Hailing from Brazil, Wehbba is one of the latest additions of Brazil’s techno ambassadors.
Dentist graduate, licensed diver and Jiu Jitsu fighter for almost five years, he could have just stuck to what he does. But DJing and music is what he really does best.

Rodolfo Wehba had it all: a practice dentistry office, working in two big clinics in Sao Paulo and becoming a Jiu Jitsu fighter, but that was not enough, he actually crossed the pacific ocean all the way to Sydney where he divided his time between teaching english and scuba diving, participating in diving expeditions at the great barrier reef of northern Australia.

His involvement in the ripe underground scence in Australia inspired him to continue his dream of becoming a DJ. After returning to Brazil he started collecting wax and participating in events. As a producer, his main aspiration led him to create his own sound in techno and its subgenres.

In 2004, Wehbba released his first national album titled “Revoltin’” with the support from the well established brazilian label “URBR”. The album’s success translated in sales, as it sold out after three months of its release. That led Wehbba to perform on one of the biggest festivals in Brazil and South America: Skol Beats. Since then, his carrier advanced to a new level on a national scale.

In 2005, when Beatport was still consolidating its reputation as a world reference for electronic music sales, Wehbba reached top 6 with his project Hybrid Players. Establishing his ground, Wehbba went on to release on labels such as Renaissance, Global Underground, Great Stuff, Get Physical, Tronic, Audiotherapy, Jesus Loved You, Craft Music, BluFin, Primate, Concept, Titanium, among many others.

In 2006, Wehbba managed to sell out his second release, this time supported by the established german label “Killa Beat Rec.” titled “Flapin’ my Pie Hole” including smashing minimal electro remix by Kiddaz.fm’s Dave Shokh. The release drew attention of the big players such as DJ Hell, Karotte and many others. His constant evolving sound has drawn him a lot of attention from press and public, as he scales his rhythm up and down, with his uplifting funk as signature. In addition, his DJ skills also surpass the realm of standards as his dynamic style allows him to flip from all kind of techno and house music which carried him to perform globally on a busy schedule starting from Europe in early 2007.

In 2009, Wehbba launched his label ’82 Recordings’ making it the beacon for his musical direction and a breeding ground for honorary talented techno producers. His first release on his label has generated thousands of sales and reached Beatport Top10 Techno chart which paved the way to a massive DJ and producer support for the label’s continuous releases such as Timo Maas, Danilo Vigorito, Dave Clarke, Technasia, Renato Cohen, Ken Ishii, Paco Osuna, Umek, Stephan Bodzin, Pascal Feos, Kaizerdisco, Valentino Kanzyani and more. In addition, his contributions to other labels like Audio Therapy, BluFin and Tronic are attracting more attention from the big players. Wehbba was also nominated the 30th best DJ on House Magazine’s annual Brazil Top100 DJs.

Early 2010 sees Wehbba fruitful projects get the spotlight: a remix of Christian Smith’s hit record on Bedrock, “Flyertalk”, two new singles on Tronic already showcased by the labelowner himself on BBC’s Radio1 Essential Mix and his first worldwide mix compilation launch!

The most club swarms usually receive Sören Bodner aka Monkey Maffia as half of the DJ-duo, which for 17 years brought the most eclectic exaltations to the dancers of the world. The Wighnom-y-lotion of classy techno is History!

One is the magic number, twice – a man to a twin–sized bed is the custom. As an operator of the Freude am Tanzen/Musikkrause workshop and record store founder (Fatplastics) he loves the luminosity of the coarse and fevered dance music in every cubic centimeter of his soul. Vinyl is his daily bread, what pumps in his veins. Monkey belongs to the early 90’s as one of the tireless torch carriers whom bass drums provided the pace for his free spirit-sidekick the most club abstract.

Peppered with a grotesque, lovely madness with a wink of the eye included. Essentially he is an anarchistic selector with a sharp sense for the particular and distinguished note of a genre which has no name. Drilling through with his genre straddling style the borders of house and techno. Thereby he detected the often strict formalism of many a dance floor with a joyful stringency for surprise pickled with intensity with a dash of dramatics. Sounds seasoned as a real beat cuisine. Sometimes he seduces soft and sensitive – allowing the soul of this millennium to come on, and then he comes with a slap on the posterior.

Monkey Maffia – A real cosmopolitan with a deep love for his home, a gentleman in a bear suit, and a free thinker as opposed to a drone is known as one of the most creative distribution centers of electronic music. Explosiveness bound together with a deepness as his modus operandi. Tirelessly he spins on the controllers as if they were wheels, thereby a determined focus on the dance floor is brought forth which is then unfolded. With an ardor, the warmth can be heard as a thread through his interpreted design majesty. A richness of ideas yes, obsessive compulsive no – here the life is lived, not compelled!

Ramon Tapia alias El Carlitto, son of a Chilenean musician who had to run from his home country as he stood up against the regime, and a Dutch woman who was brave enough to fall in love, is a funny character, a very ambitious one: No one would have guessed he, the young jeweler working behind the counter of an Antwerp record shop, would one day release records on labels as renowned as Great Stuff,Turbo Rec, Abe Duque Rec, Monique Musique , Herzblut, Yellow Tail and Strictly Rhythm, just to name a few. But he does! And he does not stop there! With remixes for Marco Resmann , Marc Miroir , Butch , Funk Dvoid , Martin Eyerer and Mauro Picotto under his belt, things are looking more than good for the energetic player.

With a happy past in gabba and Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones roots, Ramon has a firm understanding of diversity and a very broad taste in music, readily amplified by his open mind and soul. His Latin background and his Dutch upbringing perfectly explain his cultural curiosity and his deep rooted sense for groove and rhythm. Shimmering through in his intrinsic productions is his love for structural buildups and breakdowns and harmonies which underlay the driving beats.

Mission: “To make people move by taking them on a trip in my musical head without even going into my head,” laughs Ramon, who started getting into making music to “have more feeling for the music. I started with some guy I knew from the shop then I learned step by step to create my own sound. After a while I got the impression that the people I worked with never did the things that I had flying around in my head, so I started to do my own stuff. It gives me a huge satisfaction when I see people smile when they hear my music.”

“A lot of music has had a huge influence on my productions: I like everything from oldskool rap, Ice T/NWA, Snoop, Boards of Canada, totally freaked out stuff, everything that makes sound and moves me. I will buy and play electro, house, minimal, whatever you wanna call it, I like everything. I also love the old Latino stuff, the folk of Latin America.”

It shows: Ramon’s music indeed makes people smile – and bounce. It’s filled with the joyous exuberance of the high octane party spirit that initially inspired Ramon to get involved when he was young. It was actually down to his two elder sisters whose musical taste had a huge influence on the youngster. Returning home from the most renowned clubs of the Nineties their gleaming eyes told tales of exuberance and liberation, making Ramon aware of the power of the electronic beats.

Completely fascinated by the sounds of Front 242, Frank De Wulf, Kraftwerk, A Split Second, Tyree Cooper and Kevin “Reese” Saunderson, it was only after his move to Belgium’s techno power capital Antwerp that Ramon started to buy vinyl and become involved in DJing. Working in a record shop while studying to be a gold smith, he realized that music was his life, subconsciously tracing his father’s foot steps.

His dad, the only other musician in the family and whose music was provocative enough to enrage the repressive military government of his home country Chile, is possibly one of the main reasons why Ramon does not get disheartened on his way to the top. “I just want to do my own thing and play.”

James F!@#$%^ Friedman has been a fixture in New York’s underground dance music scene for a decade now. As a journalist, DJ, promoter, label head and music supervisor, he has championed emergent sounds and artists like few others in North America. A one time staffer at XLR8R, Vice, and The Fader, he’s also worked at !K7 Records, managing releases for the likes of Swayzak, Trevor Jackson and Tiga. In 2003, he left !K7 to launch Trevor Jackson’s Output Recordings in the US, which he ran successfully for two years. In that same period, his REFUSE! parties took off, garnering massive press support from the likes of I-D Magazine and playing host to visionary DJs like 2manydjs, Headman, Twitch, Erol Alkan and Michael Mayer. In fact, REFUSE! hosted the US debuts of Tiefschwarz, Ewan Pearson, Jackson and His Computer Band, Cut Copy, Annie’s live band, David Gilmour Girls, and Greg Wilson.

His 2006 mix cd Go Commando (released via Defend Music) served to establish Friedman’s tastemaking aesthetic internationally, garnering rave reviews (10/10 in Vice for instance) and a nomination for Mix Album of the Year from the PLUG Awards alongside such heavyweights as Richie Hawtin, Ewan Pearson, DJ Shadow and Dominick Eulberg.

Already touring across the US and Europe, Friedman used this momentum to expand his efforts, launching Throne of Blood Recordings with the members of the Rapture in late 2006. In 2007, Throne of Blood hit the road across the US and Canada alongside the Ed Banger Records crew to host and DJ at the infamous “Dafter Parties,” after-show events following Daft Punk’s groundbreaking ALIVE 2007 Tour. 2008 saw Friedman return to throwing parties in New York, launching the highly successful Prime Time series with partner-in-crime Eamon Harkin. Held at classic venues Love and Santos Party House, Prime Time hosted hosted Metro Area, Todd Terje, Sinden, Alexander Robotnik, Rub N Tug, Hercules and Love Affair, Ewan Pearson, Greg WIlson, and Stacey Pullen. By late 2008, Prime Time moved to a new venue and morphed into the now seminal Mister Saturday Night party, hosting the likes of Theo Parrish, Moodymann, Twitch, DJ Pierre, Larry Heard, Todd Terry, Four Tet, Justin Martin, the Phenomenal Handclap Band, Francis and the Lights, Kerri Chandler, Mark E, Omar S and many more. In 2009, Friedman co-founded the monthly Barbarians party with Tommy Moye (Rong Music/Blunted Funk) and Andrew “Wiz” Potter (Populette).

