Spanish producer, dj and journalist, owner of SUBtl recordings and teacher at The Bass Valley
HD SUBSTANCE

Luis Rozalén has been into electronic music since almost forever, it was 1981 and he was 11 year old when a 7” from Depeche Mode came into his hands and that fact was pivotal in what was going to happen next. He spent his teenage years in a musically surrounded environment. At some point he got a drum kit as christmas present when he was 15 and started playing in several bands and projects until he discovered the power of drum machines and synths by the age of 17.

His first electronic output came in the form of synth pop, then evolved into EBM and industrial sounds in the late eighties and after a travel to London in 1990 he discovers in real time the acid house and rave phenomena. Those were the days when some guys fron Sheffield started Warp Records and inmediately his ears switch to IDM and Detroit techno via the Biorythm and Retrotechno compilations. Mid nineties and he is completely into what we now call techno, releasing his first track as Hd Substance in Esplendor Geometrico’s label Geometrik Records in 1995. In 1996 his first album ‘ Eleven’ see the light in another cult imprint, Stereophonic Elephant Dance Recordings, as well as a bunch on vinyl Ep’s and the second album in 1998 called ‘Cancer Pop’. By that time he was a regular in all local festivals like Sonar, Benicassim or Festimad sharing this touring action with a residence at Soma Experimental Club from 1996 to 2000. Meanwhile he studied journalism in the University and in 1993 founded the first spanish specialized electronic music magazine ‘Undersounds’. The new century starts with his project Atlas Records where he team up with another producer releasing 10 records that soon came into the handsto the most prominent players of the scen. The story ended abruptely, bad partners killed the vibe and the main distributor collapses.

Disenchanted with how things are evolving in the music industry he starts exploring the digital side, releasing four complete albums in several netlabel platforms like Miga Records, dissapearing from main media, digging deep in the underground and focusing in his residence at Cassette Club in Madrid. In 2009 he resurfaces with another full lenght album called ‘Hardware’, the record somehow reached a Detroit record store and the LP goes into the right hands resulting in his first gig in the motor city club The Works in 2010, becoming since then a regular there, playing live in 2012 at the Movement Festival with his project Distric 909 alongside Detroit legend Tim Baker.

Never is too late and in his 40’s he start travelling the world regularly playing Germany China, Korea, France, Sweden, Finland, Russia and in 2015 finally reaching the infamous Berghain Booth as well as Tresor Club.

2018 marks his 30 year aniversary in electronic music and he keeps on playing techno all over the world, releasing techno in a constant basis, teaching techno at The Bass Valley, writing techno for Beatburguer.com, Clubbingspain.com, Pole Group or Falling Ethics and releasing other people’s techno in his own label SUBtl.

If you want a solid act in your club, experience is a must and Hd Substance is nothing but miles in the Booth and the studio. An all in one techno man.