Benny Rodrigues expands Rod20 alias with new label and monthly releases
- PublicadoTue, Oct 25, 2022, 11:50
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- The Rotterdam artist plans to put out a record a month until the end of 2024.
- Benny Rodrigues, AKA ROD, is expanding his Rod20 alias. Initially launched in 2020, the project is the Rotterdam artist's way of paying homage to club music in its purest and most functional form. He's so far released three records under the alias: the In The Mix compilation and two digital albums for Axis Records. He now plans to ramp up the output with a new vinyl-only label and monthly release schedule. "Since the pandemic I've made over 1,500 tracks, but because most of them were made with the (then-closed) clubs in mind, I kept archiving these tracks until the dance floors were fully swinging again," he told Resident Advisor. "After finally being able to properly test lots of these tracks on big sound systems, I've narrowed the selection down to my favourite 100 cuts to fit the 20 Rod20 releases." Recorded live in one take using analogue hardware, each release is built around a specific synth and his "trusted 909." This reflects Rodrigues's old-school ethos—he said he's never owned a smartphone and still does all his bookings with pen and paper—while also allowing him to "truly live in the moment and to accept and appreciate the non-perfect side of things." The 20 releases will come out monthly on Rod20. The first was a vinyl version of In The Mix, followed by the Sterastudent EP, which landed last week and was made entirely with the classic Juno 106. The next EP, Proone, was made with the Sequential Circuits Pro One. It's out next month. These EPs will be "followed by releases made with Korg Monopoly, Yamaha DX100, Roland Jupiter 8 and so on," Rodrigues said. "While stripped-down and DJ tool-ish in nature, each release will present a completely different sound palette and mood, held together by a firm focus on peak-time dance floors." According to Rodrigues, he's always second guessed himself as a producer, but thanks to the tutelage of Steve Rachmad during the pandemic, he's found a second wind and distilled his sound, "tapping much deeper into my vision of techno [in a] more pure and better version of ROD." Rodrigues performed live as Rod20 for the first time over the weekend, joining Speedy J, Surgeon and more at ADE. Listen to clips of Sterastudent and Proone via Clone.
Tracklists Sterastudent A1 Sterastudent 1 A2 Sterastudent 2 B1 Sterastudent 3 B2 Sterastudent 4 Proone A1 Proone 1 A2 Proone 2 B1 Proone 3 B2 Proone 4 Sterastudent is out now on Rod20. The label will release Proone in November, 2022.
- Sat, Oct 22, 2022
Speedy J presents STOOR Live
Dasha Rush, ROD, Rødhåd, Surgeon, Speedy J, Man Bro, Charlton, KRY., Megan Leber, Robin Kampschoer