10 iconic Ricardo Villalobos moments

Watching DJs play back-to-back can often be a thrilling experience, as they push each other outside their respective comfort zones. It’s made more of a spectacle when Ricardo Villalobos is involved, when the mere passing of the headphones takes place in a swirl of pomp and circumstance. In the above 2006 clip of Ricardo playing with an (even more) baby-faced Raresh, he twirls with the grace of a Swan Lake performance when handing over the cans at the 3:25 mark.

Ricardo takes some flak from the non-believers about his mixing skills. We all know he’s liable to drop a bit of a clanger every now and then (which we secretly love him for), but when you mix in such an experimental, idiosyncratic style as Ricardo it’s inevitable everything won’t always go to plan. If you ever hear someone complain that he can’t mix then point them towards the 26 minute mark of this recording of his set at Kristal Glam Club in Bucharest. He’s in the midst of a blend and the timing is out, and then with a casual movement of the hand he pulls the record back to a near-perfect position by sight alone, lightly taps the edge of the platter, and the mix continues in perfect tandem. He makes it look easy but it’s a masterful move.

Those rave moments where you completely lose yourself and start getting freaky with your moves are the best and should be cherished. This recording from Russia’s Outline festival in 2015 sees Ricardo tearing it up in typical fashion, and Nina Kraviz is cutting some chaotic shapes behind him, causing Nastia to look on in astonishment. Meanwhile Zip quietly sifts through his record bag. We’d have been on Nina’s level.

Sleeping: there are plenty of times in party mode where we do everything in our power to put it off. But in general we’re pretty into it. Its wonderfulness is ingrained into the human condition. It’s refreshing, relaxing, comfortable, helps aid recovery, and all manner of good things. To dislike sleeping you’d have to be from another world. Like Ricardo Villalobos then. In this video interview (conducted by rising artist Julia Govor) he outlines why he’s afraid of dreams, while gently spinning back and forth in a chair that looks like a bisected flying saucer.