Not only is Spaniard Coyu leading his Suara label to ever greater things in the underground tech house world, but his own studio and DJ skills are becoming ever more in demand. As such, he hosted his first Suara label night at Brazil's foremost club, D-Edge; will be hosting his first Suara label party in London on September 10th and plans to bring together his entire canon of top tech talent.
The tireless worker has also recently been asked to do remixes for the upcoming Santos album, for house legends X-Press 2 (namely of ‘Muzik Xpress’) – one of their first huge hits and a huge remix which is already picking up support from Steve Mac and tons more names...
Introduce yourself…How’s your year been so far? What have been the highlights?
My name is Coyu and I'm a DJ and producer from Barcelona. I'm 26 years old and I run a label called Suara. I've released some stuff in labels like liebe*detail, Diynamic, Great Stuff, 2020 Vision, Cr2 or Noir Music, and I have some upcoming stuff in Rejected, Skint, Compost or Material Series. Good times.
So why did you start Suara? What was it born from?
July 2008. It started as sub-label of my first label Atypical Farm. But Suara is really bigger than Atypical Farm at the moment.
Is there a good scene in Barcelona you are a part of?
Barcelona club scene was sick 10 years ago. Now it's still quite good. There are some great clubs and very good DJs/producers. Seems like the scene is starting to get better at the moment with new promoters who bet for the DJs of the city.
Tell us about the label showcase you have coming up in London…
It's our first Suara Night in London. We're very proud to be part of the line-up of The Egg. It's not my first time there; I know the club and I really like it. Great sound system, sexy crowd... It's one of the places to be in London. It will be our first label showcase there, but not the last, as we have confirmed more gigs for the next 12 months there.
Are you doing them all over the world?
Yes. We started doing Suara Nights in Barcelona last year. Now we're becoming to do parties in other cities like Sao Paulo, Berlin, Toulouse... or London. The label is growing up a lot and thepromoters start to be interested to bring Suara to their clubs. We have an impressive roster of artists on the label. Edu Imbernon, Uner, Dosem, CarloLio, Gary Beck, Hermanez, Wehbba... Hot artists that are doing big damage on the tech house and techno scene.
Tell us about your A&R – do you go looking for new people for the label all the time?
Not new people all the time, but I like to be the first to get that new DJ that almost nobody knows for a Suara release. I released stuff of artists like Gary Beck, Carlo Lio, Heartik, Matteo Milleri (aka Tale Of Us), Edu Imbernon, Marco Effe, Kid Culture when were only newcomers or unknown artists. One of the main aims of the label is release high quality stuff, doesn’t matter the names or how big they are.
What are you looking for? What is the label’s mission?
I'm always looking for great music. If I like and play the track, I will release it. That's all.
Are relationships important for you when it comes to asking people to release on the label?
For sure. Some of the artists that use to release stuff on the labels are friends. They are the base of the label and the Suara Nights.
What’s with the obsession about cats?
I'm a cat lover. My girlfriend is feline's veterinary and she transmited me her passion for cats. I think a label needs a strong image, a truly identity, so it's not about being obsessed but mix mypassion for cats with music.
Tell us about how different you approach remixes to productions?
When I accept to do a remix is why I really like the original and I see how to do my own version of that track... without doing a new original one. The remix has to do the essence of the original, but it can't be 100% different. When you do an original track the way to work is a little bit different. You sit down on the studio and try to get a good idea. As soon you get it, you have to develop it.
And how come you have only just released on your own label? Why so long?
My first solo remix was released this Summer. I already did some stuff along Edu Imbernon or Uner and not alone. I guess I was very busy in the studio making stuff for other labels in the past and trying to get better the profile of the label with cool stuff, so I forgot to release more own stuff in the label. But no worries, I'm starting to work in some stuff for Suara. You will listen it very soon...
What inspires your own productions? What are you aiming to achieve?
Any object or person involved in my life can inspire me. It's not all about other tracks or artists, although of course the music of your fav artists can inspire you... But you should be stronglyinspired by other artists because your music could sound like a bad copy ofthem.
What music did you grow up around, is that still an influence on you know?
My mother is Brazilian, so I've heard lot of bossa-nova and samba. I guess some of my roots are in that tribal/ethnicmusic.
What do you like doing outside of music?
Get relax with my girlfriend and cats at home, party with my friends, eat good food...
What else you got coming up?
I just released a remix of “Muzik Xpress”, one of the biggest tracks of the electronic music. I'm very proud to have had the chance to work on that huge hit. Btw I'm going to gift an original track thru my soundcloud page in a few days. I've reached 10.000 followers, so I'll gift a hot track to all my fans. Remixes for Joash (Compost), Mihalis Safras (Material Series) and Santos (Rockets & Ponies) plus a release along Carlo Lio on Rejected are coming.