2008 also saw Friedman renew his focus on Throne of Blood, which began churning out a dizzying range of sounds from the thug house of Dances With White Girls to Zombi’s neo italodisco and John Selway’s gorgeous “Shake The Snow.” Building off that momentum, Friedman delved deeper into his duties as A&R for the label, snapping up emerging powerhouses Populette, AKA JK, and Harkin & Raney as well as established figures like Mugwump and Master Khan (known to some as Twilite Tone or Great Weekend) for a series of releases that have found a place in some of dance music’s most discriminating record crates.

As the label heads into 2011, Throne of Blood is readying releases from Populette, AKA JK, Mugwump vs. AKA JK, UK upstarts Bicep, Dr. Druzz (The Rapture’s Gabriel Andruzzi), Neurotic Drum Band’s Ulysses, LA upstarts Cosmic Kids, and Master Khan.

It has been a great couple of years for Lottie. Winning the Best New DJ prize at the Ericsson Muzik Awards in 1999, she then went on to grab a Top 50 spot in DJ Magazine’s DJ Of The Year poll in one of only nine women in a chart of 100 DJs.

Lottie’s talent was first spotted by the promoters of London’s leading night The Gallery where in 1996 she was selected as their weekly resident. Today as well as a host of International gigs, Lottie plays all over the UK and holds the title of being Bugged Out’s first lady, an honour indeed to be so highly regarded at this legendary Liverpool club.

Where Lottie shines as a DJ is in her quality of music and her insistence in only playing proper house. Spinning deep and tribal, through to tough and techy house with an added twisted disco and funky sound from UK and American labels; she is a consummate spinner. Although her insistence that music come first has strongly directed what media coverage she chooses, entering the world of TV and Radio was a natural step for Lottie, presenting for MTV at Homelands (2000) and appearing on Channel 4’s award winning Faking It show as a mentor to a classical musician who was trying to make it as a club DJ, she has also become a regular guest DJ, filling in for Danny Rampling on Radio 1.

Productions include ‘The Sound’ on Duty Free Recordings and ‘The Yob’ with Trade DJ Malcolm Duffy on Remote. Others include ‘Relax’ by Robbie Rivera, and Lottie’s favourite track, ‘Happy Days’ for Defected came out in June ‘99. During 2000 she completed a remix of Junior Cartier’s ‘Women Beat Their Men’ again with production partner Malcolm Duffy. Towards the end of the year she finished a remix of “Walk Of Life” by Billie on Innocent Records and her second solo single “Bushroot” (on Duty Free Recordings) was released in December.

Remix wise, Lottie added her flavour to ‘mountains’ by Meeker on Darren Emerson’s label Underwater, ‘Salsoul Nugget’ by M&S on FFRR and Desert’s ‘Lettin’ Ya Mind Go’ on Futuregroove/ Mute Records.

Working originally as a filmmaker, Rone (Erwan Castex) composes his first music creations between two shoots.
His works, going from experimental techno to melodic ambient, soon grab the attention of the the most receptive ears: Massive Attack, Ellen Allien, Laurent Garnier, Pantha du Prince, James Holden, and furthermore Agoria, who brings him to light in the cult compilation “At the controls”.
The compositions draw the interest of Parisian label InFiné (Apparat, Danton Eeprom…), that offers Rone a new chance of expression with the long awaited release of the maxi “Bora”.
Since then, Rone has been tracklisted in the last Steve lawler and Sasha’s album (with Thom Yorke, Matthew Dear and Telefon Tel Aviv).
His own first album, “Spanish Breakfast” is released in mars 2009 (InFiné music)

That’s right, Throne of Blood’s Franco-American dream team have done it again, delivering what we think might be their finest mix to date… No tracklist for this one but there are plenty of instant classics in there!!!

READ : Gilb’R – Tsugi covermount mix CD – track by track commentary by Gilb’R (in french)

MP3 / 320 Kbps / 2:02:52

Biography

France’s most wanted radio host and selector, Ivan Smagghe stands at the crossroads between glamorous parisian hype and musical integrity. 

His Test radio show and compilations imposed a new vision of leftfield electronica on Radio Nova and his programming for the two past years has been a faultless example of quality eclecticness. Though Smagghe hails from the early days of the Parisian underground – both through his connection with the defunct Rough Trade record shop and remixing contributions on various formats – he came back to music production in 2001 by launching his own Set imprint.