OSCAR MULERO 2019
The mid-eighties, Madrid. The Spanish capital is teeming under the grip of a musical explosion the likes of which has never been seen before. In the midst of that rabid swirl, a teenager, unknown and unassuming, enters a record shop to blow his savings on an album, Standing on a Beach, by The Cure. Little did he know that this was to be his first step on the long and difficult path to becoming one of Spain’s essential DJs.
He soon became a familiar face in the DJ booths of the most exclusive underground clubs of Madrid, but the best was still to come and the first chapter was called New World, his first proper job.
New World sessions were soon all the rave and Oscar entered the studio for the first time to collaborate in the making of the club’s official record, Nuclear Zone. His was a backseat involvement, more as a sound advisor than as a producer. It wasn’t until later on that producing and deejaying became his livelihood. The record went on sale in 1993 and was quite a success, going on to get included in many of the national compilations of the time.
The New World experience finally came to an end. But it allowed for the birth of THE OMEN, which for many was the ultimate club. The Omen was so successful it quickly became a tourist attraction, with clubbers from all over the country coming to Madrid every weekend to enjoy Oscar’s sessions. This led to a change in his career. He gradually moved away from being an important resident DJ to a travelling one. He started to travel regularly, taking the Omen sound all over the peninsula. Firstly to the north, and then gradually, to all four corners of the country. It was the beginning of Oscar’s intimate relationship with airports and the road.
And so to the year 1996 and the third Sonar, a festival which by then had become one of the most important in the world. For the first time, the name of Oscar Mulero appeared among the list of national guest artists, alongside others of his generation such as The Frogmen, HD Substance or Resonic. Sonar 96 served to officially confirm a whole new scene that until then had been in an embryonic state, but which was now being taken seriously for the first time and coming to be viewed as the seed of something solid. At Sonar 1996, Oscar held his own against stars of the stature of Richie Hawtin, Garnier and Mills.
Outside Spain, people started talking about his unique technique and musical selection. Another mission accomplished. And so on to the next phase…
There was life after Sonar. The kind of recognition and support he gained as a result of his successes brought even more work, more travel and more big festivals, such as the Members of Mayday Festival, and culminated in 1998 with his first session CD (the first CD of its type to be released in Spain) entitled About Discipline and Education, released by the Catalan label So Dens, which was at the time closely linked to the organisers of Sonar. The musical selection was, for the time, very advanced and ground-breaking. A blend of the best of the dry, industrious sound of Birmingham, courtesy of people like Regis or Surgeon, and the best US sounds of the era, represented by the likes of Jeff Mills and Joey Beltram. The CD was an huge hit. One of the best-selling electronic music CDs in the country ever.
Already a well-known name on the underground circuit among the most faithful clubbers, Oscar Mulero now started to appear in media headlines in the specialised and general press alike. Thanks to him, DJs became a figure taken seriously by the media who had previously viewed them as little more than another of the many night works. As he had done so on many previous occasions, Oscar was again opening up doors and blazing trails.
His second work was released in 1999. It was done with GROOF, an experienced producer from Madrid. They formed a duo called Quite Unusual and released on Brainwaves, GROOF’s label. They were well received by critics and sales were good. His first release with an international label came in 2000 on the French label Kobayashi. It was his first away match and first away victory!
That very year saw the birth of WARM UP and a couple of years later, its offspring POLE. From then on, all of Oscar’s efforts focused on releasing his own material, whether at home or away, on the very best techno labels of the planet, such as Coda, Pure Plastic, Tresor, Sheep, Tsunami and Main Out. That put him definitively on the techno world map. Between 2000 and 2002 he released no fewer than nine EPs, which lead to a contract with one of the biggest DJ booking agencies of the time, Dynamix Booking from Berlin, an agency that also represents some of the best techno artists of the world. From then on, Oscar was seen and heard in clubs and festivals from all over the world, more and more often.
In 2003 he released A Occhi Chiusi on the Pure Plastic label, under the name of TROLLEY ROUTE. This was a totally mental electronic record that was also easy to dance to. That album ended a cycle and confirmed his maturity as a producer.
