Introducing.. Federico Molinari + His Oslo Records X fabric Promo Mix

Located in Mannheim Germany, Oslo Records has been the home base and canvas for artists Ray Okpara, Damian Schwarz, Johnny D, Christian Burkhardt, Reboot and a whole load more. A powerhouse of muscular house and techno grooves with an unfaltering beat, label boss Federico Molinari has always kept the Oslo identity shining from strength to strength through a burgeoning music market. Fresh off a banner 2011 with the recent release of their first ever CD compilation, ‘No Way To Norway’, with a significant twist – there’s no tracklisting and instead you’re asked to fully immerse yourself into the mix without prejudice. It’s an alluring concept for your ears which has lead Federico and the rest of the Oslo family in a busy touring schedule that lands on our Room Three doorstep this Saturday in their closing tour date of huge anticpation. Read on to find out more on the Oslo family, its past and future goals for 2012. Doing what he does best, Federico drops in a pedigree promo mix of sweet house sounds and pristine grooves, giving you a taste of his fabric set this Saturday alongside, Ray Okpara (live) and Damian Schwarz. DOWNLOAD: Federico Molinari fabric Promo Mix Hi Federico. How would you describe Oslo’s past year? What have been the highlights and challenges you’ve faced? It’s been a very good year for the label. I am very happy with the quality of music that we released and with the feedback that we had for our work. It’s hard sometimes to talk about the highlights because I’m always afraid to forget something that I shouldn’t. To mention one, I think the Oslo showcase for the closing party of Catwalk, in Rotterdam was a big highlight for us in terms of gigs. In terms of releases I think that our first ever CD compilation was the biggest highlight from 2011 for us. I think electronic music now is making one of its big turns. Everything is changing at the moment and the biggest challenge for every label (or artist) is to keep on releasing good, fresh and special music, without paying so much attention about what is going on in the music market. Sometimes you can get confused about it because you see that suddenly everything is moving, but the most important thing is to keep your identity. What does it mean to be a part of the Oslo family, what friendships do you share and what do you enjoy most about playing/ partying together? Being part of the Oslo family is not really different from being part of any family. We have the luck that almost all of us have been friends for a very long time (much longer than the Oslo existence) so music is not our only thing in common. On top of that when you can play or put on a party together with some of your best friends then you have the feeling that you are in a permanent vacation. You recently released your first ever CD compilation 'NO WAY TO NORWAY' packed with unreleased and exclusive tracks from the likes of Reboot, Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts and Johnny D…. How would you describe the mix to someone who hasn’t heard of Oslo before? I think the mix is club music. As usual, like all the music that it comes out on Oslo, it’s something between House and Techno with very nice grooves and not so many melodies. I think this CD shows perfectly how so many different artists with different styles, can fit very well together on a project, in this case a CD comp. The album doesn’t have a tracklist. Instead it comes with only an alphabetical list of artist contributors, which means the listener will not know which producer made which tracks. What was the trigger for this exciting concept? Is it a formula you wish to explore in the future? To be honest everything started with the idea of making a CD (something new to the label), and then I thought about doing a CD with only exclusive and unreleased tracks - that way the CD would be special. When everything was almost ready, Christian Burkhardt came up with the idea of no tracklisting - just a list with the name of the artists but without mention who has made each track. And I loved the idea, so here we are. If we talk about the concept, I think it’s a very good and unique thing that allows people to listen the mix without prejudice considered in its entirety. We still don´t know if we will do something similar again or not but we will do more unconventional things in the future. How is the Oslo tour going? What have been the most memorable places to date and why? The Oslo tour is going very well so far and it’s almost finished. I haven’t been in every date so I couldn’t really mention the best tour dates but I can definitely talk about 2 tour dates. Our party in Watergate, Berlin was really amazing and every Oslo artist played there. The second date it is still coming and it’s going to be the official tour closing on 21st January at fabric! What stood out to you most this year in the music news world? What shocked you, inspired you or excited you? This year I had a lot of inspiration from the Bass Solos of Victor Wooten (this guy makes his Bass talk) and the concert of "Wesseltoft Schwarz Duo" at the Mannheim Jazz Festival. Both things were big highlights in terms of inspiration for me. Can you tell us about the artists you’re bringing to Room Three with Ray Okpara and Damian Schwartz next Saturday? What’s going to make this night truly special to new and old Oslo fans? Damian Schwartz has played at fabric many times before but he always played a live set. This time he’s playing his first DJ set. Ray Okpara normally plays as a DJ but he will play live at fabric. On top of that we are going to have the first Oslo showcase in Room Three - personally I like this floor a lot because it has a very nice size and the atmosphere can be really special with the right party. In what ways do you like to find new talent and what new faces should we be looking out for on Oslo this year? Looking for new talents is a very hard thing. Normally new talents send you some material to listen to and that’s the way you can get to know them. The music is very important but also the person is, at least, as important as the music (for me). I would never release something from someone who I thought could make trouble or wouldn’t fit into the crew. For 2012 you can listen on Oslo / Love Letters to new artists such as, Michael Melchner, Skipson, Jorge Savoretti, and some more surprises. What are you most looking forward to for yourself in 2012 and as the label owner of Oslo? 2011 has been a very good year for myself and for the label, so basically I would like to keep releasing good music and maybe incorporate some new faces to the label. Next year we will also start to prepare the next vinyl compilation. It will be out in the beginning of 2013. For myself I just hope to keep on playing a lot in good clubs or festivals, and make a lot of nice music.