Episode #1: Riobamba - Numero Uno

Riobamba is an Ecuadorian-Lithuanian DJ/producer and cultural promoter based in Brooklyn.  I had the opportunity to play a set with her this summer at the ICA Culture Club series & also at the Takashi Murakami opening at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.   For years before, I'd followed her global bass party Pico Picante.  It's an honor to have Riobamba as our first episode for Bodega Pirate Radio.  

Drawing inspiration from her hybrid diaspora roots, borderless digital dialogue, and bodega soundtracks, Riobamba reconstructs stories of migration and displacement to build out her own club rituals. Her sets interweave remixed Youtube clips and field recordings, urbano soundscapes, sound system anthems, and rave disorder in a tribute to de-colonized club culture "suped up with a twisted, industrial gnarl" (Complex).

Riobamba is the founder of APOCALIPSIS, a creative agency with projects ranging from A&R and marketing for legendary salsa label Fania Records, music education for restorative justice programming, and event production showcasing the sounds of radical Latinx futurism. She is the co-creator of Boston-based transnational bass night Picó Picante, resident at NYC’s landmark global bass party Que Bajo?! alongside Uproot Andy and Geko Jones, and is a member of the Dutty Artz artist collective.

Prior to New York, Riobamba lived in Bogotá via the Fulbright-mtvU program, where she immersed herself in research on digital music production and distribution as subversive tools for self-representation. She researched the power of translating these digital networks into resources for communities displaced due to Colombia's ongoing civil conflict, which led to collaborations with artists producing cumbia gótica, political hip-hop, electro-champeta futurism, and more. Following her grant period, she relocated to NYC to join alt-Latinx digital platform Remezcla as Music Editor.

Riobamba has recently shared the stage with Tego Calderón, DJ Playero, The Knife, Nina Sky, Princess Nokia, Bomba Estéreo, DJ Blass, Ana Tijoux, DJ Tetris, Tomasa Del Real, and Chancha Via Circuito at spaces across the US, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Her original work has been featured in The Fader, Thump, Complex, Resident Advisor, Univision, Fact Mag, and Red Bull Music Academy Radio, and her writing has appeared in i-D Mexico, mtvU, Remezcla, and The Fader.

Tracklist:
Ozuna - Corazón de Seda (Slowed by Sebastian Rico)
DJ Python – Cuál
A.CHAL - Cuánto ft. A$ap Nast (Chopped and screwed by tashaze)
kelman duran – NENA, MAMI
Sech – La Otra
Ricky Blaze ft. Alexus Rose – Apart
Fuego – El Malo
Maka & Durkin – Wait
Glo La Luz – Soy Mejor
Errorsmith – Lightspeed
BASSBEAR – DANCEFLOOR JAM (JX Cannon Remix)
N-FASIS – Lento (DJ SOGA Remix)
Superficie – Cerol
Dj Ly-COox – (TMP) GAZ GAZ GAZ (TARRAXO)
MikyWoodz – Dañarme La Mente
BAD BUNNY - TU NO METES CABRA (Chopped and screwed by LARS)

Riobamba Links
Bio: www.riobamba-dj.net/about/
Instagram: @riobamba_dj
Twitter: @riobamba_dj
Soundcloud: @riobamba_dj
Facebook: www.facebook.com/riobamba.dj/

Photo Credit: Jared Skolnick (@jaredskolnick)
Outfit: Tony Peralta (@peraltaprjct)