Next up in the Sinchi series are our friends from French platform ‘Minitel. Sharing many of the same loves in New Wave , Indie Dance and Italo, we are delighted to welcome them and introduce the creative minds behind the scene.
1) Please Introduce yourself?
Minitel is a one year old retro-futuristic brand specialised in indie dance, Italo disco, New Wave/Beat created by Nino(Sweet Music), Julien (Sweet Music,Hosted label manager, and solo Dj project : Unlens ) and Franck (Resident Dj of Funki Safari collective, Solo Dj Project: Amertume ).
We do mostly premieres on our youtube and soundcloud, publish podcasts from labels,artists and collectives, and also release free downloadable tracks mostly edits of music from the 80’s & 90’s proposed by the artists or requested by us to them. We communicate also on instagram with original graphic designs and special videos with a fun 80’s and 90’s touch. The name Minitel comes from a fantastic French communication device technology created in the 80′s (kind of internet ancestor)
2) With the never-ending series of lockdowns and ongoing restrictions, how have you been spending your time in recent months?
Mostly listening to a lot of music for the Minitel. Thengoing outside as often as possible
to get some fresh air, see friends and have a couple of craft beers ( when it is/was allowed)
3) Whats new in the world on Minitel?
A few months ago we recorded a live Dj Set at néonair studios which can be watched on néonair youtube channel, it was a fantastic moment with a super professional team.
We will continue to push the media with exclusive premieres, podcasts, and free downloads.. and hopefully have Minitel Gigs in clubs when they will re open.
4) What can you tell us about the podcast? Was there specific inspiration or a particular vibe you were going for? Do you have a favourite track in there?
it’s never easy to make a podcast, cause we prefer long sets played live when we have time to tell the best story possible and variate tempo and styles… But this podcast can relate a bit to the kind of music we like and play for an audience.. it’s mostly indie dance with a 80’s/90’s touch, some balearic vibes and new beat grooves.
Its difficult to give a favourite as we like them all but there is a fire Arabian edit of Lau Tropico, we are also in love with the closing track which is from Don Kashew called Bamboo (which will be released end of April on the Subject to Restrictions label)… the first part is downtempo and then suddenly after the break it changes into electro new wavish madness … really brilliant!
And how can we talk about Indie dance without our two talented and well known French guys Damon Jee & Darlyn Vlys… Always producing Indie Dance bangers ! Both are present in our selection with “Doble Impacto” from Darlyn and a forthcoming Damon Jee “Suicidal World” on his label Dust & Blood.
5) How have your listening habits changed over the last year? Are you still actively looking for new music with the absence of gigs? Or perhaps feeling different vibes ? And are there any tracks that have really stood out for you in the last year and why?
We guess our habits didn’t changed , we still see the music the same way we used to see it and feel it ..
We are listening music everyday and that can be new music, old music, very old music, and not necessarily electronic music, depends also on the mood of the day .. but maybe we are listening more music than usual for the last year we’ve had more time ( working from home etc )
6) Who or what are your biggest musical influences?
We have influences in every kind of music.Everything is connected in a way and that’s also the beauty of electronic music, because it comes from jazz, disco, pop ,classical etc. We are as fascinated by the beauty of the music of Debussy, Satie, Coltrane as the awesome music of Bowie, Queen,Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd or Depeche Mode to name a few. ( Depeche Mode is maybe a bigger influence than the others, maybe one of the artists/bands we admire the most… their career and music is just amazing) But the styles of influence maybe would be New Wave/New beat , Italo Disco and a lot of pop and eurodance songs of the 80’s and 90’s.
7) Tell us about 3 DJ’s / Producer’s we may not know but should be looking out for?
ahah pretty sure you already know them.. hard to give names but recently we discovered Lau Tropico and Mouissie.. great guys and very good music. We also love the mood and edits from Hotaru , she’s a japonese producer and make some great music and edits.
8) What is your favourite Venue or Festival to play at and why?
As Minitel is a recent project we haven’t had the chance yet to perform a Minitel Dj Set in a venue or festival .. but we have played in some festivals and a lot of clubs for our personnel projects… each has and had a different but really nice vibe .. we don’t have a kind of preference ..it can be in a very small club with a good atmosphere and close to the audience but also in a big open air with a nice view and crazy scenography.
If we take our personnel Dj Projects, our best souvenirs we would say for festivals would be “Ozora Festival” for Franck (fantastic open air festival in Hungary .. amazing people and vibes ) and club maybe the SEone (RIP) in London for a big rave ( it was an unforgettable 4 hour Dj Set.. ‘maybe the craziest dancers i ever seen.. such a fantastic energy’) And for Julien, one of his best experience was the Showcase (a big club in Paris under a bridge near the Seine )
9) Do you have a ritual before you start playing or straight after?
As we are passionate by craft beers….yes a good one before playing and a couple or some after.
10) What is your favourite film score?
Impossible to choose just one.. it can be Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone, a music from the french movie Tandem by Richard Cocciante called “Il mio rifugio”, The Score from Virgin Suicides by Air.. or recently we really liked the score of Call me by your name.
11) What makes you smile?
Franck : the kindness, the delicacy, the altruism in human relationships…
Julien : Watching the Facebook profile of Franck each morning (he is an artist and makes some funny videos for his friends ahah)
Also, For sure the beauty of a song or track and of course a meeting with friends… full of laughs and craft beers with no planning of what we happen after.. just letting go and enjoying the moment