DJ NANDO DIXKONTROL

ENGLISH VERSION

BOOTHS & MIXES:

Since 9 July l983, Nando Dixkontrol has been a professional DJ. Over these last 24 years, he has spun more than 3,000 sessions in Spain’s largest clubs, spanning over 500 different venues. He has also participated in international DJ festivals, such as the raves in Toulouse put on by the French group, Action for Satisfaction (France ’91), the Les Illumineé Festival, organised by the Directorate General for Youth in the city of Nantes (France ’93) and the B.O.M. Party by the La Fura del Baus, held in Berlin’s Tiergarden (Germany ’94). Aside from an excellent reputation, reflected in reviews by critics and the specialised press, he is one of the most admired and well-respected professionals among DJs, as well as in the overall dance music scene. His fans are countless.



DJ Nando Dixkontrol has been a resident DJ in venues of his native Catalonia that are already engrained in the national history of dance music, such as KGB (Barcelona ’86), PSICÓDROMO (Barcelona ‘89) and DISCO 8 (Cornellà-Barcelona ’93). Thanks to his dynamic sessions and his musical selection, he has directly played a part in the expansion of energetic clubs today, such as SCORPIA (Igualada-Barcelona ‘93), FLORIDA 135 (Fraga-Huesca ‘94), and PONT AERI (Terrassa-Barcelona ’94). Additionally, due to his unforgettable residences, he has also left his mark in the histories of emblematic venues that have come and gone, including STUDIO 54 (Barcelona ‘95) and MEGATRÓN (Mataró-Barcelona ’97).



Since ’97, DJ Nando Dixkontrol has preferred playing sets throughout Spain, instead of fixed residences. His extensive musical range is the result of 23 years of work. This variety allows him the flexibility to spin any style of music and to adopt a multidisciplinary approach with regard to mixing, which he pulls from many different schools using various techniques. Particularly notable among his numerous unique skills is his amazing ability to handle vinyl in real time – relentlessly throwing out fast, patterned or accompanied mixes- where the equalisation in ‘x’ and the hits on crossfader play an important role. He is also considered one of the country’s most talkative speakers. Using his microphone, he has turned his instructions into true demonstrations of his way of living and of the playful philosophy that he has always upheld throughout his entire life. It seems that his age (39) cannot, and will not catch up with him.



TELEVISION & PROGRAMMES:

In addition to his work as a DJ, he was one of 6 presenters of the successful TV2 programme, “¡Ponte Las Pilas!”, during its ‘90/’91 season. He participated live, presenting the ‘90/’91 season of TVE programming from Lanzarote and taking part in the ‘90/’91 New Year’s Special. Thanks to his extraordinary savvy in communicating with the young public, his role as presenter placed him at the centre of attention on “¡Ponte Las Pilas!”. He wrote the lyrics to the programme’s theme song as well as co-authored several of the scenes in which he performed. And thanks to his peculiar knack for real time improvisation, he came to the rescue of screenwriters, guest artists and production teams on more than one occasion.



He has a strong presence in the media and has collaborated many times with Televisió de Catalunya, taking part in programmes broadcast in arenas related to his work. In March ’92, for example, he was invited by Sputnik TV to participate in a special on young Catalan producers. The impact that resulted from his presence in this programme led to a special in September of ’93, produced by the documentary show “30 Minuts”. This special dedicated solely to him, “A Tota Màquina”, followed his life and work as a DJ over the course of a weekend. He later participated in “Polèmic” (TV3 ’93) in a debate on the effects of sound and noise pollution in everyday life.



In recent years, he has been invited to most of the talk show programmes, such as “Crónicas Marcianas” (March ’03), to participate as a speaker in various types of debates.



MX's, CD SESSIONS, COMPILATIONS & RECORD LABEL PRODUCTIONS:

DJ Nando Dixkontrol’s first production dates back to 1990, when he remixed the successful “Saddam Hussein”, under the direction of Jose Mª Castells. The remix was part of the historic “Máquina Total 1” from Max Music. It wasn’t until ’93 that he produced again, this time with Ice Fran. Together, they produced the two maxi CDs from Disco 8 BCN, the legendary after-hours club of Barcelona. At the full height of the second “mákina” generation in ‘96, he edited “Welcome To Cybertrón” (Blanco Y Negro) and “Music For The Children” (Acceleration Records). He also participated in the “Made In DJ, Vol. 1” (Made In DJ’97) project. That same year, he recorded “Acceleration Mix, Compilation One”, considered the first CD in the history of national dance where a compilation is mixed completely in session. He was also Spain’s first DJ to appear in a television ad promoting his CD. He started his own record label, Dixland Records, in ‘98 and began producing in his own recording studio, Dixland Soundworks. In only 10 months, he released more than 14 of his own compilations. Among these compilations is a mix of one of the “Made in DJ, In Session Vol. 2” (Made In DJ’98) sessions, produced together with his romantic partner, the famous and popular DJ Monica X, with whom he has been since ’94. This compilation spent 5 weeks at no. 1 on the sales chart. During Christmas of ’99, he released three more maxi CDs through Bit Music under the pseudonyms Domination, Dinamix 3 and Sweet Beat.



Recently, he has released a variety of projects: two volumes of the "Revival Sessions" series from Tempo Music; compilations of “mákina” music and techno dance from the 90's; a new compilation from Bit Music called “After Hours”, which pays homage to a DISCO 8 session; and the techno house maxi CD,” Autodisco”, created and produced in collaboration with his old mixing partner in the Disco 8 dj booth, Ice Fran, and edited through the elite techno label, Serial Killer Vynil with a Remix of Francesco Farfa. A new series of sessions have begun under the name “RetroElectroTechno” as a result of the release of “Autodisco”. These sessions bring a last generation minimalist techno session together with house, old skool and current European tracks, influenced by EBM (Electronic Body Music) and mixed with ‘80's electro house and electrofunk. This new style has shown great promise in national clubs for its novel concept and the interesting result of the mixing these genres.



In this new phase, which began in 2000, Dixkontrol prefers working as a DJ and producer. The results of these sessions are the new maxi tracks, “24 Trance More”, “Electro Es Perfecto”, “Ibizranx”, “Guitars On Jane” and “DJ’s Asylum”.



PUBLICATIONS & GRAPHIC PRODUCTIONS:

In December ’99, DJ Nando Dixkontrol started the nationally distributed magazine, DJ1 Music Culture Danzine, a publication dedicated to the DJ scene. This is one of the key, indispensable references for keeping up-to-date with all the happenings in the DJ world and with all that its musical, playful and festive philosophy encompasses. He was the Editor-in-Chief until volume 43.



VIDEO PRODUCTIONS:

In the summer of 2003, he founded Dixland EyeWorks, a digital video workshop and production company. For four years, he has been editing and producing television programmes, music videos, club scene documentaries and video projects of art and study, which he shows at competitions and festivals. Thanks to the innovative and avant-garde nature of his visual projects, he has become part of an organising team for the presentation of the prestigious Ibiza DJ Awards. In the 6th and 7th edition, one of his videos kicks off the presentation of the Balearic international awards that are given to the most representative artists of the global club scene.



Currently, he combines the musical side of this life, as DJ and producer, with the visual side, as filmmaker and editor.