An Italian in Berlin has made a debut album in which the Italian language works as an instrument: ‘Tipo Così’
Twelve tracks in which Italian is working material rather than a quotation.
Sam Ruffillo has released ‘Tipo Così’ — a full-length album of twelve slots.
The Apple Music catalogue records it.
The album came out on 10 October 2025 on the Berlin label Toy Tonics.
The title translates roughly as ‘like this’ — and this is the rare case where the Italian in the titles is not decoration. ‘House Tipo Così’, ‘Perfetta Così’, ‘Chiamami Subito’, ‘80 Voglia Di Calcio’: Ruffillo really does work with italo disco as a native language rather than as a quotation.
Italian as a choice, not a device
He explained it himself in an interview with Night Guide two weeks after the release.
“I wanted to be myself, Italian. But I do not like getting stuck: today it is like this, tomorrow who knows… maybe the next one will be in English or Spanish,” Ruffillo said.
Toy Tonics is the Berlin label that brought groove with a live bassline back into fashion, without a hint of nostalgia. Ruffillo belongs to its circle, and his records are recognisable at once.
“Toy Tonics has an international mentality: it lets you grow without losing your identity and always pushes you to do better,” Ruffillo said.
The road to the album was long: ‘Italianissimo’ (2021) with its sequel ‘Italianissimo, Pt. 2’ (2022), ‘Brooklyn Tapes’ (2023) and ‘Robot Salsa’ (2024).
His 2025 began with a run of joint releases with Kapote: on 30 May came ‘Rico Suave’ featuring ALOT, ‘La La Tune’ with Aroop Roy and the remix EP ‘Robot Salsa Remix’, which drew in A-Trak.
And on 18 June 2025 came a remix made with Simon Says! of Zucchero’s ‘X Colpa Di Chi?’ — proof that the Italian line in his work is a programme, not a joke.
The Italian line he began back on ‘Italianissimo’ has stopped being a device on this record and become a way of speaking.
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