Wednesday 1 June 2016

The best DJ you've (probably) never heard of #7. PeakNick.

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Nicola Bonandrini aka PeakNick is something of the enigma. For those unaware of his work he's been a cult figure in the underground scene of northern Italy for more than 3 decades now.
He started DJing in the early 90's and quickly became fascinated by disco and electronica. He began organising parties which mixed Detroit techno, Italo house and disco together with old school gems from the likes of Liaisons Dangereuse, Telex, Chris and Cosey, Yellow Magic Orchestra all sorts of lesser known electronic music producers and musicians from the eighties & nineties. After years of plying his trade around Italy's unknown clubs, he made the transition to become the long term resident DJ at Plastic and Molto Plastic in Milan, from 1994 to 1997, then spinning acid jazz, break beat, drum n 'bass, hip hop, soul, funk and early experiments in easy listening (Stock Hausen and Walkmen, Typsy, People Like Us etc.), sharing the decks with DJ Steve Dub Monroe first and later with Nicola Guiducci.
In 1997 he moved to Bologna where he met Dj Ilo with whom he founded Beat Action: a live 'decks and FX' performance they developed for on many years playing a residency at 'The Link' in Fioravanti.

Their collaboration gave birth to a series of one night extravaganza's which contributed in no small way to to the cult story of the legendary 'Notte Vidal' club in Bologna where they played regularly from 1997 till 2001.
Nicola is also responsible for the art direction of famous P.O.T in Milan (Plastic On Thursday) from 2002, where he would intersperse his lengthy sets with live performances from singers, musicians and artists like Adult, Thomas Brinkmann and Peaches.

That passion to perform live, drew some of the most colourful and alien characters of the Milanese underground scene and made the P .O. T. one of the best, diverse and unpredictable nights in Europe.
His boundless kniowlege of music and culture (as well as an impressive record collection) go much further than the usual 'eclectic DJ' tag. He's an unconventional musician with an amazing technical mastery, seeing him play live is always an unparalleled experience.

PeakNick on Soundcloud.
PeakNick on Mixcloud.




Till next time.
Big love. Mark. X

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