Raptor House pioneer DJ Babatr continues his unstoppable comeback with a bluffing compilation of remixes of two key tracks from his catalogue
2023 finally seems to be the time for DJ Babatr aka DJ Baba The Raptor to take full advantage of his international recognition. Inventor of Raptor House in Caracas around the year 2000, DJ Babatr produced hundreds of tracks and acquired the status of a living legend before putting a (temporary!) end to his career in 2008. Even if the musical style subsequently became more discreet, the legacy of Babatr and his peers gradually spread far and wide beyond the borders of Venezuela, ending up being sampled by Arca in a remix for Lady Gaga (the sample is DJ Yirvin’s cult track “Mételo Sácalo”) in 2021. This remix preceded by a few months the release of Nick León’s hit ‘Xtasis’ on TraTraTrax, co-produced with DJ Babatr himself, who had been publishing his discography on streaming and Bandcamp platforms for some time. The rest is history: festivals, live streams, and clubs all over the world went wild, and the track ‘Xtasis’ was named track of the year by several leading media outlets… Are we witnessing a new golden age of Raptor House? Possibly! One thing’s for sure, though, and that’s that DJ Babatr, the raptor-in-chief, is back and in better shape than ever, ready to conquer dancefloors the world over, as he just demonstrated at the Primavera Sound Boiler Room. In a few months’ time, we’ll have the pleasure of inviting him to Paris for the first time… stay tuned!
Newly managed and signed to the Terminal label, the eponymous record label of one of Mexico’s best parties, DJ Babatr made a big splash when he recently announced the micro anthology Las Lomas / Fuma Con Los Panas + Remixes. The two tracks in question, originally released some twenty years ago, have been reissued and accompanied by an impressive line-up of remixers influenced in one way or another by Babatr’s visionary work. In fact, no fewer than eighteen key producers, mostly from Latin America but not exclusively, pay tribute to the pioneer of raptor house by remixing ‘Las Lomas’ or ‘Fuma Con Los Panas’: Kode9, Aggromance, El Plvybxy, Imaabs, Octopic, Quest?onmarq, RESLA, Viiaan, Logos, Regal86, Lao, Florentino, Merca Bae, Safety Trance, Badsista, SHA SHA KIMBO, DJ Rankng, and Kablam.
Ahead of the release, the label gave us the dub version remix by producer Viiaan, which you can listen to in our columns today. For her contribution to the compilation, the New York-based Mexican reconstructs a brand new track. She shuffles and reassembles samples from DJ Babatr’s ‘Las Lomas’, including the famous vocal sample, infusing it with the complex, controlled dub club energy that is her signature sound. Imparable!
Artwork: Paul Naveda. Mastering: Imaabs.
Pre-order Las Lomas / Fuma Con Los Panas + Remixes by DJ Babatr on Bandcamp, official release on 16 June via Terminal.
