Terminal V Podcast 044 || Alignment

Italian artist Francesco Pierfelici aka Alignment who is now based in Berlin has long been involved in electronic music. From his early days as a raver at the infamous Cocorico to turning out for some of the biggest festivals in Europe. Having produced three banging EP’s for Charlotte de Witte’s KNTXT imprint and currently working on a fourth Alignment is most definitely a name that you will be hearing a lot more of in the coming months.
The great news is that you won’t have long to wait too much longer until you can catch Francesco in the flesh as he will be lining up alongside Elli Acula Frazi.er, Héctor Oaks, Milo Spykers and Regal at our Blackbox stage during the Saturday session at Terminal V. Be prepared for a bumpy ride…
Welcome Francesco, how is life in Berlin at the moment?
Hi, thanks for the invitation. Life is getting back to normal slowly. I am more than happy to see the calendar is filling and we all can finally start to work normal again.
It must have been hard these last few months with lockdown preventing any ‘proper’ parties, have you been able to play at all in Berlin?
Luckily, we had less restrictions during the summer, so we could do some great open air shows until we had to go into the second lockdown.
How has life on the road been for you so far, this year?
We’re kicking it off quite well in my opinion and I am really grateful for that. We have scheduled several shows all over Europe and I can’t wait for the festival season to start. Counting the days for Terminal V, and Awakening Easter Festival!
Going back to your origins, where did you enter the electronic music industry? What was your initiation into the techno world?
I was a raver at Cocorico, which is located close to my hometown. I was able to experience electronic music for the first time and it directly fascinated me. It was not long after that when i started producing my own stuff.
We also read that you used to produce hip hop. How did you go from hip hop to producing tracks that the likes of Ben Klock and Richie Hawtin play?
As many, my first big love was Hip Hop. We had a small but nice scene in my hometown. Some of my Friends were rapping and I was active as a break-dancer. Breakdance is already a bit faster and more electronic so when i started listening to techno music i naturally had a connection to it and the urge to produce my own stuff.
You have already amassed a sizeable discography, tell us about your journey and the perhaps the point where it all started to click for your sound?
I was experimenting a lot with electronic music production, the real click was my creation of trance infused techno music for big dance floors. I love to see the impact my productions leave on rather big-room events I am playing on.
You have also attracted the attention of Charlotte De Witte, how did this come about?
Charlotte was supporting my music already as Raving George. After feeling comfortable with my productions and the new style, I decided to send a pack over to KNTXT. Charly and the team loved it and signed the EP. At the moment, I am working on my fourth release on KNTXT.
Your track ‘Future Dancefloor’ on Voxnox dropped last year and it certainly has elements of Trance in there. What is your connection to the genre?
This genre is working well for my style of producing and for my production as a whole i think. I love to create melodies in combination with score influences on up-tempo techno beats.
What do you have coming up from your studio in the coming months?
At the moment, I am working on an EP for KNTXT and some other big projects that have yet to be announced. For now, that remains a secret 😉
Interview by Stu Todd