Manuel Fogliata, a prominent fixture of the Italian techno landscape, was best known for the releases under his Nuel alias.
This past weekend, Italy’s dance music community mourned a bitter loss as techno DJ, producer, and live performer Manuel Fogliata has passed away at the age of 45. No cause of death has been given at the time of writing.
Donato Dozzy, another Italian artist who focuses on a similar range of the techno spectrum, shared the news in an Instagram post. “I’m saddened to announce that my friend Manuel Fogliata fka Nuel has died,” he wrote. “Companion of many sonic adventures, he left this crazy world in a blink of an eye. My deep condolences to his family and friends.”
Fogliata told Fifteen Questions that his first brushes with music came at age 13, when he started playing the guitar. While initially drawn to rock bands like Led Zeppelin, the Rimini native found his point of entry into dance music via styles like trip-hop, IDM and breakbeats during their ’90s heyday.
By age 20, Fogliata had tried his hand at music production, and the mid-2000s saw him launch his Nuel artist project. Its discography dates back to his 2006 three-track minimal EP Charlatán, but the eclectic 2011 album Trance Mutation on Further Records marked a significant departure that would inform his evolving sound.
As the 2010s continued to unfold, Manuel Fogliata honed in on a hypnotic and contemplative style of techno that earned him an official remix for Wata Igarashi in 2017. Then, in 2020, he once again went left on Fantasia, an album experimental enough to get signed to highly influential tastemaker label R&S Records.
In December 2024, Fogliata shared in an Instagram post that he had stopped releasing under the name Nuel because he would “prefer to simplify,” noting that “in the end it’s just about making music.” He went on to reveal that he had been suffering from tinnitus for five years that prevented him from producing music, and that he was no longer interested in making techno regardless.
We here at EDM Identity express our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Manuel Fogliata during what can only be a difficult time.
