Bugo - From lo-fi to stardom

Cristian Bugatti certainly needs no introduction. On the Italian scene for almost a decade now, with his latest album, "Contact", he shifts gears again, confirming himself as one of the finest talents of the new Italian electronic songwriting scene (and beyond). For the first time, Bugo answers our questions, showing us a few sides of his character, between an obsessive attention to look, an insatiable appetite for music, and global crises…

Bugo, first of all, congratulations on the look. On the cover of "Golia & Melchiorre" you're wearing some very cool casual wear, in the booklet for "A contemporary outlook" an ultra-chic white suit, not to mention the latest (very nice) model of shoes you show off in the video for "C'è crisi" (kudos to Lorenzo Vignolo behind the camera). It seems you're someone who takes great care of the "aesthetic" details, and not just in music…

My image is closely tied to the music I make. I like young fashion and I'm constantly on the lookout for young designers. I still work with various people - Milan is full of talented kids, and we often get together to come up with ideas. For me, music has always been fashion too.

Even at the beginning, for my very first albums, I was looking for a style that I'd then bring to the shows.

Let's talk right away about "Contact". Compared to "A contemporary outlook", the production has changed considerably - you went from (no less than) Giorgio Canali to Stefano "Stylophonic" Fontana and Roberto Baldi. Where does Fontana's hand weigh most within the album? How did you get on with them? And is a future collaboration with Morgan still on the cards?

Fontana and Baldi were key in the search for sounds. I needed someone to give my songs a dance imprint, and they pulled it off brilliantly.

In the studio it was light, enjoyable work - we had clear ideas, and you can hear that in the result. Where's Morgan? Who knows what we'll do, if we ever do anything! These things happen spontaneously. Can you imagine an X Factor with me and Morgan?! Help!

Let's get to the songs. In "C'è crisi" you talk about "nutellate di deliri" (dollops of delirium), about "crisis everywhere", read "on people's faces", about emotional ineptitude, about always living as if "nothing were wrong". How did this song come about? Was there some specific inner feeling that led you to write these lyrics?

This phrase, "C'è crisi" (there's a crisis), kept echoing in my head - I heard everyone I met saying it, so I told myself: I'll write a song that starts exactly like that, no frills, "C'è crisi" and so on from there.

My songs come mostly from an external stimulus. My own emotions interest me little, if at all.

In "Primitivo" you focus on excessive well-being, which haunts people, which helps make life frantic and restless. Are you aware that one of the causes of the crisis in the Italian record industry (and elsewhere) is the binge-listening culture driven by rampant downloading? What do you think of all this frenzied consumption, of this unhealthy relationship with the record industry?

You know, this is the situation right now and I live inside it, I try to take the good with the bad. I couldn't do otherwise, it's a matter of survival. Anyway, I don't see it as such a negative situation - it's certainly critical, because change is underway, but I try to keep moving.

In "Cosa fai stasera" you asked "Come il vino io ti bevo, perché ci metti dentro il ghiaccio?", in "Guardo su" you threatened to "usare lo spray"; then, in "Una forza superiore", you started talking about trees to rest under in the shade, and dulcis in fundo, in the recent "Sesto senso" you feel like sorting everything out. What happened? Has your approach to women and the feminine world changed, or is it just a new state of mind that's unconsciously leading you to be more optimistic/open in love?

Actually, "Una forza superiore" is a track I wrote before "Cosa fai stasera" and "Guardo su" - I wrote it back in the days of "Sentimento westernato", but then I decided to let it sit for a while.

I write a lot, and when it's time to make an album I decide what direction to take my lyrics in. Love, then, is an incredible force - a superior one, indeed. One that can't be controlled.

The Italian underground scene keeps producing great talents (Amari, Non Voglio Che Clara, Artemoltobuffa and so on…), who most of the time remain confined to a valley of alternative acts, never able to break out onto wider open fields. You've been on the scene for almost ten years now — what's the atmosphere like in that world? What's your take on the Italian underground and its potential?

I've never felt part of any scene, and I'm certainly neither alternative nor mainstream. I'm not interested in those things. I just make my music and collaborate with people from different backgrounds.

The potential of the Italian underground is immense — I see a lot of ferment in electronic music, but not only there. I'll just say that you shouldn't be afraid to put yourself out there, and often a lot of talents burn out for fear of comparison.

Let's talk labels for a moment. Universal certainly guarantees a bigger budget, more relaxed production schedules, and so on… Looking back now, what do you remember of your experience with Snowdonia? What do you hold onto dearly from those days?

It's a pleasant memory, because that's where it all began for me. I tried to make as much noise as possible to get noticed!

The Bloody Beetroots remixes — they're fantastic, tremendously epic. Then the Justice album. And all these very young Italian remixers, so cool!

How are you organizing your tour? What can we expect?

The show is completely new. New band — they already play together in a project called Bangarang. New songs. New arrangements of the old songs, which now all have an electronic flavor. I'd say you can actually dance at my shows now!

Before wrapping up with one last question, I want to thank you warmly for your time, and wish you all the best for the future. Going back to "Contact" once more, I notice a new appeal, more color given to the whole sonic structure — for instance the instrumental soul digressions that open and close the album. Where did this new urge come from? Do you already have some new shift in direction in the works?

I left rock distortion at home, I couldn't take it anymore. Now I want to be "rock" without guitars, but with an electronic pulse. The instrumentals come from the need to slowly bring the listener into Bugo's new territory. It's an invitation you can accept or decline. So if you go in, you can also come back out…

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