Telekom Electronic Beats

Ramon Tapia

Ramon Tapia

Ramon was born and raised in Holland, and followed in his father’s (a Chilean musician) footsteps in his teenage years when he began producing music. Ramon’s youth was influenced by Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Kraftwerk, Front 242, and the early pioneers of Detroit techno. Once bitten by the techno bug, Ramon moved to Belgium’s scene capital, Antwerp, to study as a jeweler and diamond cutter. It was a part-time job in a record shop that helped to decide his destiny, however.

Tapia began producing tracks with a colleague, and slowly learned to produce solo. After a fruitful period producing much tougher techno, a resurgent Tapia began to find fame under his new moniker in the late 2000s on labels like Herzblut, Craft and Yellow Tail. In 2010, he mixed a compilation for New York’s legendary Strictly Rhythm, plundering their back catalog for a full mix of new interpretations by him and various collaborators. This marked the biggest turning point in his career, catapulting him onto the world stage. The cream of Holland’s techno scene soon followed suit, with his worked snapped up by 2000 And One’s Remote Area and 100% Pure, Shinedoe’s Intacto and Secret Cinema’s Gem Records and further afield by Germany’s Great Stuff and Tiga’s Turbo. Remixes for Paul Weller, Armand van Helden, Nic Fanciulli, Marc Romboy, Monika Kruse, Mauro Picotto, DJ Sneak and Umek and many others and two albums for Great Stuff came.

Eventually in 2012 he set up his own labels, Say What? Recordings and collaboration label Aella Music (which he runs together with Hermanez) to proliferate his sound further. With tinges of his Latin background lacing his percussion sections and his Dutch/Belgian heritage providing the basis for his hard-grooving techno template, his sound is one that mixes organic, tribal rhythm and syncopation and electronic machinations to potent effect. He just wants to carry on doing what he does best with no hyperbole, egomania or bullshit: rocking dancefloors and releasing infallible grooves.