You have many musical projects and release under various aliases. Can you tell our listeners about the different aliases and what's going on with each one?

Yes I´ve started quite a few projects with friends during these years. When ever we were jamming at the studio back in the days and we came up with something new and different that didn´t quite fit into the previous style we started a new project. For example, I produced an album together with Jukka Kaartinen as 'Track n Field', which was more down tempo leftfield type of project. 'Future Beat Investigators' is a Detroit house/techno project by Kimmo Oksanen, Lil Tony and me. 'Bermuda' is an Italo Disco project, and 'Acid Kings' is basically a live pa project with drum machines and 303´s. Lately I´ve been focusing more on releasing stuff with my own name and under my 'Manolo' moniker.

In your bio you stated the influence the 90's rave and Acid sounds had on you when you first got into dance music. How much of this sound can still be heard in your productions and sets, and do you feel this sound is coming back?

Acid House was the thing that got me into making music back in 1987. During the years after that we saw the birth of the rave culture and all these sub genres of electronic dance music. So for me all that music made a huge impact because it was so new and exciting. I always kept an open mind with the genres and to me personally I don´t see that there is really so much difference between all the genres. I kinda see the music as one. So as I was there when everything was new, I think the tiny nuances of the music have stuck with me, and that can perhaps be heard in my productions.

Release wise you move with ease between the more commercial to very underground labels. Sound wise you touch all aspects from Disco to Techno. Does this come about as well with the venues you play at and the variety of fans?

When I dj I always prefer a long set since I love to go all over the place with the music. I´m just not that kind of person who enjoys playing a set with the same tempo and beats the whole night. I think the party night needs to have a structure. There needs to be variation. Mostly my dj-sets jump from deep house / house to disco and back spiced with some techno. So I haven´t really played in that many commercial clubs so far, mostly in venues that have open minded  
underground music fans inside.

What's next for you release wise and any big plans for 2011?

There are lots of nice and big things happening this year. I´ve now started my own label called 'Serenades' which will have its first release february 14th. The first one is my own ep called 'Manolesque; which is more like a mix of the stuff as Roberto Rodriguez and as Manolo. Disco-ish funky slow house music. That one has been collecting some amazing feedback already so I´m really excited to see it out soon. After that, I have an ep coming out on '2020visions;´s sub label 'Fina' which is also a bit of a combination of  the more disco stuff and deep house. Some very nice tracks there. Besides that i have quite a few remixes also coming out. I made a remix for Fiakun Team´s 'Around Your Neck' which is actually out early February. I also did one for Sasse's 'On My Mind', one for Terje Bakke´s 'Tango Orange' on Soulfooled, and one for Vanessa Daou´s 'Once In A While' . On top of that there is a really nice Roberto Rodriguez remix coming out on Rhythmetic Records the next weeks.

Last but not least it would be great if you can tell us about the scene in Finland. How are the clubs doing? What young Finish producers are up and coming now?

The scene in Finland is nice and small. Everybody basically knows each other - even though the scene is rather small, it's top quality. There are roughly about 600.000 people in Helsinki and yet we have many excellent clubs here.  The quality of the programming is top notch. Also there are many underground warehouse parties going on all the time. One cool band from Helsinki you should check out is Villa Nah. It's a great electro pop duo that released it's highly raised debut album 'Origin' last year.

Artist of the Week: Roberto Rodriguez will air Tuesday February 8th at 18:00, with repeats Wednesday at 12:00, and Saturday at 10:00.

In cooperation with What People Play.

Roberto Rodriguez - Tell Me Instrumental

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Roberto Rodriguez - Caldera

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Roberto Rodriguez - Like I Said Like I Said

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Roberto Rodriguez - Has Been Has Been

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Roberto Rodriguez - Sonata

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Roberto Rodriguez - I Know You're Mine

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Roberto Rodriguez - Ride With Me feat. Max C Burnt Island Casuals Instrumental

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Roberto Rodriguez - Whisper

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Roberto Rodriguez - Overlay

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Roberto Rodriguez - My Everything

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