Ricardo Villalobos

by Andy KellmanSince the early 90s, Ricardo Villalobos has been building an impressive discography of 12 releases on respected dance labels like Playhouse and Perlon. In his youth, the Chilean-born producer/DJ moved with his family to Germany in order to avoid the military dictatorship of Pinochet, and he eventually fell in with the countrys fertile house community. A minimalist at heart, he has trotted the globe to study percussion in order to apply his knowledge to his productions, which almost always sound remarkably expansive despite their simplicity. In addition to his own solo material, he has recorded with fellow expatriate Dandy Jack as Ric y Martin and with Luciano as Sense Club; additionally, he has taken part in Markus Nikolais Hombre Ojo project. Two excellent mixes — 2002s Love Family Trax and 2003s Taka Taka — have been released, but the apex of his career appears to be Alcachofa, a 2003 full-length released on Playhouse. A second full-length, Thé au Harem dArchimède, arrived on Perlon in 2004. A compilation of his Frisbee Tracks material, titled Salvador, was released in 2006.