Shield (IT)

Shield is probabily known as owner and mastermind of Rebirth Records, but his journey began away back in 1998 when he started the collaboration with Bacci Productions, remixing artists such as Shawnee Taylor, Darryl D’Bonneau, Debbie Pender, De’Lacy and Lisa Hunt for the legendary american label Easy Street. In 2001 Shield started working as A&R and promoter for Oxyd Records. In 2006 Shield set up his own record label, Rebirth Records, which has surely grown up over the years into one of the most respected Italian independent label. A series of high impact releases alongside a focused and strong A&R and promotional work, have helped to enhance the reputation and credibility of Rebirth, resulting in the label being constantly present in the Top 5 of the most charted labels on the seminal Resident Advisor site. With an ethos centered around the foundations of house music, Rebirth has rapidly built a reputation, always refusing to conform and follow trends, but creating instead a own unique sound. Creating an ideal link between the ‘soul’ of a song while combining it with a contemporary sound ! Many of the label releases have quickly become unmissable tools in the record bags of some of the most respected international DJs. Rebirth has released music from established artists like Agoria, Freaks, Full Intention, Tuccillo, Alison Marks, Rennie Foster, Rampa, Taras Van De Voorde, Djuma Soundsystem, System Of Survival, Spirit Catcher, Alain Ho, Andreas Saag and brought to the attention of the big audience talents like Tevo Howard, James Teej, NUfrequency, Trio / Bocca Grande, Robytek, Pirupa, Leon, Daze Deten, Triumph and recently T-Polar, Menik, Corrado Bucci, Chromatic Filters, Artifact and Hyena Stomp. Great A&Ring skills have helped the label in bringing to the crowds strong releases and in discovering artists at the early stages of their carreer such as Tensnake, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Soul Clap, Jimmy Edgar and Deetron. Shield is also one half of NUfrequency, responsible for producing the breathtaking ‘Go That Deep’, featuring the amazing vocals of the legendary Shara Nelson (who achieved global success as part of trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack). Signed to NRK in the Uk the single has been hailed as the ‘best soulful house tune of 2008’. And also ‘Fallen Hero’ featuring Ben Onono, which is still one of the most requested tune on Rebirth, and both included in their first album ‘Connected’. Shield has recently re-edited house classics from Frankie Knuckles, Lil’Louis, A Guy Called Gerald, Alison Limerick and Tony Ransom. The result is something really hot that made jumpin key djs like Pete Tong, Michel Cleis, Laurent Garnier, Seth Troxler, Louie Vega, Dennis Ferrer, Locodice, Luciano, X-Press 2, Deetron, Ashley Beedle, Rolando, Wolf & Lamb, Sebo K... His collaborations with Robytek gave life to the singles ‘Pump It’ featuring Foremost Poets in 2009, the strong ‘Dowtntown Soul’ in 2011 and an official take on Adeva’s gave classic ‘In and Out of My Life’ played a lot by djs like Tony Humphries, Cassius and Jazzanova. In 2012 the release of ‘Way Of Life’ EP on Luciano’s label Cadenza. In 2013 the release of a brand new Robytek Vs Shield track called ‘Brass’ and a great edit of Jesse Futerman ‘Betrayal (Love Is Misery)’ played by Gilles Peterson on BBC 6 Music. Shield played gigs in Germany (Tresor in Berlin), Poland (Piekarnia and Utopia in Warsaw), Czech Republic (Radost and Duplex in Prague), Uk (The Egg, Ministry Of Sound and Turnmills in London, Nottingham and Manchester), Miami (Nikki Beach, Shelbourne and Club Sin) and recently Eden, Cafe’ Mambo and Cafe’ Del Mar (Ibiza).