Originally from Iran, later moving to Washington, D.C. at an early age, Shirazinia is both part of the Grammy-winning duo Deep Dish and now primarily performs under his solo alias, Dubfire. Constantly evolving as an artist, he remains avant garde and made a notable progression from DJ into label head and founder of SCI+TEC Digital Audio (He's also a partner in The Bullitt Agency). Describing the SCI+TEC label as a "family", it's no wonder that having a strong figure like Dubfire at the helm has helped to establish SCI+TEC as a power-house in the electronic music scene. As a music veteran, he has assumed the task of mentoring a roster of new and established talents including Carlo Lio, Nastia, SHDWPLAY, and The Dolphins, just to name a few. With this exciting array of new talent, SCI+TEC has taken off and is steadily maturing into a record label that's well worth taking a look at.
With the ease of access to recording and releasing capabilities, what makes SCI+TEC label stand out amongst the crowd? A real passion for music. Shirazinia states,
"There are a lot of people out there expressing themselves, but not necessarily expressing themselves honestly."
This resonates down from label head Shirazinia who's efforts yield lots of support within the music community who see SCI+TEC producing a consistent stream of honest, original tracks. To that end, many of the tracks are critically praised as they are picked up and played by top DJs around the world.
During this year's Sonar festival in Barcelona, we had the chance to see the label's artists play at the Art of SCI+TEC showcase. The event was held @ Blow gallery in Raval and accompanied by the visual art of of the renowned UK-based design house, Humanstudio, who were also responsible for the visuals on the SCI+TEC stage during the off Sonar East Ender Festival. Both events saw a mix of masterfully produced musical performances and visual art side by side in two very different settings: one in an intimate gallery alongside a few high-definition television screens; the other on a massive outdoor stage backed by light displays and a serious audio set up. Commenting on the yearlySonar festivities, Shirazinia speaks about how important the Sonar festival is as a platform for more avant-garde acts to express themselves to a larger audience. He highlights the critical role Sonar plays for more esoteric artists given how commercial music now dominates the electronic music arena.
Our Sonar takeway is that SCI+TEC definitely knows how to put on a good show and you can expect to see them back next year. In the interim, you can keep up with all their new releases here at http://www.facebook.com/scitec the official SCI+TEC Digital Audio Facebook page.
