We’d like to introduce you to a musician, an instrumentalist, a music producer, a DJ and a label owner. All of those professionals combined in one single person: Brazilian talent Nato Medrado.

Having had his work supported by names such as Sasha, Fatboy Slim, and Mark Knight, the 26 year-old prodigy has in his favor huge creativity and outstanding good taste, both aligned to techniques he developed in mixing and mastering courses and also in music and electric guitar lessons. Oh, he also made it to ‘Global Underground 38’, the compilation by Carl Cox and had Gui Boratto comment: “…This is the best I’ve heard from a Brazilian in a long time…”.

So, now that we’ve shown some of his credentials, we let him speak through his music and also, this great interview he gave us!

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WWD: Can you tell us a little bit about this mix? What can our readers expect when he/she hits the ‘play’ button?

Nato: This set is not very usual… It’s a different one. I tried to convey the feelings that each artist prints through his works. Each track is a photograph, a memory of what I felt by the time they were released, the timelessness marked in this repertoire represents the inspiration I got from each artist.

WWD: You’ve grown up in the interior part of São Paulo (state), right? Do you think that’s a region of Brazil that stimulates the development of new electronic music artists? Is there an electronic scene there?

Nato: The interior of São Paulo has always revealed great artists, not only in the electronic music segment. Although it’s the interior, we’re the second largest city in the state, Campinas. It’s actually an important hub of electronic music consumption.

WWD: What are your earliest musical memories? What have you grown up listening to? Has someone in your family directly influenced your musical taste?

Nato: My oldest residual memories come from the radio world, at a time when internet was beginning to bloom here in Brazil. There were not many ways to consume music, only vinyl, k7 tape, and CD. Near the 2000s the internet introduced me to this universe which is electronic music. My family though, was not very attached to electronic music or music in general, so there are no big influences, familiarly speaking.

WWD: This mix you are presenting here is based on your influences. Who are THE guys and how did they help shape your musical personality?

Nato: Although I am an assiduous consumer of music (of all genres), few producers have managed to establish solid roots and influence me during the process of musical composition. Artists like Trentemoller, Gui Boratto, Robert Babicz and Bands like Led Zepellin, The Cure, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam and Metallica. Those are the ones making my head during production.

WWD: How is your creative process? Any special rituals?

Nato: There really isn’t one… I sit in my studio and try to put ideas into practice, whether it’s humming a melody, playing a guitar riff or developing some bassline on the keyboard or synths.

WWD: …And what does your production setup look like? Any favorite toys?

Nato: My studio is extremely minimalistic. I like to use a few gadgets and try to take the most of each one. For producing I use the Ableton Live with a list of plug-ins that I’ve been using for years (always the same ones). Also my guitar, a Midi keyboard and a pair of reference monitors.

WWD: You recently released your first studio album, on Armada Music globally and Austro Music (Som Livre) in Brazil. The album is a really moody and melodic one. Which sensations you sought to convey to listeners through the album?

Nato: The album ‘Without Name’ covers different shades of electronic music, such as Techno, Progressive House and Ambient and reflects a continuous evolution over of almost an entire decade. It was drawn up with exhaustive attention to details, but at the same time, it’s not intended to achieve sound perfection. Not by chance was it named upon an “unnamed” story, an allusion to its lack of specific genre or a moment when it was created. This concept is also explicit in the cover art of “Without Name”, refering to the various faces which the album has to offer.

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WWD: You also have created your own imprint called ‘Medrado Music’ which is definitely out of the curve when you look at Brazilian music scene. What’s the philosophy behind it and what do you consider to be toughest challenge of the ‘labe boss’ position? For the upcoming talents, what does it take to get your attention?

Nato: ‘Medrado Music’ came up with two purposes: To cast hidden talents that I’ve met by chance or those who came to me through demos or direct contact and also, to be able to release my most experimental songs freely, without the marketing pressure of having a super successful EP. We currently look for songs with a feeling, with melody, harmony and which also has identity, regardless of its style. Nowadays I think the biggest challenge is to continue fomenting the market with music that me and my A&R Felipe Freitas consider good, without necessarily intending to sell thousands and thousands of copies. We’ve released songs from artists all over the world, including France, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. All of those songs had something in common: they conveyed a feeling. That’s what it takes to reach us.

WWD: So, at the moment, what are you planning for next moves? What have you got on the horizon?

Nato: I’m currently working with an extremely focused team, which I’m very thankful for and all I can say is that very soon we’ll release a vinyl edition of my album, coming in November and we’ll also have a mini album of remixes for it, featuring some big names, and also many other releases scheduled until April 2018!

WWD: Thank you very much 🙂

01. Trentemoller – Moan (Trentemoller Remix)

02. Gui Boratto – Notations (Original Mix)

03. Robert Babicz – Dark Flower (Original Mix)

04. Ryan Davis – When Rain Drops Soft (Original Mix)

05. Nato Medrado – In My Soul (Original Mix)

06. The Cure – Lullaby (The Blockbox Re-edit)

07. U2 – With Or Without You (Whitelabel Bootleg Remix 2003)

08. Funkagenda & Mark Knight – Man With The Red Face (Original Mix)

09. Florence + The Machine – You’ve Got the Love (Mark Knight Remix)

10. Bomb The Bass – Black River (Gui Borrato Remix)

11. Noize Tech – Tell Me (Nato Medrado Remix)