Albert Chiovenda

(Machine Label / Granulart / HAYES)

“I was lucky enough to grow up in the ’90s and be exposed to all the crazy Detroit, Dutch & German techno that was coming out during that era…,” Albert’s musical journey is a geographical journey that spanned the best years of the ’90s and would result in the moniker XXX.

Albert has been a playing at events such as 10th Planet, Jungle Punks, Acid Faction, Deep Space, Fuzz Box, Strange Signals, Anomaly, and the infamous Trench events. But years before, in 1992 Chiovenda was a young man who defied both his parents and the law. Frustrated with their son’s disobedience, his parents sent him away to live with relatives in Rome, Italy. “I was living in Sydney when I was younger when my parents sent me overseas - I got totally schooled when I was there in the early 90’s..musically & culturally.” It was here that the seeds of what was to be Albert was born and the young Chiovenda, only 17 in 1992, experienced the burgeoning sound of European techno. “All the raves I went to were quite big it was pretty crazy, I was quite young so it was all new to me, so many radio stations played techno 24/7.”

In a city of ancient ruins and Papal monuments, a city that had seen thousands of years of trend and change, Chiovenda found himself exploring the tech rave underbelly hidden from the tourist view and located amongst the squalor and danger that came along with a Europe yet to refocus its social policy towards the new millennium. “It was that period when all the UR & Detroit stuff was pretty fresh, plus it was a culture shock for me! Coming from Australia then going to Rome was pretty full on. That’s when the penny dropped for me musically” In 1994, at the age of 19, Chiovenda returned to Australia, his horizons expanded, his musical fancy tickled, and his eyes having been opened. He turned to reflecting on his experience by continuing his pursuit of the techno he fell for when in Rome, a pursuit that would not only shape his coming years but the way he approached them.

“The music is an internal thing for me, I love that whole mind separation when people connect with what I play, but this does not happen all the time. People like predictability in music, I don’t, and sometimes they don’t like the feeling of not being in control musically. Open your mind and close your eyes!” Unlike a great number of DJ’s who judge a sets success on the external reactions of the audience, Chiovenda is driven to move your inner psyche.

His love of ambient music is pronounced in his sets with citing influences in Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Brian Eno, Thomas Köner, Phillip Glass & Steve Reich. Combine this with his techno heroes Stanislav Tolkachev, Inigo Kennedy, Jeff Mills, Juan Atkins, Jay Denham, Female, Regis, Claude Young, Ben Sims, Surgeon, James Ruskin & Developer and you have a performer that redefines the notion of DJ as party room hero, to DJ as cognitive musical therapist.

“You know what I mean about internal music yeah? Yeah that’s the thing, my mixes are always unpredictable like not dropped on the 4th kick - just random - and it works! I never plan my mixes…but you still need to be musically cultured to do this, and not fuck up!” Chiovenda believes the music is more about what it makes you think than how it sounds, and with his sets he challenges the audience to let their own guard down, and become one with everything they have internalised.

Taking a step back from the podcast Albert decided to focus on production quickly honing his cereal style to be included in complation’s on labels such as If? Records, Concepto Hipnotico, Sigma5, Complex Textures, SRIE, DVNTT & Music From Exo-Planet along with the EPSILON ERIDANI EP via Parabola in 2017 and UNTIL THE END EP via DVNTT in 2018 he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

I am very excited about my forthcoming vinyl release with Tolkachev remixes via Music From Exo-Planet.

Albert has also contributed to the mammoth Tribology compilation curated by Ben Sims via his Machine label which was released in December 2018.