Acid remains one of dance music’s most precious sub-genres. With its distinct sound and colorful history, Acid seeps its way into sets and productions of all kinds and has further mutated into different micro-genres of its own. Enter now Acid Boiler Coalition, a new imprint started by Italian veteran Lady Maru which focuses on the beloved music and kicks things off with a potent V/A compilation titled Underground Acid, featuring 4 different artists which include Edo Messina, Ayako Mori, Akuaryo and Lady Maru herself. To mark the launch of the label we talk to the founder about her beginnings in Rome, the development of the scene and of course, Acid. (see interview below).

The compilation is out now and you can pick yours up at: https://acidboilercoalition.bandcamp.com/music

-JRS

The Brvtalist: Tell us a bit about your musical background. When did you start making music and what kind of stuff were you making?

Lady Maru: I started my musical approach in the mid 90's playing in post punk bands. I was playing mostly noise guitar, and pretty badly too, since I never got a real music education. I was a fan of Pavement, Sonic Youth and lesser known indie noisey stuff. Later I started to play No Wave guitar in a band called Dada Swing, and started touring around and discovering new music.

In the mid 90's I went to illegal raves too, for at that time the illegal rave scene in Rome was very interesting. Even there I preferred the acid techno beat rather than faster techno or drum n bass sounds.

Finally, in the early 2000's, I started my "real" pure electronic culture by visiting clubs, electronic festivals and buying vinyl.

TB: Talk about the formation of the label, Acid Boiler Coalition. What do you think drew you to acid specifically and caused you to start this imprint?

LM: I think that acid is an old genre with some always evolving features. What I don't like too much in some "modern" DJ sets is the just bass-oriented presence. I know it's just a matter of taste, but I think that what I love about acid are the middle frequencies that rise and go down rendering the whole track "more human" and more dynamic, even if the kick is industrial or dark techno. So I thought to start a label focused on this - still more acid techno (EBM, industrial or dark techno) rather than acidcore.

TB: Tell us a bit about the first release. You have a diverse group of artists to start. How did you compile the tracks/artists and what was the goal/concept of this first compilation?

LM: Unfortunately I could have just 4 artists on the first vinyl, so I asked the ones whose tracks i used to play a lot in my DJ sets, and who i know that might like the genre.

Akuaryo and Edo Messina are Italians like me, whereas Ayako Mori is a German-based Japanese producer, owning the great techno label Physical Techno Recordings. She is helping me a lot with the digital distribution, plus finding other artists for the digital only remixes. We already have Euyinn, DJ Wank, Ricky Cross, Vnkraut, BB Deng - all from different countries, ages and techno backgrounds. I really wish i could do and discover more and invite more producers to play here in Rome despite the lack of venues and of time constraints (most clubs close at 5am)!

*clockwise from left: Lady Maru, Akuaryo, Ayako Mori, Edo Messina

TB: You've been a longtime resident of Rome. I know it had a very influential time period in the 90's and beyond. Tell us about the evolution of the underground techno/acid scene of the city. Where do you think it's at right now?

LM: 90's topics are still very "delicate" themes. The scene was held mostly by men, and they were very proud of it, so it's difficult to talk about it precisely while avoiding fights :) As I said before, I went more to gigs and squats in the 90's. I used to know Hard Raptus Project, part of the Minimal Rome crew who were doing a very cool radio program at night on the left Radio station, and of course I knew Lory D, Leo Anibaldi, Freddy K, D'Arcangelo, Max Durante and many other big names of hyperskilled DJs that loved acid tunes too. They really made the history of that period and they contributed to render Rome a real solid center of techno culture.

The acid evolution nowadays is a little weird now. I wouldn't say it's the preferred genre of Roman producers now, but I'm sure that every old school Roman can deal well with acid machines.

TB: What's coming up next for your and/or the label?

LM: After the release of the remixes we'll see how it goes and the plan is to release the second vinyl "Acid around Rome" with a track of Mighty Raptus (part of Hard Raptus project themselves), GiGi Galli, Stefano Rocchi, and maybe myself together with another producer.

I'm trying to improve my productions and DJ sets by digging more and more. I'm using way more Bandcamp recently to find out new artists and I'm slowly experimenting with a more industrial sound for my own productions. The Tkp Vinyl shop, dealing with the distribution of ABC, have a lot of great artists and labels based in Rome or Italy, such as BR1002, Deltaplanet Records, Scuderia, Monolith, it could be nice one day to organize a vinyl distro meeting/showcase...

Regarding myself, I love to play in small gigs in small clubs as well as playing at Gegen (amazing party) or La Roboterie, so I'm trying to play more and more in new countries, even if in small underground parties. What I'm looking for is nice environments with real music rather than all the "hype". I also hope to be able to make a live set soon with or without a laptop.