Captivated by his father’s home recording studio, Vincent Fries soon found himself eschewing schoolwork in favour of experimenting with an old Akai S3200 sampler. Evolving into a skilled DJ, at one point earning the nickname the ‘three-armed bandit’, Fries’ reputation as a producer grew steadily throughout the 2000s. However, it wasn’t until 2009 that he would discover Italo disco and reorient his sound.
Renamed Italo Brutalo, the German has finally completed work on his debut album, Heartware, which chronicles a lifetime of generic influences with upbeat, off-piste diversions into electro, disco, Italo house and hip-hop. Fries’ sound is cultivated from a catacomb of analogue gear collected over a 25-year period, much of which is studiously summarised on a supplementary 12-page album booklet that pays homage to Fries’ personal relationship with his army of machines.
Tell us about how your father introduced you to the world of electronic music equipment…
“My father is a guitarist and had a home recording studio with a four-track tape recorder and a Yamaha RX-5 drum machine. He was the first person to bring my attention to such equipment and from the age of five I was fascinated by the RX-5’s huge variety of broken glass, shouts and drum sounds. There are advantages and disadvantages to having parents who are familiar with music – when I started scratching and making hip-hop music in 1992 there was a clash of generations, but overall I am very thankful to them.”
