There were plenty of reasons for Londoner James Mathé to simply keep course after the release of his well received debut album, Chemical Campfires in 2008 on Fence Records: a flourishing reputation as one of Britain's most exciting acoustic troubadours, a prominent spot in Johnny Flynn and Jose Gonzales' backing bands, the roar of applause from the audience at a sold-out show at New York's Bowery Ballroom still ringing in his ears. But Mathé had other ideas. “I loved the acoustic scene, but knew it was not all I was about,” he remembers. “So I dug out all my old Casiotone keyboards, drum machines and analogue synths and just started writing.”

Bloodlines, then, is a compelling reinvention and sees Mathé’s emotive missives from young adulthood rewired into elegiac electronic anthems, dusted with huge spectral gasps of reverb and soul-wrenching organ melodies. Unusually for such an electronic album, it was recorded on vintage analogue gear and straight to tape.  “I really fancied getting back to basics,” says Mathé “I was tired of trying to iron out all the mistakes in modern production. I wanted to record live to tape, keeping all the mistakes in, warts and all.”   

From the sultry ache of opener Bloodline – a nod to Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy “about not picking up the bad habits of the generation before you”, says Mathé – to the Pharrell Williams-inspired urban crunch of ‘Turbine’, all the way to ‘The Load’, written when Mathé was indulging in his love of Jurassic 5 era 90s hip hop, Bloodlines is a brilliantly varied listen that pulls and paws at your heartstrings.    If there's a gloriously loose, tenebrous feel to songs like the blue-eyed electro-soul ‘Pagliacco’, it might have something to do with the Londoner's organic approach to song writing. “I just sit down with my dictaphone and make sense of what comes out afterwards. The best stuff usually comes when I’m hungover or not really thinking. The minute I try to be clever with words, it just sounds shit,” Mathé laughs.  Instead, the album's lyrics burn with a simple, poignant immediacy and Mathé sings them with touching, soulful grace. 

Recently signed to iconic London label Memphis Industries (Field Music, POLIÇA, The Go! Team, Dutch Uncles), Mathé is influenced by everything from soul men Stevie Wonder, D'Angelo and Levon Helm to Dirty Projectors and Sufjan Stevens but points to one inspiration in particular for the overall mood of Bloodlines – Vincent Gallo’s cult '90s film Buffalo 66, a twisted romance about a tap dancer who falls for her convict kidnapper – “the end scene which features Yes's Heart of the Sunrise and the scene with Cristina Ricci dancing to King Crimson’s Moonshine at a bowling hall especially,” he notes. 

Tender yet triumphant, Bloodlines marks Mathé as one of Britain's most versatile and adventurous artists.


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Massimiliano Pagliara was born in Tricase (Lecce) in the deep south of Italy. Already as a child he listened to diverse types of music: rap, classical, reggae, dub and 60s rock'n'roll. Coming from this small village, he and his friends created a small musical world for themselves, spending a lot of time every day playing records in his basement and at private parties.
Upon moving to Milan in 1997, Massi embarked on an academic career and eventually earned his diploma in theatre, dance and choreography at the Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi in 2001. While discovering the fashionable and alternative club scene of the city, his imagination was captured by experimental electronic music such as Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Autechre and Mira Calix. Naturally these avant-garde sounds eventually found their way into Massi's original body of work.
After finishing school he ventured to Europes underground capital Berlin, where he continued his studies in contemporary dance, but also dived into the city's explosive techno nightlife, particularly the renowned OstGut club. Massi's interest in electronic music found its peak in 2003 when he finally began to pursue DJing with a passion. Ever since he's been spinning records across the world as well as some of the most popular underground venues in Germany – among them Tape Club, SchwuZ, Tresor, ://about blank, Robert Johnson, and of course Berghain / Panorama Bar, where he holds a residency.
Massi describes his style as an eclectic mix of house, disco, electro and techno – one may call it current-yet-classic. DJing has since led to productio. These days Massi lets his obsession with analog synths run wild – usually he's holed up in his apartment studio, working on his latest productions. 2011 saw the release of his debut album Focus For Infinity (on Live At Robert Johnson), followed by his sophomore LP With One Another in 2014. February 2017 saw his debut release on Ostgut Ton with the EP Time And Again. Since then, Massi has worked on various EPs, remixes, single track, all culminating in the late 2018 release of his third full-length solo album, titled Feel Live. February 2020 saw his debut on Munich's label Permanent Vacation with his new EP Nothing Stays In One Place For Long, in 2021 he's added the third part of his Uncanny Valley label trilogy with the EP Connection Lost Pt. 3. His latest album See You In Paradise releases in October 2022, once again with Permanent Vacation.
But he’s not always alone: Massi has been collaborating with luminaries around town such as gui.tar, Snax, Daniel Wang, Lemercier & The Lala By, Discodromo as well international artists. This lead to several side projects over the last decade, such as [sic!] with the two members of gui.tar, The Rimshooters with the Brazilian DJ and producer Rotciv, Egyptian Nipples with the multi-instrumentalist Jules Etienne, Banana Moon with Luigi Di Venere, Couple Looking with Chris Cruse to name just a few.
There's an ongoing lust for dialogue when it comes to Massimiliano Pagliara – be it through his collaborations and solo productions, during his DJ sets, with his own music label Funnuvojere Records or on a personal level. The world of dance, movement and communication is deeply rooted in Massi's life – when you know how to move yourself, you easily know how to move others.

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