Profile
Robert Miles
offers music
Name:
Robert Miles
Royalty collection society:
PRS and BMI
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In the greedy, grasping and often grotesque world of music celebrity Robert Miles is a renaissance man.
For those not familiar, Miles is responsible for producing the massive dance hit 'Children' in 1996. A single which shifted over 5 million units, charted in 19 countries, and produced one of World’s top ten best selling singles of 1996. It also brought him a Brit Award and a World Music Award as Best International Newcomer in 1997.
Since those heady days of international stardom, however, Miles has stubbornly chased his own personal and artistic freedom, fought his former management and record label and slipped into the shadows.
Despite the turmoil he kept going, eventually founded his own label, kept producing music, garnered respect among his peers, critical acclaim from the media, and is now preparing to release his next album, 'Th1rt3en', in February 2011.
Born Roberto Concina in Fleurier, Switzerland, on November 3, 1969, he was raised in Fagagna, Italy, a small town near Venice, and his back-story reads like a fairytale.
As a teenager, he spent three months locked in his bedroom trying to figure out how to use the studio equipment he had bought with a bank loan.
In time, he would not only learn to use the studio equipment, but take the music world by storm with his global hit record 'Children'.
An extraordinary story surely, from the bedroom to the glittering prizes of the star system?
"It's the story of a common young boy from a small town with a lot of determination", Miles, an unassuming, intelligent and thoughtful man says of his life, brushing aside the fairytale analogy with casual ease. "I am sure there are quite a few people like that around…"
His comments take us by surprise. It's not, quite frankly, what you would have expected from a man who can boast multi-million record sales. Nevertheless he is forever anchored to 'Children'.
As a young musician, Robert had found himself touched by a series of photographs, displaying the plight of children caught up in the misery of war torn former Yugoslavia. The photographs of the rapidly disintegrating Balkans - dark, stark and raw - had been brought back from the conflict by his father who had travelled to the battlefront as part of a humanitarian mission. Miles responded by composing this seminal piece of music.
For Roberto Concina, latterly Roberto Milani and now known as Robert Miles, it was a turning point in his life when he was struggling. "I had borrowed money from the bank to buy studio equipment and so it was a difficult moment in my life financially," he explained. "But I was determined to fight through it in order to get there...and luckily enough the third record I produced was a huge, and unexpected, success."
It was the break aspiring artists pray for, and Miles is acutely aware of its importance in his life. "Thanks to that track," he tells us candidly. "I can do what I do… It also put my name on the international radar, and opened more than a few doors to my artistic development." Three singles followed 'Children', 'Fable', 'One and One' from the hit, debut album Dreamland, and 'Freedom', from the ill-fated, and greatly underrated '23 AM' CD. New found pop stardom, of course, is often a mixed blessing, especially when your first hit is a multi-million selling monster. The demands become greater to repeat the success.
Roberto Concina, however, was not just another routine hit maker.
The cranked up pressure to produce successful commercial follow-ups, and the need to satisfy the enormous expectations of millions of fans, management and record company, never did sit easily with the Italian.
He was not prepared to churn out similarly sounding commercial material to keep his management and record label sweet.
Miles, if nothing else, was his own man, and was determined to retain control of his own destiny and artistic freedom. "I came up with the silhouette idea (he appeared as a shadow on the cover of his second album) when I started having problems with my ex-manager and label. They wanted more of the same…while I wanted to clarify to them that I didn't want to become a pop star, but instead a well-respected producer/artist making music without compromise. Unfortunately most of the major record labels, and team I had around me at that time, didn't agree with that...so I said to myself 'why not set up my own label so I don't need to deal with this anymore'".
After moving to Los Angeles in 2001 he set up S:alt Records - 'suitably alternative'-, and four years after 23AM, and various legal battles to regain his artistic freedom, he released his third album Organik.
Dark and haunting with numerous brilliant touches [It's a subtle masterpiece. The production is superb. The Independent], the album was recorded in a secluded Spanish finca on the island of Ibiza.
Long before Pacha, Space and Amnesia, Ibiza was the spiritual retreat of the hippies, the rich and the very famous, an atmosphere Miles found conducive to producing music. In 2006, inspired by Ibiza's highly-charged ambience he bought a 500 year-old farmhouse on the heavenly quiet Northern hills.
But there was, for Robert Miles, another agenda working in his decision to cross the pond.
"I always wanted to get involved with the movie industry and possibly score some cool movies/documentaries…I thought my music was quite cinematic and started playing it around to various people…after the new album Organik was released, several tracks were used on movie projects such as The Bourne Identity, City of Ghosts, Derrida and adverts for brands such as Jaguar, Nike and Gucci."
