Praised by Blanc Audio and Techno Bible, UK’s rising tech house talent, ALTO, is generating buzz with his distinctive sound, a compelling blend of heavy percussion and influences from various genres.
Photo Credit: ALTO – Facebook
Industry heavyweights like wAFF, Francisco Allendes, Andrea Oliva, Max Chapman, Mason Collective, Leftwing:Kody, Will Taylor, and many others have expressed admiration and support for his tracks.
With multiple top 100 Beatport chart positions, an increasing number of bookings and releases, ALTO is on a steady rise. His childhood passion for electronic dance music resonates in his tracks and performances. His affinity for hip-hop and Romanian minimal vocals has shaped his signature sound, which is well-received by audiences and peers alike.
EG recently had the opportunity to delve deeper into ALTO’s journey, exploring his creative process, his recent successful edit of ‘Age Of Love’, and his dreams for the future, including his aspiration to play at Space Miami.
EG: Hi, ALTO! Welcome to EG. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. How have you been? What have you been up to?
ALTO: Thanks so much for having me! I have been very well. To be honest, I’ve mainly been playing shows around the UK to start the year, and then these last two weeks, I’ve been locked in the studio making some new beats for the summer.
EG: Sounds exciting. By the way, congratulations on the success of your edit of ‘Age Of Love’! You must be thrilled. What has the initial reception been like so far? What are some of your initial feelings?
ALTO: Yeah, it’s been crazy since Paco Osuna played it in Hi Ibiza last summer, so I guess the hype just grew from that. So, I’ve been very pleased with that one, and then to see Wheats start playing it when I released it was a real full-circle moment for me! Extremely grateful to all the people who are downloading and streaming the edit.
EG: So, what drove you to take on such a classic like ‘Age Of Love’? What was “missing” from the original piece that called to you?
ALTO: It’s been one of my favorite old-school records, and I remember my dad playing it and always liked it, so I wanted to give it a tech house rework. I really wanted to make the track have a more rolling feel to it by adding a new bassline to it.
EG: You actually have a long list of unique edits, including some which are not the normal ‘go-to’ kind of tracks. How do you select what track to edit? When do you know that you could put your own spin on it?
ALTO: Normally when I select a track to edit, it’s one that I’m enjoying playing at home when chilling out, which I feel would work well in a tech house record. For example, my edit of ‘Clandestina’, I heard the original while on holiday in Ibiza in a taxi, which then made me want to edit it. This edit then grew in popularity, ending up with Michael Bibi and Marco Carola playing it back-to-back on the Space Miami terrace!
“Normally when I select a track to edit, it’s one that I’m enjoying playing at home when chilling out”
EG: Your Signature sound combines underground tech house with hip hop and Romanian minimal vocals. How did this particular blend come to be?
ALTO: To be honest, I’ve always been into Ricardo Villalobos, DIGWAH, so I guess that’s where the Romanian minimal vocals come from in my production. The hip hop vocals are from my love of hip hop which has been since a young age. One of my favorite hip hop artists is Nate Dogg, which led to me doing a flip of his classic ‘Gangsta Walk,’ which resulted in Jamie Jones playing it at Hi Ibiza back-to-back with The Martinez Brothers, which was another crazy moment for me!
EG: So, how did you first come in contact with electronic dance music? Was there a song or show that pushed you down the rabbit hole?
ALTO: I first came into contact with electronic dance music in my house due to my parents being old acid house ravers, so electronic dance music has always been played in my house as a child growing up, so I guess the spark came from that.
EG: Now you’ve played at venues like Lab11, 93 Feet East, Basing House, Rolling Stock, Leake Street Tunnels, and Aures. Is there a dream venue or show on the list?
ALTO: One of my dream venues to play would have to be Space Miami! Especially a sunrise terrace set, that would be dope.
EG: Speaking about shows, let’s step outside of the studio for a bit…What are your thoughts on the current state of the music scene? Are these gigantic LED screens taking too much away from the music? What’s your take on the use of AI?
ALTO: I think the current state of the music scene at the minute is great with lots of young talent emerging from around the world, especially from Latin America, which is great to see in my promo inbox! To be honest, I love a good stage production, however, my main focus is always the music at my shows! I think the use of AI has both its pluses and minuses like everything, so I am looking forward to seeing how the future of AI in music goes.
“I first came into contact with electronic dance music in my house due to my parents being old acid house ravers”
EG: Finally, can you provide some insights into what’s next for ALTO? What can we expect from you in the coming months?
ALTO: I’m looking forward to playing E1 in London at the end of this month, which will be an amazing show! In the next few months, you can expect more shows / extended sets and many new edits on my Soundcloud for you all to enjoy and stream!
EG: Thank you so much for your time, ALTO! We wish you all the best for the future. See you on the dancefloor!
ALTO: Much love everyone! Hopefully, see you on a dance floor soon.
ALTO’s ‘Age Of Love’ edit is now available. Listen here.
Follow ALTO: Spotify | Soundcloud | Instagram
