Timo Garcia

Biography

As Timo’s set finishes and the effortlessly cool crowd at Leeds’ Mission cheer in thanks, it’s clear to see why he is in such high demand all over the planet.

He’s just finished recording DJ Mag’s December cover mount CD, mixing funk infested b-lines, progressive, filtered synth lines and wigged-out percussion whilst blasting through a bunch of genres in the process.

Leeds is a familiar second home for Timo:  he cut his teeth there in top music boxes like The Warehouse, The Music Factory and The Faversham at the enviably young age of 21 where his talents for reading and rocking a crowd were recognised from early on.  

Then championing a proto French house sound, the squelchy and filtered sonics in his sets were remnants of a previous residency in Paris, where he’d spun with 4/4 chums like Thomas Banglater and Eric Rug.  Keeping on his toes and absorbing innumerate influences on the way, he then split to London in ’05 and to the head of the table at his own imprint: Berwick Street Records.

It is this restlessness, married with a fulfilled appearance diary which is on a par with that of the rudest globe-trotting narco’ (encompassing Brazil, Denmark, Russia, Latvia and, obviously, Ibiza, as it does) that inherently sketch the blueprint for his sets and the make up of his musical DNA.  

House music to get sun burnt to; gritty little numbers that resonate in the deepest, darkest minimal discos, and metronomic beats manufactured unashamedly for the dancefloor are all musical tools used by Timo to construct bespoke sets tailored to the buggin’ crowds of wherever he be at.  

When at work in the studio the scope of his electronic output is no more limited:  Decidedly minimalistic and deliciously simple bass is punctuated with weirded-out samples when working on ‘Zombies Revenge.’ Glitches and guitars pepper the tech-house of his collaboration with Ricky Stone on ‘Control the Universe’ and the analogue pressings and bouncy beats of recent release ‘Uncle Fly,’ all highlight the point that Timo’s output is a dynamic one.  Every set is a transient snapshot of the best electronica has to offer; some carefully picked works by other artists, and some from his, and Berwick Street’s own, audio arsenals.

With records snapped up by hipster labels like Toolroom, Cr2, OM Records and Ninja Tune, it’s clear that Timo’s a man on fire.  Big-ups from mega stars like Steve Lawler, Claude von Stroke, Tom Middleton, Louis Vega and Layo and Bushwacka also hammer home the point that Timo is someone you’d be a fool to ignore.

Radio 1’s dance Dons have also shown their support, labelling one of his tracks as that week’s ‘Essential New Tune’.  You get the picture:  Timo is one of the boys: welcomed with open arms by our culture’s elite and now a regular at haunts like London’s mighty Ministry of Sound.

It’s no surprise he’s such a regular spinner around the streets of our fair capital, Timo literally lives and breathes the place with both home and studio on Brick Lane, E1.  Nestled snugly in the bosom of uber-cool dance district Shoreditch, this locality allows him to selectively absorb all the best bits of Brit culture and intuitively filter out the many passing fads in favour of the cooler zephers which bring with them musical merit and longevity in equal measure.

Spinning New Order and Happy Mondays tunes in the downbeat pub of a London ‘burb as an aimless kid now seems a long time ago.  It was those good times, though, that spurred Timo on to eventually go pro’ in ’02.  And, whether you’re shifting serious shapes during one of his colourful sets, or lost in the folds of one of his vital productions, you’ll surely be thankful for that.  Welcome along.

Kristan J Caryl, June 2008

Track Record

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  Leaders Of The New School Vol 3
  Timo Garcia