Three years later in 2004, critical acclaim for Robert Miles' collaborative and experimental album with Trilok Gurtu : Miles_Gurtu, endorsed his ability to score for movies. One Guardian critic said of the album ...this is music for your own private Oscar-nominated movie...if I ran an awards scheme, I'd certainly give something to Miles_Gurtu. Music Week, The Evening Standard, The Times, Q magazine and many others were equally generous in their reviews of the CD.
Miles eventually moved from Los Angeles to London, which is now his main base, but the musician shifts ground between homes in London, Berlin and Ibiza.
Enigmatic and private, his music has consistently defied labelling.
Techno/Trance/Dream/Dark/Leftfield/Nu-Jazz/Nu-World have all been used to try and describe the work of Robert Miles.
Often not mentioned, is the experimental edge to much of his work, which shows a courageous willingness to try new things with his music. He never shies away from taking chances with his output.
So how would he describe the music on his latest CD? Samples of the new album can be heard on his website www.robert-miles.com.
"The new album 'Thirteen' is a blend of electronica, alternative rock and blues, and among my guests have been Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Dave Okumu (The Invisible), Mike Patto and John Thorne (Lamb). My music, like always, has changed, and is being constantly shaped by my everyday life experiences. I also try to involve new talented artists into my projects, and if possible give them a platform in order to get exposure with what they do.
Complex and determined, Miles is also a sensitive, somewhat contemplative soul.
A thinking man's composer/producer/DJ/musicians who enjoys spending time with his family, he became a father in 2008, and currently re-designing and remodelling his house/studios in Ibiza. He also lists architecture, design, gardening and watching sunsets as things he likes to do.
The striking thing about the much-travelled, mercurial Mr Miles is his simple humanity, his unpretentious perspective on existence, the people who populate the Earth and all their cultures.
"Every place I have been...has given me some inputs and material to add to my music" he opens up. "Every person you meet along the way has some interesting story to tell...travelling is the best way to increase your knowledge...you see it with your own eyes...not in a book or in a picture...the contact with other cultures, different ways of expression, exchange of information are the key to the process of making music."
He leaves me, as only Robert Miles would, with something of his own philosophy and recipe for living.
"Time to work, time to relax, time to reflect".
For those not familiar, Miles is responsible for producing the massive dance hit 'Children' in 1996. A single which shifted over 5 million units, charted in 19 countries, and produced one of World’s top ten best selling singles of 1996. It also brought him a Brit Award and a World Music Award as Best International Newcomer in 1997.
Since those heady days of international stardom, however, Miles has stubbornly chased his own personal and artistic freedom, fought his former management and record label and slipped into the shadows.
Despite the turmoil he kept going, eventually founded his own label, kept producing music, garnered respect among his peers, critical acclaim from the media, and is now preparing to release his next album, 'Th1rt3en', in February 2011.
Born Roberto Concina in Fleurier, Switzerland, on November 3, 1969, he was raised in Fagagna, Italy, a small town near Venice, and his back-story reads like a fairytale.
As a teenager, he spent three months locked in his bedroom trying to figure out how to use the studio equipment he had bought with a bank loan.
In time, he would not only learn to use the studio equipment, but take the music world by storm with his global hit record 'Children'.
An extraordinary story surely, from the bedroom to the glittering prizes of the star system?
"It's the story of a common young boy from a small town with a lot of determination", Miles, an unassuming, intelligent and thoughtful man says of his life, brushing aside the fairytale analogy with casual ease. "I am sure there are quite a few people like that around…"
His comments take us by surprise. It's not, quite frankly, what you would have expected from a man who can boast multi-million record sales. Nevertheless he is forever anchored to 'Children'.
As a young musician, Robert had found himself touched by a series of photographs, displaying the plight of children caught up in the misery of war torn former Yugoslavia. The photographs of the rapidly disintegrating Balkans - dark, stark and raw - had been brought back from the conflict by his father who had travelled to the battlefront as part of a humanitarian mission. Miles responded by composing this seminal piece of music.
For Roberto Concina, latterly Roberto Milani and now known as Robert Miles, it was a turning point in his life when he was struggling. "I had borrowed money from the bank to buy studio equipment and so it was a difficult moment in my life financially," he explained. "But I was determined to fight through it in order to get there...and luckily enough the third record I produced was a huge, and unexpected, success."
