Not many electronic music producers manage to release award-winning albums, sell shelf-loads of 12”s and perform around the world before they hit the big 3-0. But Brussels-based Rodriguez Jr. (aka Olivier Mateu) has done exactly that. As half of French electro act The Youngsters he’s already packed more into his time in the industry than some do in their whole career.
Over the past nine years he and his partner in crime have released loads of EPs and remixed tracks by dozens of artists. Their two studio albums?released, like their singles, on Laurent Garnier’s F-Communications?won a string of awards and accolades from some of dance music’s biggest names. This success catapulted them onto the international circuit, giving them the platform to take their electrifying live act to some of the biggest clubs and festival in Europe, South America and Asia several times over.
Now holed-up in the Belgian capital, Mateu’s Rodriguez Jr. project is the product of an almost schizophrenic brand of creativity and a thirst for the new and unexpected. Going solo offers something valuable within this business: the freedom to experiment, step off the release-gig-release merry go round, and break out of the musical mind- ghetto that so many great acts end up slipping into. The Rodriguez Jr. alter-ego represents his own journey of re-discovery, drawing inspiration from artists as diverse as Stockhausen, LFO, Carl Craig, Eric Satie, Kraftwerk, and Michael Polnareff, his spirit of adventure translates into music that can’t be comfortably pigeon-holed.
While it’s all electronic and put together largely in Rodriguez’s own MLab Mk5 studio in Brussels, his music can be leftfield and experimental or rich, melodic and poppy? depending on his mood. This is probably why Rodriguez Jr. has released critically acclaimed material on imprints such as Leena, Mothership, Boxer Records and Giant Wheels, with even more exciting things to come as the result of joining the Mobilee roster. Be prepared for the unexpected.