Global Vibe Radio 237 Feat. Xiorro

This week’s appointment with Global Vibe Radio showcases the high-energy and rave-inspired techno sounds of Xiorro, an American DJ, producer, and Whirlwind Trax label head based in Brooklyn.

Xiorro is undoubtedly one of the brightest stars emitting from an invigorated American techno scene. Having co-founded ALKHEMY, a collective whose genesis is dedicated to spreading diversity in techno and giving space for the marginalized, people of color and women to play, their Black Hole parties over four years have helped redefine the landscape of New York’s emerging underground.

With his Puerto Rican heritage and namesake taking reference from the African revolutionary Marcus Xiorro, he now finds himself an American abroad after impressing with debut sets at Tresor’s New Faces and Berlin party Staub in 2018, which a single season later led him to become Griessmuehle’s first international resident DJ.

Touted by DJ Mag as a one to watch and landing in Magnetic Magazine’s 15 Best Techno Tracks of June 2020, DJ sets and live recordings have made it over to Boiler Room, United We Stream and Beatport, as well as the DSNT, Lobster Theremin and Monasterio Moscow Podcasts. Xiorro’s DJ style and sound are inherently found in rave, with all roads leading to a self-released mix he emerged within 2018 called ‘techno used to be a tool used to abolish a form of slavery, now it’s just gentrified’. Something Xiorro is here to change.

Booked for headlining sets in his home city’s Basement club to gigs further afield at Jaded in London, Copenhagen’s Ved Siden Af, Tresor West and Basis in Utrecht, Xiorro continues to co-host nights with the likes of Discwoman and ARTS at both sides of the Atlantic.

Xiorro’s own ravey and brazen sound is highlighted on his label, Whirlwind Trax, as well as in his appearances on labels like Voxnox, Gomboc, WarinD Records, Voight-Kampff and Haus of Altr.

Enjoy Xiorro’s exclusive mix for Global Vibe Radio below and read on for our in-depth chat with this exciting and taleted American techno artist.

Hello mate, thanks for chatting with us and for the mix, it’s a pleasure to have you on the GVR family! Let’s talk about the mix first. Can you tell us a little bit about where you put it together, what was going on through your mind and the general message you want to communicate with it?

Well, let me first start off with thanking you for the invitation. I’m honored to now be a part of the GVR family! I recorded the mix in my home-studio, which is where I get all of my creative work done, especially these days. When I recorded the mix, I thought the same thing that I usually think, “these tracks are gonna make people wild out”. That’s the same message that I typically try to convey with my sets and mixes, I like to get the party rocking. I’m an energetic person and I think it shows through my selections.

Are there any particular standout tracks in the mix you’d like us to keep an ear open for?

Not in particular, I think as my mixes and sets as orchestral sessions where every track plays an important role and complement each other with each beat of the way, so I’d say keep an open ear as well as an open mind throughout the whole mix.

How about any of your own originals or remixes?

I didn’t get the opportunity to include any originals or remixes of mine in this mix. Being that I’m a purveyor of high energy, I wanted to focus on interpreting as such through a different style of tracks.

Would you say this is the type sound that dancers would experience in a live set of yours these days, lockdowns aside?

This is only a selected and concentrated style of my library that I decided to focus on, but they can definitely expect the energy and level of excitement that you can hear throughout the mix.

Lockdowns have complicated all our lives in 2020 but it’s safe to say that artists like yourself and nightlife workers have been hit pretty hard, and are still going to be one of