time. Can you please tell me how you created the sound for both of these songs?
As you said, “My Vision” has that old school House feel. In fact, the strings pattern is created starting from a sample of an old school House stab sound. We made the pattern and then added on some real strings element like it was an orchestra: cellos, violins, strings bass, etc to create that special chord and feeling. On “Deep Side of Things“, everything was created around the drums and bass. We had this solid kick drum sample, we added some lite drive distortion and used a stab sample to play the bass pattern. At the same time, we used a plug in to drive the higher stab and make it turning into a resonant lead.
How do you stay healthy while touring? How are you dealing with the challenges of the current global pandemic of COVID-19 (Coronavirus)?
Unfortunately, we are not touring anymore but we are trying to work hard with the music. Every life experience is an opportunity to improve ourselves.
Please tell me what it’s like to be classically trained musicians and then enter the world of Electronic Dance Music?
It helps writing music for sure and allows us to produce what we like without any limit.
Can you please tell me about the type of hardware you use or have been using recently and why?
We love to use the OB-6 to create an arpeggiator layer and filtered keys as well as the Sequential Prophet 6 forsynth and basses. We record all of them going through our Api 512C preamp into our UAD Apollo audio card. We recently added to the studio the Akai Force which we love to use to create beats.
Artists often take standard songs and change their performance of the song to make it their own. Can you please tell me the appeal of remixing the classics (EDM)?
We had the opportunity to remix a lot of classics during the years. We have always felt great happiness and responsibility at the same time to do it. For us remixing a classic doesn’t mean distorting it but it means trying to make the emotion of the classic even stronger. To handle with care 🙂
I’ve heard scientists say that the way to develop a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. Can you tell me how creating a large catalog of songs/music has been beneficial to you and if this is an important part of your work as musicians?
Sometimes we have many ideas and we don’t have enough time and hands to achieve them. It also happens when we produce/write music because we are two different people, with two different brains and ideas. Ideas are always welcome! We wrote a lot of music during these years and we think it’s a good aspect of Supernova’s career. We hope that one day our children and fans will be proud of it 🙂
Including your own work, what music have you been listening to recently? Are there any artists (Art, Music, Performance) you would like to collaborate with right now or are inspired by?
We like to listen to a lot of different genres and then be inspired by as many musical vibes as possible. We did some amazing collaboration lately with Mr. V, Dario D’Attis, Medusa, and Solo Tamas.
What do you think is an important element in performing as a live Electronic Dance Musician?
It’s important to be yourself, much love for what you are doing, and a good dose of charisma.
Is there anything that you would like your fans to know?
We are preparing a lot of new stuff! Our next release due for Friday, May 8th is the first of two collaboration tracks we did with Dario D’Attis and will be out on Lapsus Music, preorder is online already. You can also check out our weekly updated Spotify playlist “The House Of Super”. Stay tuned, stay safe, and don’t stop the love for the music. We’ll be back on the dancefloor again 🙂 Cheers.
Get Supernova’s latest release “The Future Extended Mix” with Dario D’Attis due out this Friday, May 8, 2020, on Lapsus Music here.
Follow Supernova: Facebook | Instagram | SoundCloud | Spotify
