For the 97th installment in our Just For The Night series, selectors take you on their own journey through groove. Anything goes.
Next up, benvenuti DJ, producer & musician Luca "DJ Rocca" Roccatagliati. His first productions date back to the late 90s, under the name Maffia Soundsystem from the Italian club of the same name, but he has quite the roll call since those days. He's collaborated with names such as Howie B, Zed Bias, Dimitri From Paris @dfp, Daniele Baldelli, Francois K @francoiskofficial and @Jazzanova producing singles, remixes and albums for some much-loved labels, such as Compost, Rekids, Hell Yeah, Slow Motion, IRMA, @ToyTonics, Defected, Soul Clap Rec, Faze Action Records @fazeaction, Delusion Of Grandeur, @claremont-56 & Bordello A Parigi.
DJ Rocca created the electro disco project Erodiscotique with Dimitri From Paris and Daniele Baldelli, with several EPs on Gomma, Toy Tonics, Razor'N'Tape and Hell Yeah records, an album on Japanese BBQ and some tracks included in the compilations Playboy Mansion and Back In The House published by Defected records and mixed by Dimitri himself and Bob Sinclair.
With Daniele Baldelli he made the albums “Podalirius” and “Quagga”, on the English label Nang and several EPs for Is It Balearic?, Nein Records, Rogue Cat & File Under Disco. As a producer, DJ Rocca, is part of the projects Ajello (with Taver), Supersonic Lovers (with Marcello Giordani) and Crimea X (with Jukka Reverberi). He's remixed artists such as Isolee, Pete Herbert, Bjorn Torske, Chris Coco, Dimitri From Paris & Andrew Weatherall. With the award-winning Italian jazz musician Franco D’Andrea he formed the Electric Tree project, a trio of contemporary music, balanced between jazz and electronic, with a double album released in April 2016 for Parco Della Musica Records, album of the month for the magazine Musica Jazz.
With the iconic IRMA label he has two albums under his belt: as Triorox (together with pianist Giovanni Guidi, Joe Rehmer and Gianluca Petrella), and one with the CocoRocca project together with the English DJ/producer Chris Coco. Released in March 2025, 'Cocorocca: Discoteca' was born from late summer of 2019, when DJ Rocca and Chris Coco spent time together at the intimate La Casella festival in Umbria, Italy, where they chatted about Italo disco, the Rimini/Riccione riviera in the 90s and classic Italian clubs. Inspired by their conversations and imagined memories of scenes they weren't part of, they set out to make the music which over time, evolved into this, an imaginary retro-futuristic club blending past influences with future possibilities. It draws on dub, house and disco and is now resented on this wonderfully escapist full length which starts slow and dreamy, raises the pulse then slows down to a nice emotive finish. A fine reimagining of some classic sounds.
DJ Rocca also has his own label Danny Was A Drag King where he releases releases by Ajello, Supersonic Lovers, Luminodisco, Verdo & Marcello Giordani. His sets are pure eclecticism for the dance floor, having globetrotted from London to Oslo, Brussels to Berlin, Vienna to Barcelona, Zurich, Bern & Helsinki to Monaco, Paris & Lyon; Croatia, Turkey & Japan to China, USA and Brazil.
He’s delivered a shimmering, soulful guest mix ~ grazie mille @dj-rocca