We sat down with Mauro Somm (25 years old based in Buenos Aires, Argentina) for an interview to dig out more about him personally and his work. What is the information we got of him so far? An artist full of passion and love for music who through the years was able to show a wide range of different styles of techno.
Listen Now: Premiere: Mauro Somm “Next ” – CODEX
His real name is Mauro Sebastian Sommaruga and it is not a secret that we are talking with a ”banger maker” thus recognized by several of his colleagues in the industry.
His music has been played in the best festivals in the world such as Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival, EDC Las Vegas, Awakenings, Loveland, Verknipt, and got supported by the best artists of the moment: Adam Beyer, Popof, Julian Jeweil, James Hype, Sam Paganini, Danny Tenaglia, UMEK, Christian Smith, Space 92, among others.
Mauro is also the first Argentine artist to produce music along with the French legend Popof including a remix of Julian Jeweil, we are going to talk about this for sure !
His best and most supported works are ”Deep Control” (released in Unrilis), ”Bring The Noise” (a collaboration track along with Belocca), ”Mad Lines” (released in Union Three), ”Hexagon” (Form Music), ”Tokyo” (Urnilis), etcetera.
He also played at several top notch night clubs in Buenos Aires such as Crobar Club, Rio Electronic Music, Blow (where Under Club parties are made), Bahrein Club, Roomie Club, etc.
Watch Now: Mauro Somm @ Live Fenomenal Festival, Roomie Club, Mar Del Plata 15/07/2023
Hello Mauro it is a pleasure to have you here with us today, we hope everything is going really well with you, congratulations on your upcoming release on Spartaque’s Codex recordings, can you tell us a little bit about this EP?
Hello guys thank you very much ! It is a two tracks EP that I made trying to combine the best out of Raw Techno and Peak Time Techno flith in groove and aggressiveness. Also I really liked the long introduction of me, you pointed out the most important things in my career so far.
Nice Mauro ! What can you tell us about you today? What are you working on lately?
Today I am developing a new modern sound in techno, always trying to be original while staying updated in the current styles in the mainstream and underground. I am working with energetic phrased vocals, synthesizers inspired by EDM and Melodic Techno but always aimed to fit the Techno essence. Lately I am working with the french legend Alexandre Paounov aka Popof in several EPs, he is actually dropping one of our tracks at all of his presentations ”Connected to Yourself”. Also we have another track called ”Welcome to the Future” that my favourite Techno producer Julian Jeweil remixed it and it is being played by Adam Beyer more than 4 times already !
Oh wow ! These are amazing news, can you tell us how did you guys met? Because you are so far apart in the world.
Haha yes it is true ! Popof lives in Paris and I live in Buenos Aires, but he comes to Argentina very frequently for his shows. He had a particular gig in Mar Del Plata (a beautiful beach city in Buenos Aires) where he dropped my track ”Deep Control”. I wasn’t there personally but my friends did and recorded the video, when they came back home I was sleeping and they just woke me up to tell me the news. So I decided to make a post on Instagram tagging him and thanking him in the private messages, he lately asked me for some tracks for Form Music, his label and then we keep on chatting till we met in person the same night before one of his Crobar presentations, he is such an amazing, down to earth, humble and funny guy he has such a huge heart. In that same night he proposed me to do the collaborations, I was flabbergasted honestly but I tried to keep my cool at the moment, we crowned the proposal with a toast.
That is so great Mauro, It is like taken out from a movie. Can you tell us more about your story in the electronic dance music?
Sure ! I started djing at my home when I was 9-10 years old with my computer and my keyboard using several softwares mixing Electro House, Bigroom, Trance, Progressive House, EDM basically. I started listening to Electronic Music since I was 5 or 6 years old actually. Why I started djing? I do not have a straight answer to this because I just did, I felt it and I did it. I started my professional career in 2020 and the growth was exponential luckily and I am super happy for this since it is all hard work and dedicating my life to it.
You are dedicating your life to music, so you do not have currently a job or studying any career?
I am ! I do not do anything else but music at this point, I quit everything that may distract or take creative time to me. I did studied two careers before dedicating myself to music only but nothing feeds my soul more than this. Today I am only making and earning a living thanks to the music.
Interesting, and the famous question, do you have someone in your family that supports you? How do you deal with your mental health?
This question… I do not truly feel my family supports me on this decision I made a couple years ago, my other brothers studied a career and made a normal life choice so I am the only derailed in the family you could say haha. About the mental health it is sometimes difficult and other times super satisfactory, I call this phenomenon the ”roller coaster of emotions”. Because it is just like that, lots of ups and downs and you have to constantly fight with your own thoughts, I do think about a lot of different aspects all the time. The only way I found to deal with this is first, accepting and understanding how the system and business inside music works, understanding that you are NOT late because every person/artist has his own time so you are always ON time, doing exercise going to the gym is always helpful. Also working your mindset is important.
Thank you for openly sharing with us the struggles that an artist may face. Can you tell us more about your mindset?
Sure, I am a believer that what you set in your mind and think of it constantly will eventually come to you, this is the law of attraction and it is a really powerful brain tool, I have no doubt that it exists ! Of course that you have to work hard everyday and always try to improve because things do not just come to you laying on your bed. Keeping your mind open and do not think that you know everything (you won’t believe how many artists I met that they think they are know-it-alls) I really like the phrase ”a true master never stops learning”. Another important point is that in music there are no rules, of course that your track have to sound good acoustically, harmonically and structurally. But a piece of art is a piece of art, period, no one can truly judge it, I always compare it with Van Gogh paintings, Pablo Picasso paintings or Da Vinci ones, all different all beautiful pieces of art.
You played in a lot of venues ! Do you have a particular one you would like to highlight?
Yes I did, I would like to highlight a couple of them actually, one of my best gigs were in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego at Hard Rock Cafe ! Their energy is still unmatchable. My first gig in Rio Electronic Music doing the warm up for Popof was something truly special to me as well where I played 43 tracks in just one hour and fourty-ish minutes. And my latests presentation in Mar Del Plata at Roomie Club, they did their first Electronic Music festival inside the club and it was insane !!! I got both videos of these last two uplodaed in my Youtube channel.
Watch Now: Mauro Somm Live @ Rio Electronic Music (Popof Warm Up Set) // 19-06-2023
We just noticed you did not visit Europe yet, are you planning to do it in the future? Did you played abroad your country?
Yes I did play in Uruguay just once and with my team we are currently working in several tours starting in Chile and United States this year. I am planing to visit Europe next year !!
We did not talk about your inspirations inside the Electronic Music Scene. Do you have any favourite artists?
The only producers that come to my mind that I can name you right now are Julian Jeweil, Bart Skils, Maddix, Axel Karakasis, Eli Brown and Hardwell. I also feel inspired by live presentations and sets, Richie Hawtin dj skills are just insane man ! John Digweed is amazing as well.
Do you listen any other music than Techno?
In my personal life I listen to chill/relaxed music such as Progressive, Melodic House, Indie Music, and old EDM tracks (2011 – 2015 era). I also like Pop Music, Rock, 80’s, 90’s music, Hip Hop, R&B. I have a wide variation of music taste honestly.
Well Mauro, thank you very much for your time we really hope to hear more from you in the future !
Connect with MAURO SOMM: Instagram | Apple Music | Facebook | Spotify | SoundCloud | Beatport
