With quality releases on Hivern Discs, ESP Institute and WHITE, to name a few, Andrea Mancini has turned quite some heads as a producer in the past years, but equally so as a DJ. 
Cleveland’s latest EP “Gamma” on Amsterdam based label Kalahari Oyster Cult is another statement of his unpretentious but playful style. It’s a collection of spacey, multi-layered tracks which are spooky as much as it is a reference to how a glass- beads game could sound, bright and crystalline.

Delayed had the chance to catch up with the Brussels based artist about nights to remember, radio shows and a lot more.

How would you describe your oeuvre as a DJ but also as a producer from the beginning until now?  Can you identify certain phases for yourself?
8 years have passed since I started making music under this alias. The years passed very quickly, I’m really happy with everything I’ve done. It all started with a love for deeper house music with influences going from Smallville to White, Dial, etc... You can hear an evolution from release to release. The first years have a more melodic and maybe happier focus, with a lot of simple naivety in there which was kinda beautiful to do. I basically tried to imitate the music I loved without having the skills to do it right, the results were quite creatively rich moments in producing, live shows, DJ sets. I sometimes look back at the projects of those first years and am amazed at how simple it was to create nice ideas. There is some magic in not knowing how to structure your work. Even now I still take some of those samples (recordings) and use them in my recent music. In the beginning, there was a lot of distance between my music and my DJ sets but now I'm getting more mature and know what I like and want to do. I consider myself still as an “emerging” artist in the scene in the sense that I’m not established, not having lots of gigs and releases regularly, even though I think I have found my work method and sound signature, which is quite nice.

Looking at your career so far and the gigs you played - which ones are the most important ones to you personally, the ones that stand out?
The most memorable gigs are always those where the chemistry goes beyond the gig, crowd, vibe - I mean those gigs where everything was perfect from start to finish, especially the human part, with the promoters and people you get to know. Like my time in Tel Aviv at Breakfast Club, even though I had a horrible tooth pain it was such a nice overall experience, my gig at Tbilisi Open Air in Georgia, every show with Gay Haze and SPEK in Belgium, Robert Johnson with John Talabot and Dani, oh man I could name so many more. And then, of course, I also have to mention some milestones in a DJ career which were super impressive to play and experience: Panorama Bar, De School (even though it was only the beginning, but also my beginning, IfZ, Primavera, amongst other legendary places. Now being in covid19 lockdown I would do anything to go back in time and relive any gig.

You hosted a radio show on Amsterdam’s Red Light Radio - in times of live streams everywhere, what is the role that radio can play nowadays?
For me RLR had been a platform to express a different side of my music. It’s really nice how you can experiment with new things on the radio. Yes, you can also do this at home but the fact that radio records and archives systematically is an important factor too. It’s not like doing a podcast, which is more calculated. Radio has something more natural. Same for our local radio, Kiosk, the setting is really warm and comfy, which is perfect for experimentation. Going to Amsterdam once in a while is nice to see and meet friends from the Netherlands; I’ve met many good and interesting people thanks to my RLR trips. Amsterdam is only about 2 hours by car from here, so not that far. It’s some kind of therapy for me. It’s so sad they stopped the radio. I’m wishing them all the best for their new adventures.

An interview question you really wanted to be asked but never were and the answer to that?
“What can we as a scene do to make the music business more fair and give more access to opportunities, income, and safety to artists? “ I just mention this question because I think that’s the question we all have to answer now, as a music community.

Tell us about an artist you really want our audience to discover. What music or art are you inspired by yourself?
You guys in NYC have a super exciting scene right now, some favorites of mine include DJ Voices, Allergy Season (Label), Incienso (Label), Beta Librae amongst others. I’m inspired by many things that surround me, especially sound textures. Since I was little I have been attracted to specific sounds which have no particular meaning other than their normal function, for example the ‘bloop’ sound of a soup cooking, the turn signal in cars, the sound of scissors cutting textiles.

Who were important people on your path that mentored/supported you?
Definitely my close ‘music’ friends with whom I share findings, opinions, experiences in music on a daily basis. But also the people involved in the labels I worked with. Oskar Offermann taught me a lot at the beginning; John Talabot, Daniel Baughman helped me a lot these past years. Lawrence Le Doux and Rey Colino are good friends who help me a lot on a daily basis. There are also longtime friends like Fais Le Beau from Gay Haze and Hirsto from Le Pacifique that I feel very much connected to.

For someone that never saw you playing, what would be the perfect description of your sound in your own words?
Haha, so hard to put words to one's own music. Honestly I don’t know, I tend to focus on more organic sounds that don’t sound too perfectly treated. Rhythms are breaky, and deconstructed, but the rest of the track is not high definition sound design; it maybe has a warmer more naive approach. The moods are important in my work, I tend to look for a balance between comforting and weird, awkward atmospheres.

We would also like to include a small playlist (a few mixes/ tracks of yours) that you would recommend as a good reflection of your work, for people to dive into and discover.

Cleveland - Gamma [Kalahari Oyster Cult]

Cleveland - Kobu [Hivern Discs]

Cleveland - Tusk [ESP Institute]

Cleveland - Dekmantel Podcast 252

Cleveland - KANNMIX 30

Cleveland - RSMIX 034