Mind Enterprises

This year, Mind Enterprises launches his own label ‘Bandama’. The imprint will initially carry his own italo disco inflected output, with releases from other artists planned to follow suit. It comes after a series of single releases via 

Because Music, and a collaboration with Purple Disco Machine on their recent hit ‘Exotica’. The partnership between the two electronic power-house artists strengthened by them each remixing the other’s singles in the last few months.

‘Bandama’ takes its name from a quenched volcano in Mind Enterprises adopted home of Gran Canaria, chosen to embody the fast-moving flow of italo-disco heatwaves. Mind Enterprises said: “Through Bandama, I’m thrilled to be able to release my own  music and a selection of time-honouring records, straight from the gold-flashing, hairy-chest era of 80s Italo.”

Through his visual output, which is spiced with tongue-in-cheek humour, Tirone pokes fun at consumerism and parodies the silliness of the ‘80s. However, taking inspiration from his artist girlfriend’s bold figurative style and his drummer Roberto, “who took a weird fashion turn a few years ago”, he is more than partial to a piece of retro athleisure wear. “The result is often funny, but I am doing it seriously. It’s about trying to cheer people up”. 

Anyone following on Instagram will have seen and heard their retro-styled split screen live streams from London and Gran Canaria covering 80s Italo classics and DJ sets with (an often bare chested) Roberto on the wheels of steel. 

The first release on Bandama sets the tone for things to come perfectly. ‘Girls & Boys’ sees Mind Enterprises dig further into the crazy world of italo, but with a modern twist.

Following his feature on the Purple Disco Machine track “Exotica” the single that came out at the end of 2020 ‘Girls & Boys’ is another foray into the crazy world of Italo but with a modern twist, inspired by a steaming hot Sicilian summer.  As Andrea explains, “Lately, Palermo has become a rendezvous point for Roberto and me. Flying in from Gran Canaria and London, Sicily is a place where we both delight in spending time with the Conigliaro family, relaxing, sipping ice cold Campari and eating our way through the days. Thinking back to that last glittering summer, I hear the sound of ‘Boys and Girls’ carrying us through these blissful times.”

Tirone perceives his ever-growing collection of vintage synthesizers like a “palette of colours”, or an orchestra of performers. “Every single machine has a distinctive sound that is exclusively the sound of that machine”, he says, describing the charity shops in his new home of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as “heaven”, and noting how he has bought “a few things for really stupid prices”, like a vintage 1970s audio mixer. 

Musically Tirone gleans influences from ‘80s Italo greats like Kano and is lightly tempered with the pulse of ‘90s dance-pop. “On my first album , I tried to sum up everything that I liked in one—Afrobeat, Italo disco, West African funk, post-punk, but if you try and do something so intricate as a solo producer, then the music can lose a bit of its spontaneity. I was working on some of the songs for weeks, and the process was quite slow. This time around I’m putting more onus on the fact that it’s just me writing the songs. Because music is a form of expression, I think it’s very important to be as quick as possible. Usually the first take is the best one.”