POPULOUS

Born in Lecce (a small town in the “heel” of Italy’s “boot,” known as “the Jamaica of Italy” due to the incredible popularity of reggae and dancehall), Andrea Mangia is an Italian producer who masterfully blends the analog warmth of genres like soul and hip-hop with digital sounds. Mangia’s musical journey as Populous began with the release of his 2003 album, Quipo. Recorded with influences from the reggae/hip-hop scene in Lecce, the album Queue for Love and its follow-up, Drawn in Basic, put Populous on the global music map. In 2014, he released Night Safari, which he calls “the embodiment of a dream.” The musically transcendent album drew plenty of praise from the international press, and was followed by Azulejos, an album recorded in Lisbon with just a small MIDI keyboard, a microphone, and a laptop. The streets of Lisbon served as both a studio and a muse for Populous, who drew inspiration from the city’s ambience, which he describes as “halfway between South American soul and European modernity, African in some aspects, and dramatically melancholic.” Named after Portugal’s famous ceramic tiles, the latest Populous album Azulejos is a love letter to Lisbon, combining sounds he grew up with and those he heard for the first time into a dreamy cloud of melody. Some of the artists with whom Populous collaborated on the album are Nina Miranda, Ela Minus, and Riva.