It was the break aspiring artists pray for, and Miles is acutely aware of its importance in his life. "Thanks to that track," he tells us candidly. "I can do what I do… It also put my name on the international radar, and opened more than a few doors to my artistic development." Three singles followed 'Children', 'Fable', 'One and One' from the hit, debut album Dreamland, and 'Freedom', from the ill-fated, and greatly underrated '23 AM' CD. New found pop stardom, of course, is often a mixed blessing, especially when your first hit is a multi-million selling monster. The demands become greater to repeat the success.
Roberto Concina, however, was not just another routine hit maker.
The cranked up pressure to produce successful commercial follow-ups, and the need to satisfy the enormous expectations of millions of fans, management and record company, never did sit easily with the Italian.
He was not prepared to churn out similarly sounding commercial material to keep his management and record label sweet.
Miles, if nothing else, was his own man, and was determined to retain control of his own destiny and artistic freedom. "I came up with the silhouette idea (he appeared as a shadow on the cover of his second album) when I started having problems with my ex-manager and label. They wanted more of the same…while I wanted to clarify to them that I didn't want to become a pop star, but instead a well-respected producer/artist making music without compromise. Unfortunately most of the major record labels, and team I had around me at that time, didn't agree with that...so I said to myself 'why not set up my own label so I don't need to deal with this anymore'".
After moving to Los Angeles in 2001 he set up S:alt Records - 'suitably alternative'-, and four years after 23AM, and various legal battles to regain his artistic freedom, he released his third album Organik.
Dark and haunting with numerous brilliant touches [It's a subtle masterpiece. The production is superb. The Independent], the album was recorded in a secluded Spanish finca on the island of Ibiza.
Long before Pacha, Space and Amnesia, Ibiza was the spiritual retreat of the hippies, the rich and the very famous, an atmosphere Miles found conducive to producing music. In 2006, inspired by Ibiza's highly-charged ambience he bought a 500 year-old farmhouse on the heavenly quiet Northern hills.
But there was, for Robert Miles, another agenda working in his decision to cross the pond.
"I always wanted to get involved with the movie industry and possibly score some cool movies/documentaries…I thought my music was quite cinematic and started playing it around to various people…after the new album Organik was released, several tracks were used on movie projects such as The Bourne Identity, City of Ghosts, Derrida and adverts for brands such as Jaguar, Nike and Gucci."
Three years later in 2004, critical acclaim for Robert Miles' collaborative and experimental album with Trilok Gurtu : Miles_Gurtu, endorsed his ability to score for movies. One Guardian critic said of the album ...this is music for your own private Oscar-nominated movie...if I ran an awards scheme, I'd certainly give something to Miles_Gurtu. Music Week, The Evening Standard, The Times, Q magazine and many others were equally generous in their reviews of the CD.
Miles eventually moved from Los Angeles to London, which is now his main base, but the musician shifts ground between homes in London, Berlin and Ibiza.
Enigmatic and private, his music has consistently defied labelling.
Techno/Trance/Dream/Dark/Leftfield/Nu-Jazz/Nu-World have all been used to try and describe the work of Robert Miles.
Often not mentioned, is the experimental edge to much of his work, which shows a courageous willingness to try new things with his music. He never shies away from taking chances with his output.
So how would he describe the music on his latest CD? Samples of the new album can be heard on his website www.robert-miles.com.
"The new album 'Thirteen' is a blend of electronica, alternative rock and blues, and among my guests have been Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Dave Okumu (The Invisible), Mike Patto and John Thorne (Lamb). My music, like always, has changed, and is being constantly shaped by my everyday life experiences. I also try to involve new talented artists into my projects, and if possible give them a platform in order to get exposure with what they do.
Complex and determined, Miles is also a sensitive, somewhat contemplative soul.
A thinking man's composer/producer/DJ/musicians who enjoys spending time with his family, he became a father in 2008, and currently re-designing and remodelling his house/studios in Ibiza. He also lists architecture, design, gardening and watching sunsets as things he likes to do.
The striking thing about the much-travelled, mercurial Mr Miles is his simple humanity, his unpretentious perspective on existence, the people who populate the Earth and all their cultures.
"Every place I have been...has given me some inputs and material to add to my music" he opens up. "Every person you meet along the way has some interesting story to tell...travelling is the best way to increase your knowledge...you see it with your own eyes...not in a book or in a picture...the contact with other cultures, different ways of expression, exchange of information are the key to the process of making music."
He leaves me, as only Robert Miles would, with something of his own philosophy and recipe for living.
"Time to work, time to relax, time to reflect".
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