For its food and history, Italy’s culture is near unrivalled but, by contrast, its underground music culture is a little harder to get to grips with. That doesn’t mean a bit of digging won’t bear fruit, as we’ve found with Parker Madicine. The Milan-native has found a home on Brooklyn label Bastard Jazz, with his Detroit-boogie-meets-cosmic-house productions, while his own CT-HI Records has become a hotbed for nurturing local talent. He seems as good a person as any to take on a virtual tour of his hometown, with a 100% Milan mix to accompany.
Keep an eye out for the next CT-HI releases from Parker Madacine, Turbojazz and Jazz Madacine (their collaboration).
For more Parker Madicine on STW:
Premiere: Parker Madicine – Carnival Into Space (Unreleased Dub)
Below you can find an annotated Google Map of Parker Madicine’s guide to Milan, accompanied by an explanations of his choices.
Favourite places to buy records?
Absolutely Vinyl Brokers, they’re friends, good selection of funk, jazz, soul and a lot of boogie disco twelve inches, good prices and two decks for listening (they’ve a good discogs shop too).
Favourite live music venue?
Well, in Milan there are lots of venues for concerts, I can give you two of our favourites. The first, in the centre of Milan is the Tunnel Club, the venue I managed from 2009 to May 2015, for the next season I’ll be an external freelance consultant for the club cause I’ve got other projects for the future. There you can find a really good sound system (Nexo PA) and fantastic internal acoustics, due to a strange and natural elliptic form with strong cement walls, (it was an old warehouse of the Milan central station of the city). The second recommendation is Villa Arconati, an amazing villa built in 1610, full of beautiful gardens and fountains outside of Milan, home of Villa Arconati Festival, personally I was there during the past years for Kraftwerk, Erika Badu and many others acts.
Favourite club / best sound system?
Always Tunnel, not only for the audio system because there’s other good audio systems in Milan, but as I mentioned before, for the interior acoustic feeling inside the club.
Favourite outdoor party?
Mmm..not really easy to find good locations in the summer here, I think one of the best venue (one of the few we have) is the Circolo Magnolia, good soundsystem (not a lot of volume cause the municipality is very strict for this).
Best view of the city?
For me…that I’m down with cycling…it’s the summit of Cornizzolo, a very tough mountain climb, it’s 35 km far from the centre of Milan, but there (if you are still alive after 8 km) you can see Milan as a picture…
The place to experience something unique to Milan?
Let’s go to via Lincoln! Its an amazing small street near the center of Milan, its an old workers’ house village built around 1895, never changed, incredible. I found it some years ago and I was going crazy over this, so I did some research…look here to find some info (in Italian unfortunately).
The first place you miss after leaving Milan?
My house and…the Idroscalo, a huge area near Linate Airport, it’s an artificial lake with an amazing park.
Where will you find the friendliest, most interesting locals to have a chat with?
In my opinion NOT in Navigli Area (the huge and famous ‘hipster’ area, full of people and bars but a bit commercial for me now), but the best zone to find good places is ‘Isola’, a really cool quarter of the city.
Best place to see another medium of art other than music?
Triannale. A prestigious, modular and flexible building, it is specifically conceived to host great exhibitions and museum activities, 12,000 sqm of exhibition rooms and areas dedicated to the public in the heart of Milan. It’s an icon for Milanese people.
Best local grub?
Impossible to answer ahahahh…but I can help you like this: if you need a fantastic pizza go to Il Tegamino, if you want to see a ‘true’ trattoria as if you were in Milan in the 70’s then go to Trattoria Albero Fiorito, if you need a special place (like an old Italian classic open air bowling parlour) and eating Italian traditional cuisine then go to Ubarba, if you need burgers and special salads in a huge courtyard then go to Santeria Milano.
Is there a person (dead or alive) who encapsulates Milan for you?
Yes Gianni Brera, a famous football journalist born near Pavia but he was the symbol of Milan for me…
Tell us a little about the mix you made for us. When/where did you record it? Was there a particular side of Milan you were trying to portray? Do you have any standout tracks?
I did it last night, I put a lot of energy, trying to mix soul moods, techno old school tracks, a mix of what I’m searching for when I usually play in the clubs…this mix can be a mixture of portraits of my city, the rush hour…noises, energy, but also quiet atmosphere, elegance and history. Stand out tracks? No…feel the wave and enjoy.
Parker Madicine and Turbojazz of CT-HI Records – 15/01/2014 – Milan
What would you like people to know about Milanese music, if they’re not already familiar?
Come also to check the Blue Note Milan…amazing place to listen artists like Bob James, Ron Carter, Blackbyrds, Ahmad Jamal…
Who are some of your favourite up-and-coming musicians/artists coming out of Milan right now?
Turbojazz, Fabio Monesi, Robotalco and…me??? ahahahah
And finally, what’s on the horizon for you, over the summer and towards the end of the year?
Well, now I’m starting a new exiting adventure as artistic director of a new important venue that will open around October in Milan, 1100 square meters, composed by a coworker, music/art & book shop, an amazing concert hall with stage and a really good sound-system, a print club (perfect to make experiments for my music label!) and a social bar with another stage for live acts etc. Then obviously my baby: CT-HI Records, definitely we want to put out 3 EP’s between November 2015 and April 2016, we’ll launch soon our new website and so…good stuff on the horizon here in Milan.
Tracklist
Gerardo Frisina – ‘Reporter’
Turbojazz Feat. Kae & Erik Rico – ‘Gimme What You Got’
LoopTherapy – ‘HypnopotamusAmphibius’
Fred Simon – ‘Flawlessence’
Boot & Tax – ‘Sazarda Gente’
Jazz Madicine Feat. Veez-O ‘Astrocaro’
Robotalco – ‘Flyng High’
Parker Madicine ‘Life On Mars’
Dnn – ‘Servant’
Jazz Madicine ‘Chez Pete’ (Interlude)
Enrico Intra Trio ‘Fiora Blues’
Turbojazz – ‘Na Mina’
