FIRST LOOK: FLASHMOB DON’T LEAVE

Milan’s dynamic duo has done it again. Flashmob returns with a debut release on their own eponymous label. The house cut titled ‘Don’t Leave’ features Lowheads and has solidified its spot in sets for heavy hitters across the board. Danny and Alessandro combine an incredible work ethic and creative talent in equal measure with results that speak for themselves.

With a heart wrenching vocal over a blocky tough beat, the track premiered by Annie Mac on BBC Radio One and soon after has caught praise from the likes of Maya Jane Coles, Disclosure, Eats Everything, Laurent Garnier, Erol Alkan and tons more—including French icon DJ W!ld who loved the original so much he made his own dub.

With such an extensive reach among some of the industry’s heaviest hitters and an intoxicating melodic bassline, the track’s poised to dominate dancefloors all summer long.

Watch the video for ‘Don’t Leave’, featured on ‘Defected In the House - Ibiza 2015‘ compilation and check out our head to head interview with Flashmob after the jump... 

Tell us the story behind the video concept with the girl and the balloon? It’s very striking...
Flashmob: “The music video for‚ ’Don’t Leave’ is inspired by a French movie from the ‘50s called, Le Ballon Rouge by Maurice Le Roux. It’s an old story of a kid taking a red balloon around the beautiful and romantic city of Paris. The idea behind this is that love is for everyone and that we should all try finding some for others, too. The video tells a story about a girl finding out that the‚ love of your life exists for everyone, if you just believe in it and look for it. We’re super happy with the result thanks to the Satisvibe team who produced the video and of course to Jules Philippi, the director, who did an amazing job!”

Studio wise, you are working a lot now with analog equipment and have made a special production kit for other producers to use when making their own music. What’s so special about hardware in the studio and what are your essential pieces of kit?
“We use the analogue filter MF101 Moogerfooger to process the old sample we take from our vinyl collections and at the same time we use it to give drive to the 909 kicks. Then we use an analogue sequencer called, ‘Doepfer Dark Time‘ to create deep and heavy bass reefs. We use the TT303 (Cyclone) to do all the acid influenced things of course and the MS20 both for the bass lines and to process HH and claps.

The song in the video ‘Don’t Leave' (featuring Lowheads) is released on your own label project Flashmob Records and we see from Beatport that there’s also a Flashmob Ltd. How has it been launching your own label projects having spent many years working on other people? Have you taken your experiences with other labels and used them to help shape the way you run your own?
“Not really to be quite honest. We had several labels in the past with other projects that actually not many people know about. We have a number of secret aliases. We decided to start our own platform a few months back, it’s a natural process when you get to to a certain point in your career. On Flashmob Records we only release our own music, the material for dance floors and songs that make you wanna sing along (like ‘Don’t Leave’). Flashmob LTD is mostly a family and friends thing - we release tracks that we like from artists we like and wanna support, no matter if they are well known or just in the very beginning of their career. The label is growing rapidly thanks to a number of great producers releasing on it like Memoryman, Julien Sandre, Wouter De Moor, Mennie, Michelle Owen and Felix Da Housecat - we’re currently awaiting an EP from Dj W!ld.”

What’s coming up next on the Flashmob labels and what other music projects can we look forward to seeing from you over the coming months?
“We recently released remixes on Viva Music for DJ Le Roi and on Moon Harbour for Luna City Express. A remix we made for DJ W!ld should also be released soon on his WLAbel. We have a release coming up on Objektivity’s OBJ vinyl-only/ analogue label, which will be around June, when our new sample library concept will be launched on Beatport. Over the summer, we have a six-track EP on Berlin’s Little Helpers label and a two-track EP on Alan Fitzpatrick’s vinyl-only label called ‘ESD’, Besides this we are preparing our next Flashmob Records release and also have a new one for Flashmob LTD ready. This week our track ‘Don’t Leave‘ is out again on Defected for their ‘Defected In The House - Ibiza 2015‘ compilation, mixed by the big boss Simon Dunmore. Honestly, we’re very honored to be featured on this great release!”

WORDS: STEVE VAYNSHTOK