Interview with Paula Tape
From Santiago de Chile to Rollover Milano at the rhythm of electronic latin disco, no entiendes? No problem.
January 31st, 2018
Paula Tape is an artist, a DJ, a selector, is a name that hides the artistic project of a girl who dreamed of traveling the world with her music and that lets her speak in her place. From Santiago de Chile he also took her to Milan where she is the resident DJ of Rollover, at the Apollo Club. A series of shots immortalize her in the Chinese quarters of Milan, a place she adores and that always makes her dream.
We asked her a few questions to find out what to expect from her and from the Rollover in this 2018.
#1 Hi Paula, tell us how your DJ career started.
I was 18 years old and worked as a bartender in a very cult after-hour, not a place for everyone ... He stood beside the La Feria club, which still exists, where very good Chilean DJs at the beginning of their career played alternating names like Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano, as well as some foreign DJs. The work shift started at 4 in the morning but I always arrived first to steal the tricks with the technicians and the various DJs. From the resident DJs of this place I received some advice and I started to practice, more and more, until I found myself within a couple of years playing small parties, some clubs, home parties outside the center of Santiago and so on ... at that time I had also started a web-magazine with Mente3000, "Sampler magazine", which dealt with music and we used it to push our parties. This was the beginning of everything.
#2 How would you describe your DJ style and how does your music tell us something about you?
For a DJ who has a very eclectic style like mine, it's not an easy question to answer. I like to play and risk, based on more than just one musical style: what is important for me is that there is no lack of groove and soul. I like to create warm and very melodic situations and I like music to tell something about me ... in my DJ sets there are a lot of percussions, a trend that has remained since I was younger - in me there is still a percussionist drummer's soul - and many exotic calls, often with some vocal in Spanish.
#3 You are now the Resident DJ of Rollover. What moves you more than all this?
The thing that excites me most is to see that there are so many people who believe in me and in what I do. Who directs a nightclub must make choices and the choice of Resident is very important because it draws a line, a more important and defined artistic direction than choosing which international guests to invite. This credit pushes me to think that I'm doing the right thing and that I'm doing it well, that I can develop my soul freely by giving a couple of hours of happiness on the dancefloor. The Rollover is a family, all true professionals and working with people is a wonderful experience.
Both they and the people who come to feel me make me feel at home and this is wonderful.
#4 What should we expect from the sounds that you will bring to the Rollover Club in this 2018? Can you give us some preview?
It's better than you come and see for yourself if you have not been there yet, but I'll give you a taste of this selection chart that accompanies the interview. It tells of a world of sounds to which I refer in every my dj set, the sound that I process to Rollover affine it from time to time and often "export" it in my dates around Italy and Europe.
#5 Would you present us the chart you created for us?
Mozaika - Whistler
I could say that I finished 2017 with a huge happiness when I heard the Aqua Ep of Mozaika, released in December on Public Possesion Records, here is the Whistler link I think if you hear this song you will want to discover all the EP that is a harmonious mix of romantic synths with a fresh air of electro and italo.
Hard club - Fuerza
Fuerza arrives from a Mexicana label, Duro. This song always awakens in me a nostalgic feeling because that guitar riff is a sampling of a song from an iconic Argentine band that I was listening to: Soda Stereo. The mix of the riff with the electronic elements makes me move a lot and I understood that they like a lot on the dancefloor too.
Yellocat - Mi Hermano
Mi Hermano is part of the Dans La Boutique ep. which is the first release of Yellocat with the Dutch label Bordello in Paris. I like Hermano especially for the mix of ultra sexy Latin funk with those vocals in Spanish that surely on the track awakens hidden desires.
Jex Opolis - First Stomp
First Stomp is part of its release Ravines LP released in 2017 composed of nine tracks, First Stomp and a song that I usually put very often, I like its energy and its softness, that Latin influence that spreads in the air, I believe that Jex Opolis is an artist with everything to discover...
Tanzania Soundsystem - Upotofu
Now, this I put it whenever I can. It 'a song that fills my soul with his wave calypso and African touch, is an edit of the original Ottu Jazz Band - Wataki wa human wangu. It makes me want to take a Piña Colada and then dance in the sea, I imagine that when I play the sound people have the same desire that I have.
Lamusa II - Rhythms 1 (Kalimba Mix)
I like to talk about the Italian colleagues that I am little by little bit aware of, Lamusa II I really appreciate the style that is reflected in his Rhythms # 1 (Kalimba Mix) of the Ep Club mondo 2000 released on Gravity Graffiti. When I heard this song, its melody and its atmosphere embraced me with a mystical wind that made me fly, I think it will be the same for those who listen to it on the track.
I'd like to visit us in Rollover one day ...