Bicycle Corporation return with Foundations episode 51, this time featuring guest DJ Bean There on Scientific Sound Asia. Scientific Sound Asia operates as an Asian electronic music radio station, DJ agency, promoter and music news platform serving listeners across the region and internationally.
Bicycle Corporation is the Italian duo formed by Marco Mei and Stefano Ugliano, better known as 6884. Together they have built a catalogue of more than fifty productions and remixes spanning Deep House, Tech House, French House, melodic electronic music and Techno.
Marco began his career in Turin during the early 1990s, becoming involved with the Urban People collective as a DJ, promoter and event organiser. His growing reputation across Italy eventually led to international bookings and established a career that extended well beyond his home country.
That progress later led to a residency at Pacha in Sharm el-Sheikh, where Marco developed further experience within an international club environment. His performances across Europe, Asia and other parts of the world subsequently strengthened his reputation as an adaptable selector with a broad understanding of underground electronic music.
Stefano grew up in Turin and showed a strong interest in music from an early age, studying classical piano, percussion and drums. His wider influences included Chopin and West African djembe, giving him a broad rhythmic and melodic foundation before electronic music became his main focus.
As a teenager, Stefano became increasingly fascinated by DJ culture and the electronic music that was still difficult to hear on mainstream Italian radio during the 1990s. That interest encouraged him to study production and develop the technical skills that would later become central to Bicycle Corporation.
When Stefano met Marco, the pair discovered a shared understanding of electronic music and began working together. Marco's experience behind the decks and Stefano's musical and production background gave Bicycle Corporation a flexible foundation for exploring deeper, melodic and more driving club material.
Their work has since appeared across numerous international labels while the pair have maintained a steady flow of productions and remixes. The project allows both artists to bring their individual influences into a shared studio and DJ identity without restricting Bicycle Corporation to one particular style.
The duo have also revisited material from the earlier stages of their catalogue and made selected productions available through their Bandcamp page. This archive gives listeners access to older work while Marco and Stefano continue developing new productions, collaborations and radio projects.
Foundations gives Bicycle Corporation an opportunity to explore the wider records and influences that helped shape their musical development. Episode 51 continues that idea with guest DJ Bean There, bringing another individual perspective into a series centred on the music behind the artists rather than only their current club output.
Guest DJ Bean There.
This week’s guest is Bean There, a DJ whose connection with electronic music stretches back to the early 1990s. He first experienced the culture from the dancefloor, attending major British rave events including Fantazia and Helter Skelter and spending long nights immersed in the music.
By the mid-1990s, Bean There had moved from the crowd to the stage as an MC. That role gave him the opportunity to perform alongside and meet many established UK DJs while becoming more closely involved with the rave scene around the country.
In the early 2000s, he stepped away from performing to concentrate on family life. His interest in electronic music never disappeared, however, and he continued following new sounds, scenes and artists throughout the years that followed.
Eventually, he decided to return to active music performance by learning to DJ. Progress came quickly with support from friends and fellow artists, including DJ Biscuit of Sweatbox Records, who helped encourage his development behind the decks.
Bean There has since built a versatile style that moves through Deep Tech, House, Progressive House, Melodic House, Bass House, Tech House and Techno. Techno remains his personal favourite, although his broad musical background allows him to move between deeper grooves and more energetic club material according to the setting.
Track discovery is an important part of his approach, and he regularly spends time searching for less obvious records rather than relying only on familiar releases. Finding overlooked tracks helps him keep his sets fresh while giving each performance its own identity.
That enthusiasm for digging is matched by a strong focus on the response from the dancefloor. Bean There takes particular satisfaction from seeing people connect with his selections and uses that reaction as motivation to keep developing his technique.
His appearance on Foundations provides an opportunity to look beyond his current club sets and back towards the music and experiences that shaped him. From early British rave culture and his years as an MC to his later move into DJing, the set connects several stages of a musical history that has remained part of his life for more than three decades.
Bean There opens Bicycle Corporation Foundations 51 with Ronnie Spiteri's remix of Celeda Hendrix's "The Underground" before Spartaque's "After Dark" and "Almost There" establish the driving Peak Time Techno direction that dominates the set. Horisone's "Aura", Alberto Ruiz with Xenia and Hector Cardenas continue that pressure, balancing heavy drums with darker melodic tension as the opening sequence gathers momentum.
Horisone returns with "Distorted Realty" before Cosmic Boys, Frankyeffe with Teenage Mutants and Brennen Grey's remix of Sian's "Storm" push the mix deeper into Dark Techno territory. Pleasurekraft and Brennen Grey's "UFO Death Cult" extends that severe club atmosphere, while Rebuke's treatment of Human Resource's rave classic "Dominator" reconnects the set with an earlier strand of Techno history through a contemporary peak-time framework.
Markantonio and Spartaque's "Prophet" leads into The Yellowheads' "Error 909", Martin Panizza's "Amsterdam" and Acid Enigma's "Overseer" as the middle section remains relentlessly focused on driving rhythms and tightly controlled builds. MOTVS, Guerra and Pleasurekraft maintain that intensity through "Romur", "Low State" and "Sex And The Machine", before Jo Poole's remix of "Last Sapien" keeps the pressure high as the programme enters its closing phase.
I Am Bam with Rog Fe Prisco and the two Diego Infanzon selections carry the set towards its final track without easing the pace, leaving Regal and Alien Rain to close with the hammering 303 lines of Acid Techno cut "Acid Affair Pt 1". Foundations 51 consequently stays close to Bean There's harder side throughout, moving through peak-time and dark techno before finishing on a record that connects that modern drive directly with acid's tougher club lineage.
Foundations episode 51 with Bean There
Celeda Hendrix - The Underground (Ronnie Spiteri Remix)
Spartaque - After Dark
Spartaque - Almost There
Horisone - Aura
Alberto Ruiz, Xenia (UA) - Clouds Of Dreams
Hector Cardenas - WBTSTSTG
Horisone - Distorted Realty
Cosmic Boys - Don't Loose Control
Frankyeffe, Teenage Mutants - Amigdala
Sian - Storm (Brennen Grey Remix)
Plesurekraft, Brennen Grey - UFO Death Cult
Human Resource, Rebuke - Dominator (Rebuke Extended Mix)
Markantonio, Spartaque - Prophet
The Yellowheads - Error 909
Martin Panizza - Amsterdam
Acid Enigma - Overseer
MOTVS - Romur
Guerra - Low State
Plesurekraft - Sex And The Machine
Plesurekraft - Last Sapien (Jo Poole Remix)
I Am Bam, Rog Fe Prisco - The Jungle
Diego Infanzon - Another Dimension
Diego Infanzon - Sensation
Regal (ES), Alien Rain - Acid Affair Pt 1
Listen on Mixcloud here.