For the third installment of our interview series, we introduce Ignacio Arfeli.

Hailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina and based in Berlin, 2019 was a breakout year for Ignacio. Although he’s a relative newcomer, the young artist has already created a space for himself with raw sounds, textures and dark percussions. Crossing the line between underground and more commercial productions, he’s landed himself on some of the most respected labels in the world, like AnalyticTrail, Suara, Octopus Recordings, We Are The Brave, Odd Recordings and Noir Music.

Charlotte De Witte has frequently opened festivals with tracks from him, and many other giants in the scene drop his music on their touring playlists like Alan Fitzpatrick, Eric Pryzd, Dense & Pika, Sian, Sam Paganini, Noir, Coyu, Pan Pot and many more… But that’s not a surprise, especially after listening to Ignacio Artefi’s DJset recorded exclusively for Freakquency Transmissions podcast. (Listen below)

Hello Ignacio, without a doubt for us it is an honor, and at the same time, we are excited to have the opportunity to chat with a DJ and producer as talented and professional as you are.

Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us. We would like to begin this interview by asking how are you? And, where in the world are you answering this interview?

Hello how are you? (LT answer. We’re good, thanks!) First of all, thank you very much for your interest in interviewing me and for your words towards my work. Luckily, I feel very well in my city Tandil, Buenos Aires after a long time abroad.

How has your experience been in the recent months with all this global COVID-19 pandemic that has affected the whole music scene all around the world?

Personally (and I think like everyone else) it was something that totally changed all my plans. In fact, I already had my first tour in the United States planned along with other dates in Italy, Germany, Malta and Ireland. But I always try to find something positive in situations as serious as these.

How would you describe your year 2020 if we talk about your progress as an artist, and can you tell us if you could find some positive aspects in this whole pandemic situation that the world is experiencing?

Well as I said before I always try to find something positive for bad things and I think that no matter how particular the year 2020 has been, as an artist I feel that I grew a lot and I even dare to say that 2020 was my best year in terms of signing my music with major record labels, also to be better known in the circuit for my productions and music. 

How is the theme of the clubs and festivals where you are? For the majority of scenes in the world, with clubs and festivals closed, undoubtedly the commercial turn of electronic music has changed, has it also changed for you?

Yes, without a doubt it has varied a lot and the rules of the game have changed a lot too. Personally, all the dates that I had planned were naturally canceled.

This was the year that I was going to make myself known more as a DJ than as a producer, to become more present in clubs and not so much behind a computer, but all this was postponed until 2021.

And with the clubs, I live in Berlin and the situation was quite bad honestly. Although in the summer there were open-air dates, when everything seemed that the scene was going to normalize a little more … the clubs that were allowed to open together with bars, restaurants closed again.

In your local scene, how has the theme of the famous “illegal raves” or “plague raves” come about, and what do you think of it, have you played or would you play at one of these raves?

In Berlin I had a lot of offers to play in illegal raves, mostly outside the city, but I’m not a big fan of these things. More than anything in case something serious could happen … it would be a risk that your name is stained in a situation that could have been avoided. I’m not going to be hypocritical and say that I did not think about it haha ​​but after analyzing the situation well I decided to say no.

When and where did you first start in electronic music? We understand that you were born in Argentina but reside in Germany, correct? How did all this begin and take place? And how would you describe your local scene in Berlin and the scene in your home country?

I started listening to a Carl Cox set 6 years ago in Mandarine Park, Buenos Aires. That was where I discovered techno music, before that, I listened to electronic music but more commercial stuff such as EDM, Dubstep, Trap etc …

I did a technical degree in music production at the EMBA school and from there when I saw that the demos i was sending to the record labels where been accepted, or they even looked for me to edit with them because of the techno style I did, I decided to dedicate myself 100% to music as a profession. 

Talking about my local scene, I am going to talk about Buenos Aires and Berlin, which are the places where I feel I know a little more about. I could tell you that both scenes are quite similar in terms of passion for music (in this case techno) but logically in Berlin the techno culture is 1 or 2 steps further. However, in Buenos Aires they are much more euphoric, as in almost all of the places in Latin America, and that when it comes to playing, is a plus that although you find it in Berlin, it is not the same.

What artists or bands did you listen to when you were younger? Do you think there is some kind of influence between what you listened to before and the music you produce today?

