|  DJ SLOK 
Style: Electro Funky House, Break Beat
Related Record Labels: SAW Recordings, Physical Music, Ego Music,
IRMA Records, Electronic Petz
Alessandro Russo a.k.a. "Slok" was born in Ancona, Italy on October 21st,
1972. His love for music was developed in his childhood, listening to many
kind of records, playing acoustic and electronic instruments with his "musical"
family members and growing up with a free music feeling.
He started off playing drums and percussion in a rock band, then, when he
was 16, he got his first 4-track Fostex home tape recorder, a digital effect
processor, a drum machine, a sampler and a Roland 8-track midi workstation;
with that equipment, he begin to produce funky oriented grooves combined
with self-taught chords and harmonies.
The first official release came later, in 1993 as 'B&R - Freeway' (a house track
that Dave Piccioni called out as a "medley") on The Milkyway EP - Zippy
Record / Azuli compilation with tracks from Terry Hunter & Aaron Smith,
Jovonn, and Brown Melody.
In 1994 he was involved in an Italian Hip Hop project named
'Razzarap'(Marton/Sony Music Italy) as a composer, producer and vocalist.It was around that period that the first Jungle tunes came from the UK and he immediately fell in love with that sincopate rhythm mixed up with ragga vocals
and fat basslines; this provided the inspiration to release his first release as
Slok in 1996, 'Jungle In My Home' EP - (Cuadra/IRMA records), followed up
by the album 'They Call It Jungle' (1997), the first ever Italian Drum'n'Bass cd,
where he experimented with various elements, from jazzy atmosphere to raw
funk, walking on Brazilian textures painted with Sci-Fi effects. The opera was
well accepted by critics and this was accompanied with a good media
response, with several of the tunes featuring in various compilations. Then
came the d'n'b remixes for other artists such as The Average White Band,
Sarah Jane Morris and Montefiori Cocktail.
Meanwhile, Alessandro started Djing in Italy with Jungle/Drum'n'Bass and
Break Beat DJ sets.
In 1999 he flew to London and lived there for several months, jamming and
recording (with Goldie's keyboardist Justina Curtis from Metalheadz) the
formed the basis for what later would become his second Slok album, 'Freak
2000' (IRMA records 1999). With this release he attempted to join d'n'b roots
and styles, with rock and techno beats, reggae echoes and all the vibes that
wrap you in living in "The City"; after that, he performed on the international
stage, playing at Batofar club in Paris and at the Transmusical Festival,
Rennes.
Encouraged by the availability of low-cost technology and the increasing
amount of quality production software, Alessandro seized the chance to buildup
a home studio, locked in, and focus on the quality of his features. In 2002,
joining with House DJ Davide Casaccia, the "Stereonova" project saw the
light.
The duo has received support from most of the world's biggest progressiveoriented
DJ's and started to release records for the UK label Plastic Fantastic.
In 2003, Alessandro meet and became friend with Eric Pasquereau, a young
and talented singer-songwriter from Nantes, France; Eric, a.k.a. "The Patriotic
Sunday", is 22, and after growing up in the US and playing in an indie-rock
band influenced by Sonic Youth and Fugazi, he released his first album on the
16th of March for the Collectif Effervescence label, 'Lay Your Soul Bare', a
collection of 11 self-penned songs.
Together, they created two songs. 'Lonely Child' received massive support
and was a big seller included on Satoshi Tomiie’s ES album, 3D
(Renaissance), Pacha winter Session vol.4 (mixed by Hector Romero /
Pacha Recordings), The Griphon Session (SFP Records),
and 'Hey Steve', composed during Eric's Italy study trip. Those were both born as a testimony of their friendship and love for music...
So, now Slok is an electronic band!
Alessandro co-produced the best Syndication FM Radio show in Italy called
MAGMA - www.magmaweb.it. He also has a monthly residency on M2O, the
biggest Italian dance FM network - www.m2o.it and setting up is own
recordings label ELECTRONIC PETZ - www.electronicpetz.com
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