Biography
Berlin-based producer and DJ Pablo Mateo crafts an immersive strain of techno marked by deep warmth, IDM leanings, and meticulous sound design that translates equally well through club systems and headphones. His first full-length effort, Weird Reflections Beyond the Sky, surfaced in 2019 via Figure.
Born Pablo Mateo Sanchez in Colombia, he absorbed the nation’s traditional sounds in childhood before gravitating toward pop and rap, emerging as an avid hip-hop enthusiast during adolescence. Electronic music entered his life when he encountered Chris Clark’s Empty the Bones of You on Warp, an album mistakenly shelved in the hip-hop section of a neighborhood record store. Its intricate production immediately captivated him, prompting exploration of additional Warp roster artists such as Autechre and a subsequent pivot toward techno and original track creation. Basic Channel and Omar S rank among his foremost influences. Relocating to Berlin in the early 2010s, he issued his inaugural 12-inch, the “Roxy” EP, in 2013 on his own Lack Rec. imprint. Those initial outings favored a rhythm-driven, tech-house-inflected palette incorporating ambient and electro textures alongside prominent vocal samples. Over the ensuing years he maintained a steady flow of singles on Curle, Idealist, die Orakel, Uncage, and Certain Music, earning broader recognition while establishing himself as a skilled DJ. In 2017 he founded the Artful Rifle label. An extended agreement with a prominent techno imprint collapsed after a year and a half of dedicated effort, leaving him disheartened. Seeking renewal, he relocated his studio equipment to a domestic setting and adopted a revised production approach centered on a modular configuration supported by minimal additional hardware. This shift sharpened his sound-design abilities and led him to begin engineering sessions for fellow artists. After refining a unified aesthetic and preparing a demo, the material reached Len Faki’s Figure Records. Mateo’s first Figure outing arrived in 2018 as the split EP “Figure Jams 005” alongside Juxta Position; he also featured on the label’s fifteenth-anniversary collection Figure 100. Faki endorsed Mateo’s vision without reservation, granting complete artistic freedom and even proposing an album as his debut solo project for the label. Weird Reflections Beyond the Sky, which includes contributions from Emika, appeared in 2019.
Born Pablo Mateo Sanchez in Colombia, he absorbed the nation’s traditional sounds in childhood before gravitating toward pop and rap, emerging as an avid hip-hop enthusiast during adolescence. Electronic music entered his life when he encountered Chris Clark’s Empty the Bones of You on Warp, an album mistakenly shelved in the hip-hop section of a neighborhood record store. Its intricate production immediately captivated him, prompting exploration of additional Warp roster artists such as Autechre and a subsequent pivot toward techno and original track creation. Basic Channel and Omar S rank among his foremost influences. Relocating to Berlin in the early 2010s, he issued his inaugural 12-inch, the “Roxy” EP, in 2013 on his own Lack Rec. imprint. Those initial outings favored a rhythm-driven, tech-house-inflected palette incorporating ambient and electro textures alongside prominent vocal samples. Over the ensuing years he maintained a steady flow of singles on Curle, Idealist, die Orakel, Uncage, and Certain Music, earning broader recognition while establishing himself as a skilled DJ. In 2017 he founded the Artful Rifle label. An extended agreement with a prominent techno imprint collapsed after a year and a half of dedicated effort, leaving him disheartened. Seeking renewal, he relocated his studio equipment to a domestic setting and adopted a revised production approach centered on a modular configuration supported by minimal additional hardware. This shift sharpened his sound-design abilities and led him to begin engineering sessions for fellow artists. After refining a unified aesthetic and preparing a demo, the material reached Len Faki’s Figure Records. Mateo’s first Figure outing arrived in 2018 as the split EP “Figure Jams 005” alongside Juxta Position; he also featured on the label’s fifteenth-anniversary collection Figure 100. Faki endorsed Mateo’s vision without reservation, granting complete artistic freedom and even proposing an album as his debut solo project for the label. Weird Reflections Beyond the Sky, which includes contributions from Emika, appeared in 2019.
Albums
Singles