As a young man and even today I still listen to Metalcore, Progressive metal … usually dark and aggressive styles. In my childhood I listened to bands like Mudvayne, Deftones, Coal Chamber, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Devil Driver to name a few.

Nowadays I am a bit more “technical” when it comes to listening to this style of music. I can name you one of my favorite bands like Animals As Leaders, Meshuggah and Tesseract T.

But on the other hand, I also have my more commercial ” pop ” side and without a doubt trap is my number 1 genre when it comes to putting something on Spotify followed by Lo-fi house. So I could tell you that these styles are the ones that are always on my playlist which greatly influence my work when it comes to producing.

Are there especially any DJ (s) that have inspired you in your career?

I don’t know if djs in general, I think more about tracks. But if i have to name one it would be Pleasurekraft, these guys are on another level in every way and they were the ones who made me almost half addicted to this style that is so fashionable, i mean the ‘’cosmic techno ’’.

What do you like and miss the most about playing at parties and touring?

As a DJ I only started to make myself known last year … therefore I don’t have many dates on top, but the few that I had (about 15 more or less) between Buenos Aires and Berlin, what I miss the most is the connection that you make with the audience.

I like every time I play to see people and to look into their eyes and see their expressions, and when I see that they are having a good time it fills me a lot and makes me very happy sincerely.

What else do you like to do as a hobby or passion besides music?

I like to study different things such as German, and I also started studying French on my own. But my passion apart from music is comedy.

I like listening to podcasts, and analyzing the current humor, the reason for a joke, its meaning, how many hidden messages a simple 10-second gag can have…. Nothing to do with what I do for a living haha ​​but it’s something that I love.

Outside of techno and its derivatives, do you like to mix or produce any other genre of music?

Of course! I am a VERY fan of Lo-fi House that I am actually planning on releasing an alias dedicated to that genre. Really since I heard it 1 year ago, I fell in love.

Speaking of you as a producer, describe your sound and what do you want to project when you produce a track with the style of Ignacio Arfeli?

I think my sound with ‘’ Ignacio Arfeli ’’ is a combination of aggressiveness with melancholy and it is something that I do on purpose. I like (and try) to tell mini stories with arrangements and sounds that are pleasant and harmonic, but all of a sudden all that disappears and put something more ‘’ dirty ’’ and dark with very fat percussions and sounds with a lot of distortion. It could be described as that the good and the bad are always in the same room haha.

Tell us a little about your new project INAR?

INAR is something that I have been planning for 6 months. I had a breaking point as an artist where I really liked doing mainstream techno but at the same time raw and hard techno. I felt that combining both with a single stage name could perhaps confuse all the followers that I got over time with my more mainstream sound, so more than anything, that is why I decided to get this new alias.

With INAR people will listen to my most aggressive and dark part without a doubt. I already have two songs signed on the Spanish label Odd Recordings but it will just be officially announced in 2021 between March and April.

Tell us, do you know Guatemala or have you read or heard something about the scene in Guatemala or Central America?

Unfortunately I haven’t been in Guatemala, but if I have colleagues who I know that played there and told me that their audience is super euphoric and warm, so I would love to be able to play when the opportunity arises, I would not hesitate.

Do you already have any releases prepared for next year?

Yes, I have Ep’s on Octopus Records, Octopus Warehouse, Hydrozoa, Beico’s new label ‘’ Make Me Fly ’’ and a collab that we are working with Mark Michael but we cannot announce anything yet …

Speaking of the podcast recorded exclusively for Freakquency Productions in Guatemala, how would you describe your DJ set and what can listeners expect from it?

As in all my sets, I like to combine mainstream sounds with something a little more underground and always maintaining a good intensity throughout the set. So I could say that it will be very energetic and with many new tracks under my name that were not released anywhere.

In your experience, can you name three things that have changed or evolved in the electronic music scene since you started your artistic career until now?

I feel that on a personal level and as an artist that everything goes now through Spotify, which is where I always aim. Live Streams also have a very important role now with all this of the pandemic, let’s say that streaming services in general today are the ones that perhaps unwittingly or not (we don’t know) quite changed the rules of the game.

We’ll see how it evolves in the future … at the moment it benefits us a lot visually and in popularity, but economically, if you are not an elite artist, you are forced to work twice as hard to earn a good income from music.

Thanks for your time, Ignacio.

Best regards

Thank you for visiting Living Techno, don't forget to subscribe!