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Paperclip People with a penchant for sinister David
Lynch stylings.. this is gritty groove fixated funk
that oozes east London lucre and glacial mid-west beauty"
Muzik Magazine reviews The Big MOJO, October 2000 Paolo
has always enjoyed a wide and varied take on dance music.
Name checking Deep Dish, Danny Tenaglia, Masters at
Work, Sasha, and Derrick May as key influences, his
sound is a lush hybrid of the very best elements of
house music, with melody and innovations always to the
fore. Never afraid to take a chance by dropping music
that might be considered too risky for others, Paolo
consistently pulls off the unexpected by constructing
his sets with a unique sense of timing and occasion,
with mixing skills and programming that at times are
simply breathtaking.
His heritage is a strong one. Fired up from the early
teenage experiences of the Blackburn rave scene at the
turn of the 90’s he began mixing early in 1991, and
by 1992 he was playing underground parties in his native
Merseyside, North Wales and (slightly later) Stoke on
Trent. Moving to Sheffield in 1993 allowed him to hone
further the bass laden groovy house sound he had championed
for the past two years, with a liberal injection of
US house from this most Stateside of UK cities. Seminal
extended sets from David Morales, MAW, Deep Dish, Roger
Sanchez and the as yet unheralded Danny Tenaglia left
a lasting impression, and housey excursions in the Music
Factory under the Aphrodisiac banner and warm up slots
for Cuba @ Kiwi’s were the rewards - followed in 1994-5
by a series of underground parties in South London with
Dave Dorrell.
In 1997 he took the plunge and moved to London and has
been running around the capital and the south coast
ever since, organising parties with like-minded friends.
In 1998 Sony PlayStation were sufficiently impressed
to sign up the Paolo and Desyn Symphonic double act
to DJ at its sponsored events. The pair honed their
skills at large scale events such as the inaugural Creamfields
and V98 festivals, spinning to a cast of thousands alongside
such names as Sasha, Paul Oakenfold and David Morales.
Paolo also played a memorable set alongside Danny Howells
at the PlayStation 2nd Birthday in London. Howells was
sufficiently impressed to call the promoters of Hastings
Pier, the original home of Bedrock and recommend they
book Paolo in his stead during a tour of Australia in
1999. Predictably Paolo tore the place apart at the
first time of asking. Due to public demand he was rewarded
with a summer series of gigs across the south coast
from Hastings, to Bournemouth, Brighton Cornwall and
Worthing. Guest spots quickly followed at Turnmills,
ADII, Subterrenia / Jackpot and Gadia and the residencies
at Symphony and Proper (in London and Barcelona).
In 1997 he also founded Symphonic with DJ collaborator
Desyn Masiello – a music promotions company dedicated
solely to their vision of ‘twisted funky house’. Clients
such as Alola, Disclosure, Sunkissed, Teknolgy, Protea,
Tonkin, Alternative Route and Barracuda are on the roster
of this small but perfectly formed promo company. The
policy of less is more serving only limited numbers
of each track - served them well in building a groundswell
of respect with the industry. Close working partner
Chapple Davis handles radio promotion for many of the
UK's major labels and artists (i.e. Cevin Fisher on
Subversive, Paul Van Dyk on Deviant).
Searching for a new clubbing identity, Paolo and Desyn
began The Big Mojo in 1999. Enlisting close friend and
world renowned producer / DJ Omid 16b Nourizadeh, the
trio hit on a previously underused Piccadilly venue.
The trio’s fantastic emotive house sets combined with
an unrivalled vibe and atmosphere soon made Mojo parties
a top priority for any self respecting clubber, with
the three often playing one-on one-off and mixing together
across four decks to rapturous response.
In March 2001 Paolo released the double CD demo "Music
is Freedom" to unprecedented acclaim, receiving rave
reviews from all over the world. Highlights included
Muzik magazine awarding the mix Bedroom Bedlam award
winner (June 2001), and securing gigs all over the world
from Los Angeles to Eilat. London based Enter Music,
agents for global artists CocoDaSilva, Peace Division,
Red Jerry, Tom Stephan, Nathan Coles and Jan Driver
were quick to snap up Paolo and look set to raise his
global profile even higher throughout 2001 and beyond.
In 2001 the Mojo brand has gone from strength to strength
and has been taken across the world, particularly the
US, with several parties staged and scheduled for Miami,
New York and Los Angeles. Paolo is touring the UK and
Ireland in May with Desyn and the Mojo soundstystem.
In addition to this Paolo and Desyn have begun Symphonic
Recordings, an exciting label set up with the backing
of Amato Distributors and managed by the team behind
Alternative Route Recordings and the A&R scouts for
Hooj Choons and Rhythm Syndicate.
Symphonic has an exciting schedule for 2001. Drawing
heavily on the strengths gained A&Ring for Hooj Choons,
Disclosure and Rhythm Syndicate, and the fantastic Alternative
Route label there are several formidable releases lined
up. First release is Narcotic's "Conditions", featured
last year in its original form on Anthony Pappa's Nubreed
Global Underground; and remixed by Portant Records.
This is followed by an original composition from Hellpass;
otherwise known as Kobayashi and creator of some stunning
releases on Fluid Recordings. Following on from these
the quite magnificent "Air Tattoo" from Synaesthasia;
a forgotten progressive house classic from 1993 that
is being relaunched complete with Hellpass and potentially
Symphonic remixes. Last but not least Dutch producer
Arno Asmus is creating an original composition for the
label. Arno produces as Revolt and his tracks notably
Moonlit Room and the forthcoming Freighttrain have been
picked up by none other than John Digweed's Bedrock
label.
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