David Penn is one of Spain’s best and best-known DJ/producers, and an international name in his own right. He’s had worldwide house hits, including the massive ‘The Night Train’ under the name Kadoc in the mid-90s; scooped a string of awards for his DJing, production and Urbana label; and is part of the New Iberican League with DJ Chus and Abel Ramos.

He’s worked with a veritable who’s who of house music, recorded for a string of top house labels such as Defected, Stealth, Black Vinyl and Purple, and is now releasing his long-awaited ‘Sound Of Urbana’ mix compilation that showcases the best of his own Madrid-based label.

David started out in music at the age of nine. Learning classical piano as a schoolboy, he’d soon gravitate onto jazz, bossa nova and Latin rhythms, and absorb the music that his drummer father would play around the house – Earth Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson.

He played in bands a little bit, but when he started to meet DJs and go to clubs he became seduced by electronic music – particularly house and garage from the United States. For David it was a revelation that one person could make music by himself in electronic music production.

He was soon making dance tracks, and started up his own Zen label to principally release his own productions. Becoming a producer first, with the advantage of his early music training, has really helped David in his career, he believes. “It’s easier for me to make a track with harmonies in the studio,” he says. “I always try to use some musicality when I have to make remixes or do an original song. Not just kick and bassline – I need the music.”

He released house tracks under various aliases in the 1990s, but it was ‘The Night Train’ by Kadoc in the mid-90s that really blew up for him. “I was really surprised at the success of ‘Night Train’, at that time we only wanted to be on a few compilations,” he chuckles. “That was our dream, and when we released the track in Spain it was in August – a really bad month to release something.”

But all the vinyl copies in Spain quickly sold out as the track spread across Europe like wildfire. Soon it had reached No.1 in Holland and No.12 in the UK and suddenly he was doing the iconic TV show Top Of The Pops and touring all over Europe.

‘The Night Train’ ended up shifting 2 million units, and Kadoc tried to follow it up with something different - but without the same success.

“The whole thing was a real surprise and I learned a lot during this time,” David recalls. “I learned a lot about business. It was a special time, and useful to learn about labels and the business side of the industry.

David carried on putting out tracks under a variety of different pseudonyms, but then around the Millennium decided that he wanted to release most things under his own name to help with his DJ career. His given family name was David Peñin, but he simplified it to ‘Penn’ as “it’s easier to say and understand everywhere in the world”.

It was also around this time that he started up Urbana Records, largely as an outlet for his own productions that were scattered across a number of labels. Zen Records remains his overall music publishing company, and it’s with the fresh sound of Urbana that he’s been making waves over the past decade or so.

David is very particular about what he releases on Urbana, and says that he only releases tracks on it that are absolutely special. “I don’t have the label as a business, it’s not a big label – I just want to keep the quality high,” he says.

The attention to detail with Urbana has paid off, earning the label the Best Breakthrough Label at the UK’s House Music Awards a few years ago and scooping the Best Label prize at Spanish magazine Deejay’s awards. David has also won Best House DJ four years out of five, and a number of his collaborations have also been recognised by Dj1 magazine.

DJ Chus has been a friend of David’s since before ‘The Night Train’, and they’ve worked together on several productions including ‘Sunshine’ for Black Vinyl and ‘Esperanza’ for Defected. David has also collaborated with DJs like Pippi, Halo, Roger Gaez, ATFC and Oscar de Rivera, and has found success with tracks under other recent pseudonyms such as Montilla and Deux.

He’s also remixed a whole raft of notable acts such as Simply Red, Junior Jack, Josh One, Kiko Navarro, Michael Gray, Lenny Fontana, Robbie Rivera, Shapeshifters, Masters At Work and Joey Negro, and recently has been DJing for probably the biggest house label in the world – Defected – at their parties in Ibiza.

WEBSITE:

https://www.facebook.com/davidpennfans

Toni Bass feels the music since he was very young. Always has been aware of the last tendencies in music, he started his production career together with David Penn in 1992. From those days they produce regularly together or by themselves. Projects such as Deux, Bass & Penn or Doblado among others, together with David Penn and his projects with Xavi Barranquero as The Thief have given him great popularity and success, which make him launch his own record label: Basstardo.
Productions:
-DEUX – “deux”(1-off recs) ; “sun rising up” (urbana recs and azuli recs) ; “xpand” (urbana recs)
-BASS&PENN – “happiness) (weekend recs) ; “communicate” (urbana recs) ;
“dancin´&jazzin´ep” (urbana recs) ; “rush” (urbana recs) -THE THIEF – “the thief” (vendetta recs); “beautiful day”(vendetta recs) , “vertigo” (basstardo recs)
-DOBLADO – “your love” (acustico recs) ; “heavy vibes & you” (urbana recs)
-OUTNOW – “a song for you” (basstardo recs and tishomingo recs); “once again” (basstardo recs)
-“Salsitas Dance” (vendetta recs) and “Vendetta Live Sessions V.4” (vendetta recs)
-Original Soundtrack for “la vida siempre es corta” directed by Miguel Albaladejo and “Mujeres” by Lidia Aguado and several tracks for “The Mix” “A+” and “Mas que amor , frenesí”.
- Has remixed : Scissor Sisters ‘ s “Uncomfortably numb), Josh One’s “Contemplation”, Dj Chus’s “Deep Architecture”, Robbie Rivera’s “escape”, Miss Kittin’s “Golden boy”….
As a Dj:
-Has worked in : Octopussy, Apolo, Otto Zutz, Fuse, Zulu club, Fritz, Zanzibar, Torres de Avila, Zoo, Biarritz, La Monumental, Oh la la, Picasso, Moog, Blue room, Risco, Confuse, Bloody Mary, Dae, Spic, Discotheque, La Terraza, Up & Down, Risco, La Paloma, Japan, Pachá, Royal Sessions, Kgb, Salsitas, Danzatoria, Club Danzatoria, City hall, Catwalk, CDLC… In some of these clubs has had longe residencies suchc as 5 years in Salsitas, or ther ones in La Terraza and Club Danzatoria, etc…All this in Barcelona. In Madrid: The Room, Goldfield, Joy, Deep, Xenon, La Luna, Provisional, Soul Shack… Guru and Puzzle in Valencia.. Villa Garden in Toulouse. Titos and Garito Café in Palma de Mallorca ; Etxecalte, Venecia and Dinamo in San Sebastián; Pin Up and Penelope in Ibiza… Nowadays is having a residency at “Shoko” (Barcelona)
Special Events:
SONAR 2001; Benicassim (FIB) 2002; Miami Winter Conference 2003; Dance Valley (Amsterdam) 2003; Fashion show for Gaudi with Antonio Miró; Fashion show of Ricardo RamosOppening exhibition party of Gary Hume in la Fundación La Caixa; Mercafad of FAD; Inauguration party for FURLA; Presentatión Deutsche Bank Internet in Principal, Architecture’s Fair eme3… Owner of the New Record Label “basstardo recs.”

WEB SITE: www.basstardo.com

Peter's musical career starts at the age of 14 (1979) musical inspired by Earth Wind & Fire, Ohio Players, George Benson etc. He played at a club near Rotterdam for 6 years with great success (LaBaraque, The Netherlands) which resulted in having a new residency at the biggest club in Rotterdam (Ramblas Club). He played there for nearly 10 years!!
During the week he worked as a store manager at Midtown records in Rotterdam. After those glory days at Ramblas it was time to start something for his own together with his wife Helen. The result was a club on a boat called Barocca which was with no doubt the most popular after club in the Netherlands at that time. During the week he started to work as a label manager and producer for the well-known record label "Blue Records".
After 4 years Barocca had to close his doors because of new rules of the city of Rotterdam. It was a big slap in the face and he had a hard time for a year, but Peter and Helen recovered and started a new club called The Revolution and again it was (and still is) a great success.
During this period he met Rene Amesz who was working at Midtown and they discussed if there was a possibility to cooperate and produce together. They build a brand new studio in the centre of Rotterdam at the back of a record store called Rhythm Import. The store didn’t do so well but Peter was 100% sure that is was possible to make the shop do well again, so he bought it.

WEB SITE: www.petergelderblom.com

A true House lover, Rober Gaez has been in the scene for more than 10 years rocking mostly all the clubs of the Spanish circuit. From the very beginning he hasn't stopped
researching new ways of expression in his sets creating a magical atmosphere of
communion between crowd and DJ.
He has always gone a step further in his sets creating special musical happenings
fusing house music with the best folk, blues or the most exquisite jazz thanks to his
appearances with German jazz musician Cristoff Iacono or big folk & blues artists.
Rober also searches in the most advanced technology. Apart of using just vinyls or
cds he gets advantage of the creative possibilities Serato Scratch gives building edits
and loops to create dynamic and energetic unique sets.
He has played alongside great artists like David Penn, Peter Gelderblom, Paul Stevens,
Cesar del Rio, Dj Chus, Paul Jays, Mastiksoul...
In 2006 and thanks to a series of own productions he signs for Urbana Recordings,
one of the most important Spanish House imprints, becoming David Penn's right-hand
man. He has played in the last Winter Music Conference with such a big producing
names as Peter Gelderblom, Pete Da Zouk or Oscar De Rivera.
Rober's first work for Urbana was #1 in Trackingspain.com's Top 10 for 4 weeks and
got an incredible feedback from both music professionals and public.
His record box has visited cities like Miami (EEUU), Moscu (Russia), Kirov (Russia),
Rostov On Don (Russia), Bragança (Portugal), Frankfurt (Germany) and Cologne
(Germany).
Proof of his unstoppable creative interest is the weekly radio show he produces and
presents together with David Penn, Urbana in Spanish radio station LocaFm.
His latest projects include collaborations with top producers as Dj Chus, David Penn
or Ruben Alvarez (2 Brothers Of Soul).

WEB SITE: www.robergaez.com

Its artistic life began with 17 years being present in all the scenes of Madrilenian dance. In the 90; living the explosion on the Acid house and music dances, he was the person in charge to brighten up the mornings of Madrid In the 97 collaborated soon in the DEEP project in Marbella and with increasing success in Madrid. During this Brave time its Producing race began as creating his first Percusive production lives (house with mixtures of tribal rates) for the reputed seal Maya Recording From then begins its trajectory outside our borders (London, Paris, Zürich, Lisbon, Cairo, New York..) gaining the applause and praises of the most exceptional celebrations of the moment. In all this time it has shared cabin with all the scene Dances World-wide with Djs like Carls Cox, Laurent Garnier, Deep Dish, Ralph Lawson, Frankie Knuckles, Mateo&Matos, Francois Kevorkian, David Morales; Roger Sanchez, Joe Claussell, Herbert and etc In 2000 began like Promotor and resident Dj of the room GOLDFIELD acting all the flower and cream of brotherhood DJ with the best vibrations Friday and Saturday. Young wild boar has continued producing for the seal URBANA Recordings of the hand of David Penn publishing next to him vinyls like ,sonido urbano, Gen on, Delicioso ep; la calle; Tropicana; One day and One night These last creations, by far success, has devastated in the market. Its musical style: surrounding, infectious sounds melodías full of color of the Most electronic House. At present he is a promoter and resident of a club of Madrid called LUXE the whole bet in road surface for the electronic music and the new technologies applied to the art. And he is a collaborator of a program of LokaFM's radio(radius) together with David Penn For that reason Versatile, Polifacético and Veterano are the correct words at the time of defining the trajectory of this artist.

WEB SITE: www.myspace.com/djjabato

Ruben Alvarez  is one of the most sought-after names on the international house scene.  2008 and 2009was a whirlwind of success for Ruben thanks to his productions and remixes for leading labels such as Milk & Sugar or Urbana Recordings,  reaching the highest positions on Beatport or Traxsource download charts (his production “The Rhythm of Life”, a track Ruben put together with his studio partner Rober Gaez for Urbana Recordings, reached #1 on Traxsource and #10 on Beatport).
 
At the same time Ruben Was nominated to the “Deejay Magazine” prizes on 2009,as the best upcoming producer and best remix.

There is no doubt 2010 will be another great year for Ruben, since new great productions and remixes will be out very soon. Meanwhile, Ruben is spinning in front of crowds throughout Spain and the rest of Europe , gaining the favour of the audience with gigs full of energy. He plays the music the audience really wants to listen to, the latest promos and releases, bootlegs he creates himself or great mash-ups he does live combining instrumental sections with acapellas, so his sets sound totally different to what we are used to listen to.

Ruben is currently working on new productions and remixes with some big names like , Rober Gaez, Yves Murasca,… Well-known djs like Roger Sanchez,Dj Chus, Rober Gaez,Yves Murasca,Milk & Sugar or David Penn are playing and supporting his latest productions, such as his remixes for Deux - Same way , Bk Duke - Anyway  ,  Gnewkow& Norm - Chicago and much more.
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/rubenalvarez

Presented by David Penn

Presented by David Penn

Presented by David Penn

Presented by David Penn