Ashtech (born Andrea Nicoletti, December 15, 1973, Italy) is an Italian producer, bass player and solo artist. His style combines original dub and urban

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

and it is characterised by the flavor of his heavy dubby

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

which features in all of his productions. Ashtech's recent work, primarily 'Walkin Target', released in 2007 on Interchill Records Involving input from fellow producer Gaudi and vocalist Cheshire Cat (Leftfield), was very well received by the UK and US electronica/dub scene. He has appeared at festivals such as Glade (UK) – Electric Picnic (Ireland) – Eclipse Festival – Waveform Festival (UK).

Early career

His first steps in music were originally as a DJ, approaching electronica and developing a passion for experimental music. Ashtech became an established figure in the Italian mainstream music scene, collaborating with many artists, both as a producer and as a composer, on a total of 14 albums, three of which with

Almamegretta Almamegretta are a SKA /rap/dub/world/reggae group from Naples, Italy. Their lyrics are in Napoletano. Their music became quite successful within the European Trip hop scene, leading to collaborations with Massive Attack and Adrian Sherwood, who ...

(''4/4'', ''IMAGINARIA'', and ''Venite Venite'') under BMG record label. His five-year collaboration with Almamegretta saw him touring extensively in Italy and Europe and sharing the stage with acts such as Tricky,

The Wailers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, Erykah Badu, Mory Kante, Compay Segundo, Groove Armada and Asian Dub Foundation.

''WOP''

During his last year in Italy, Ashtech collaborated with Raiz (Almamegretta's historical voice) on his first album, ''WOP'' for Universal Records and he produced the single "Wop". During the Wop tour, Ashtech decided to move to London in order to access the innovative music industry there.

"With Me"

After moving to London, Ashtech released "With Me" for the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, ''The Dream Temple'' (Millennim Records), "Dub Hypnosis" for the album ''Continvvm'' Em:t Records, and "Earth Orbit" for the dub compilation ''Sub Signals'' Interchill Records. He also released his debut solo album ''Walkin Target'', produced by Gaudi (musician) for Interchill Records. The album included four tracks featuring the vocal stylings of Cheshire Cat from

Leftfield Leftfield are a British electronic music duo formed in 1989 as the duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of the Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was very influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, wi ...

''Meditronica''

His next album was released in 2007. After remixing Raiz's album for Universal Records, he produced the new dub project ''Meditronica'', written in collaboration with Polcari, Dub Gabriel, Raiz and Eraldo Bernocchi. ''Meditronica'' was released worldwide in March 2009 on the London-based label, RareNoise.

Discography

* Ashtech – ''Walkin' Target'' – Interchill Records 2007

Compilation albums

* Various Artists – ''ONE DUB'' – Interchill Records 2009 * Various Artists – ''Sub Signals Volume 1'' – Interchill Records 2006

Productions and projects

* Meditronica – ''Meditronica'' – RareNoiseRecords 2009 * Raiz – ''Femmena Remix'' – Universal Records * Gaudi: Testa 1105 – ''Continvvm'' – Em:t Records 2005 * Various Records – ''The Dream Temple'' – Milleniumrecords * Raiz – ''WOP'' – Phoenix 2004 * Liquor Shop – ''Original Musico to Gianluca Sodaro's latest movie'' – BMG 2004 * Mauro Pagani – ''Domani'' – NUN 2003 * Luna Rossa – ''Soundtrack'' – NUN 2003 *

– ''Venite Venite'' – BMG 2002 * Almamegretta – ''Imaginaria'' – BMG 2001 * Polina – ''Remix'' – NUN records – 2001 * Epicentro Romano – Unic Records – 2000 * Almamegretta – ''4/4'' – BMG 1999 * La Squadra – Good Stuff Records 1998 * Liquor Shop – ''Liquor Shop'' – IRMA Records 1998 * Jahng – 1996

References

External links

Ashtech's official website

last.fm
{{authority control Italian bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Living people 1973 births Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century bass guitarists 21st-century Italian male musicians