Hernán Cattáneo

Argentina's most world-renowned superclub DJ, Hernán Cattáneo is considered in the same class as Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia, Danny Howells, Sasha, Satoshi Tomiie, and other such globe-trotters, and accordingly he has mixed CDs for the highly regarded Renaissance series and has spun at such premier events as Coachella. Born in Buenos Aires, Cattáneo grew up listening to European synth pop acts of the 1980s such as Depeche Mode and New Order. He was first turned on to Chicago house in 1987 when a friend of his brought back some 12" records from Vinylmania during a trip to New York. This music, as well as Detroit techno from the same late-'80s era (e.g., Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins), influenced Cattáneo greatly and inspired him to become a DJ himself.

By the mid-'90s, Cattáneo had become a resident at Clubland -- arguably the premier superclub of Buenos Aires, where he met and befriended visiting colleagues such as Paul Oakenfold and Danny Tenaglia -- and was awarded DJ of the Year honors locally in 1996 and 1997. A mix CD, Clubland, was released in 1999 to commemorate his long-standing association with the superclub, which had grown in international stature as he had. During the late '90s Cattáneo's collegiality paid off when was invited to tour with Oakenfold on several occasions and, in turn, was signed to the British superstar DJ's label, Perfecto. Cattáneo made his label debut in 2001 with "Deep Funk," a production that proved popular, showing up on several mix CDs, including Sander Kleinenberg's Global Underground: Nubreed (2001), and he also did some remixes for Perfecto that year as well. Subsequently, Cattáneo did some further production work for Perfecto ("Satellites," 2002; "Hubbub," 2003) and also compiled the double-disc mix CD South America (2002), his first internationally released official mix.

By this point in time, Cattáneo had become a world-renowned DJ and was regularly traveling internationally to perform at superclubs and festivals; in particular, he was awarded a Cream residency in Liverpool as well as Ibiza. A couple years later, he commenced yet another partnership, joining the stable of DJs affiliated with Renaissance, the United Kingdom's longest-running superclub, based in Nottingham. Renaissance: The Master Series (2004) was the first mix CD to result from the partnership; successive volumes followed, including Renaissance: The Master Series, Vol. 2 (2005), Renaissance Presents: Sequential (2006), and Renaissance Presents: Sequential, Vol. 2 (2007). He also continued to release occasional production and remix work, generally in partnership with either Martin Garcia or John Tonks, and somehow found time to host a weekly radio show, Metrodance, on 95.1 FM in Buenos Aires every Saturday night for years. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi