Lele Sacchi

“I’m totally pro the mass diffusion of quality.” Milanese house mainstay Lele Sacchi introduces his music.

Who are you?

Lele Sacchi, DJ, producer, radio DJ and promoter in the electronic and club music scene since 1995, based in Milan. Generally I feel lucky and proud of having been able to make a living out of something that I’ve loved since I was a kid. In one way or another I always only wanted to work within the music industry.

What do you sound like?

House. When I produce, I aim to create tracks that you’d find difficult to pinpoint the year/period in which it was released. Music should be timeless, without an expiry date.

Why should we listen to you?

I guess because having been in this game for so long and knowing music from many genres, I always try to make something that should stand the test of time, in quality and depth and feelings. This is true for my own music and my DJ sets.

What have you released so far? What else have you got coming out in the near future?

My first production and my first mix compilation came out way back in 2000. I’ve produced under different aliases, the most well known being Boogie Drama.

In the last 12 months I had a good run of releases under my own name though: one single that was born out of a collaboration with legendary NYC alternative rockers Blonde Redhead and was released on Rebirth (so proud of this kind of crossover of styles!); a single on Prins Thomas’s much revered Internasjonal label; a tune on the 2020Vision summer sampler and this month my latest EP, Try To Understand Me, on my buddy’s label Lyase.

In the next couple of months it’s mostly remixes. I’ve been asked to rework album tracks for Soul Clap and System of Survival.

What song sums you up? Why?

Talking Heads‘ ‘Psycho Killer’. But not for the title (at least not yet!) I have to choose something non house or electronic because of my indie and punk(-ish) background. ‘Psycho Killer’ is a punk/new-wave song. I love mutations. It’s an amazing song from a cultured and creative scene that nobody can criticise, but it became very very famous: I’m totally pro the mass diffusion of quality.

What or who is your biggest influence and why?

For many different reasons I’d have to say Andrew Weatherall. He was the very first DJ that I listened to (in my case in 1993) that made me say: this is what I want to do in life. We might not sound alike nowadays, but what he’s done as a producer in the early 90s, turning a lot of indie heads onto electronic and techno, has been a defining moment for myself and many others. He’s still an amazing DJ too.

Where can we hear your music?

The country I played the most in is Italy and I have a residency in Milan at Wall and one starting soon at Venice/Jesolo’s legendary Il Muretto. The other place you can catch me is at Circoloco at DC10 Ibiza in the summertime and in some of their international events. Or if you like Italian language, I run a weekend show on Italy’s state radio, RAI, on Radio2 every Saturday and Sunday. You can stream it, it’s called Radio2 InTheMix.

You can check out my own music on my SoundCloud, Facebook and Twitter.

Where will you be in five years’ time?

Hopefully still in the music business and hopefully still having the possibility of traveling the world DJing… Meeting and talking with all these incredible people that animate the culture and music scene. Also I’d like to have at least a couple of LPs out…

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

I collect gin bottles and I’m quite good at bartending (or being a mixologist as it’s been labelled recently!) and in fact I am a shareholder of a bar in the famous Navigli area of Milano.

Find him on Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud.