Jose Castillo

Jose Castillo was born in Madrid, Spain on 9th of November 1975. Since he was a child he liked listening to music like James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince, The Doors, Chic, Queen, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Front 242 etc… He began mixing cassettes with his Ghettoblaster, this entertained him a lot, and it was a chance for him to introduce himself in the spinning world. This together with his experience during a summer in the Balearic Islands in 1989 would be very useful to him because it actually was where he received his first influence in the electronic music. This style was Chicago House more known as Chi-town music in the U.S.A, with producers as Joe Smooth, Adonis, Armando, Lil Louis, Gene Hunt, Ron Trent and Detroit producers as Derrick May, Blake Baxter, Kevin Saunderson and Mad Mike (Underground Resistance).

Later in 1993-94 the arrival of a new wave from Europe, more precisely from Germany and Belgium, with labels like R&S, Harthouse, Superstition, Dance Opera, Disko B, Music Man and Transmat (Detroit). That sound made him fall in love entirely with this music and this marked the beginning of his artistic enrollment as a Dj completely at the end of 1994.

His first performances as Dj were in the middle of 1995 at private and beach parties. In the summer of 1996 he played in his first small club, during the summer till 1997. It was his first contact with the people and the dancefloor, and was of great use to him.However, it was the summer of 1998, when he played in his first serious club in Madrid. The Ras club was a pioneer club in the gay community in Madrid, It was very important for him because he developed a good technique on the decks and he had the opportunity to experiment with other styles as Deep-House and English House. Nevertheless, it was the Disco music and the Rare Funk that dominated those sessions, that turned him into one of the first Djs in Madrid who produced such sets.

From 1998 to 2002 apart from being resident of Ras club, he began playing in various clubs of the Capital as a guest like Pacha, Torero dance floor, Empire, Gold, Shandhu, Babylon club, Siroco, Cool, Cafe la Palma, Ohm, Shabay etc..

After being a resident for one year in The Magik Room, that belonged to the Bardem’s family, in 2004 he started first as a resident in Stromboli club one of the best clubs of first hour in Madrid and later became responsible for the artistic programing of Djs till 2007. He combined this role with artistic management of Dorsia, one of the best chill and lounge restaurants of Northern Madrid.

In February of 2006 He also created his own session called Spectrum back to the club. This session was performed till September 2007 in Oui club. Actually it is carried out in Caf la Palma, being one of the best parties in Madrid where the best Djs of the Capital have played. Meanwhile he organized different parties in other clubs called Spectrum Nights. Which actually is still going on in Madrid.

In 2007 he also worked till June for Fsm group the most important chain of night clubs in Madrid with discotheques like Space of Sound, Danzoo, People and Cool, in the last of which he was as a Dj, the session’s name was Fever.

He has also been invited to play in various Spanish cities like Barcelona, Ciudad Real, Granada, Toledo, Vigo, Caceres, Badajoz, Ibiza, Braga and Lisbon (Portugal).

In September of 2007, Jose Castillo began a new project in Sofia Bulgaria, being Dj resident in Mascara club. He was almost one year since September 2007 till June 2008. He has played too in others’ clubs in the cities of Bulgaria as 4km Party Center(Sofia), Loving Deep(Burgas) Kanape club(Pleven) and at this moment He is a resident in Chervilo club the best underground club in the Sofia city and also in the agency of Bulgaria called Back2Back.

Jose Castillo is a quite eclectic Dj, being able to mix and play different styles like House(Chicago), Minimal-Techno, Electro(Detroit) and Disco, but Detroit Techno is his musical reference on the dancefloor without any doubt.

Landscape by José Castillo