Michele Mininni: Pop Archetypes Album Insights & Interview

Welcome to another exciting edition of KONO’s Track Talk! Today, we have the pleasure of diving into the sonic world of Michele Mininni and his latest release, “Pop Archetypes,” on Hell Yeah Recordings. Michele, an innovative Italian artist known for his eclectic approach to electronica, has crafted a 15-track opus that fuses broken beats, worldly rhythms, jazz, and live drums into a mesmerizing journey. With previous releases on renowned labels like R&S, Optimo Trax, and Internasjonal, Michele brings a unique blend of global sounds and deep emotional resonance to his debut album. Join us as Michele takes us through the key tracks of this captivating musical adventure.

“This album for me represents the search for a symbiotic balance between form and substance, the synthesis between expressive richness and ‘song form’…”

Spinning Around Cotton Candy

I immediately thought it would be perfect as the opening track. It envelops you in spirals of softness and makes you dream of far better worlds. For me, it represents an immersion into a sugary dream, where you keep spinning in a liquid and evanescent dimension, like going back to childhood when everything around you is just part of a fairy tale written just for you.

When I compose a track, I’m more interested in the atmosphere than the instruments. Instruments are just tools and must be at my service. My goal is to make them disappear behind the overall vision: when you look at a painting, you appreciate the whole, then delve into the details. It’s the ensemble that makes the difference.

Golden Room

You know that titling the tracks is the most fun and enjoyable part for me? It’s my favorite moment in making music because it connects two different languages that must speak the same tongue. In these 2 minutes, I see a sparkle of sounds, a sense of luminescence and claustrophobia traveling together, like looking at yourself in a metallic room you can’t escape from. Maybe it’s the same room I shut myself in to create the album, I don’t know, but in my mind, I wanted to represent this unsettling experience made of reflected light.

Bangkok Tempo

I hear laments akin to an enchanting chant, which simultaneously attracts and repels. Yeah, this track was born from that vocal loop. From the start, I wanted to express the idea of a multicultural journey within the album that would take me far from my daily life. After all, music serves this purpose, to travel without moving your legs.

For many, this track might seem short, but length is just a set parameter that influences our judgments in the absence of a relative and complex vision. Its length suffices for its function.

Your Happiness, My Sadness

This track was born from a thought I cannot reveal. A thought that was neither sad nor happy: it resembled a shrug, one that absolves you from any judgment of failure or victory. You simply say, “that’s how it went.” I was seeking a mood balanced between joy and melancholy, indecipherable, something ecstatic that would transport me to a Zen garden to rest and elevate my mind to new levels of awareness. It’s a kind of soul refuge where you can fold into yourself without any judgment.

Urban Voodoo

The market in my hometown, Taranto, is a noisy place, rich with proud and defeated humanity, where shouts intertwine with metallic noises to often culminate in unintentional harmonies. I happened to listen to this track in this Babel of truth, walking with my AirPods at full volume among the stalls: it felt like being in a B-movie, but more importantly, I felt my roots resonate so strongly that I was moved. I thought, that’s me, I come from there, even though I’ve been away for many years. That’s what music is, the involuntary expression of who we are.

The Magic of Synesthesia

As a child, I never wanted to stop playing, and even as an adult, I don’t understand why we make our lives monotonous by being ashamed of playing. I still remember the hours spent in front of a video game in a bar near my home when I was 12 years old. This track is the soundtrack of my desire to play and discover new levels even as an adult. I still vividly recall the flashes from the monitor and the smell of chewing gum in the bar, that’s the magic, the magic of my synesthesia.

Carousel of Tears

It would be too presumptuous to claim to want to create the soundtrack of a hypothetical end of the world, yet I thought of nothing else but the end of a long journey during these 5 minutes, when ancestral memories, aspirations, and cosmic tensions mix, farewell tears and the nullification of time. Past and future no longer exist and become a cosmic and bucolic sonic orgy, imploding into a silent black hole that marks the end of everything. But now I wonder, is it really over?

End conclusion.

Thank you, Michele Mininni, for sharing your poetic insights and the creative journey behind “Pop Archetypes.” This album is a true testament to the power of music to transcend boundaries and evoke deep emotions. Be sure to check out “Pop Archetypes,” available now on Hell Yeah Recordings, and immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of sounds Michele has woven together. Stay tuned for more inspiring track talks, and don’t forget to follow Michele on his musical adventures!

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Kono Vidovic

DJ | MUSIC CURATOR & SELECTOR | PODCAST MAKER | BLOGGER Professional online interpreneur. Coffee practitioner. Electronic music culture maven. Total music guru. Infuriatingly humble problem solver. Food & sports fanatic.

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