Since then, he has continued his relentless work producing and remixing with the very best techno labels the world over, and he hasn’t stopped appearing everywhere on the electronic stage. Dr. Smoke, his alter ego, gained strength during this period as a showcase of Oscar’s open and eclectic vision as a music selector, leaving techno aside and moving deep into territories such as electro, dub and IDM.
During 2008 Oscar significantly expanded his work map. Visiting the Movement festival in Detroit, China and Japan, meant he had left his mark on almost every continent.
During 2009, his international presence included forays into countries as exotic (from a techno point of view) as China. As for studio work, that same year saw the digital release of the Trolley Route album, the making of a CD mix for the prestigious Tresor Records label and the creation of the Selección Natural collective together with Exium, Reeko and Christian Wünsch.
Following a memorable anniversary party at Fabrik Madrid that was a huge success with the crowds and celebrated his twenty years as a DJ, we saw the end of one era and the beginning of a new one. From then on, he opened up to the use of new technologies and new projects, such as the Pole platform, which picked up the thread from Selección Natural and gathered the best of the national techno scene under one banner.
During 2011 we saw the release of his first LP as Oscar Mulero, Grey Fades to Green. A double CD also released as a 4-vinyl set which will bear testimony to Oscar’s maturity and consolidation as one of the most important electronic music producers worldwide.
On the stage side, Oscar developed a fully audiovisual experience with his Light & Dark AV Set, tested live at some of the best festivals around.
2012 was Warm Up Records tenth anniversary, with thirty four releases to that date. It also saw the publication of Oscar's second full length album, Black Propaganda, which marked a twist in his trademark sound on behalf of a modern and dark approach to techno and got the support of the best DJs and the media.
During 2012 PoleGroup expanded their activities and started promoting their showcases all over Spain and Europe, working side by side with artists like Regis, Lucy, Xhin, Perc or Peter Van Hoesen, to name but a few.
As a performer, his agenda expanded in 2012 with gigs all over the planet: Asia, Oceania and South America.
The most important musical projects of 2013 were the launch of the remixes of his album Black Propaganda, the project Spherical Coordinates with Christian Wünsch, as well as other releases for labels such as Semantica, Modularz, Blank or Detroit Underground, and an audiovisual venture alongside Fium, called Biolive. As for live performances, Oscar appeared in festivals such as Tomorrowland, Sziget, Neopop and the Mayday Club gigs, as well as in legendary clubs like Berghain, Gare Porto or Trouw. 2013 also saw the launch of the Unknown Landscapes mix, plus a series of other releases and remixes.
In 2014 Oscar Mulero's international career was definitely secured, which meant going back to some of the best festivals and clubs, and expanding his area of influence to North and South America with a second appearance in Detroit's Movement festival, and gigs in New York, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia. 2014 was also the year of the alliance with Perc Trax and the creation of their joint showcases. The Warm Up Pattern Series label division was also created. As for releases, Oscar's activity focused mainly on remixes for artists such as Pfirter, Lewis Fautzi, Jonas Kopp or Tommy Four Seven, amongst others.
He then continued to push his own labels, PoleGroup and Warm Up, as well as releasing work with others like Token and the Spherical Coordinates project.
2015 was the year his third album Muscle & Mind was released. During that time he continued to work on Pattern Series and Biolive.
During 2016 he focused primarily on touring the whole techno map, and releasing EPs in pivotal labels like Token or Mord, as well as finishing his vinyl only Pattern Series on Warm Up.
2017 celebrated the 50th release milestone for his Warm Up Recordings with a compilation of previously released materials on the Pattern Series with brand new remixes.
2018 began with a new album, this time totally experimental, without concessions to the dance floor and centred on abstraction and experimentation. It is entitled Perfect Peace, which sums up perfectly the philosophy behind this work. In terms of his shows, he performed his new live audiovisual project extensively. Titled Monochrome AV, the live show includes music from his previous experimental releases as well as material from the new album, and is accompanied by the visual work of Javier Bejarano and Natalia Soares. Monochrome AV toured scenarios such as the Sónar festival, ADE or the BotÃn Santander centre.
Besides, his label PoleGroup also reached the 50 releases mark and celebrated it by renewing the Selección Natural project that he undertakes with his PoleGroup colleagues Exium and Reeko.
In 2019 he will celebrate his thirty-year career with a very special secret lineup party in Madrid that will be much talked about because of its concept and the quality of the guests.