We no longer need to introduce DJ Babatr — founding figure of the Raptor House movement and a true pioneer of Venezuela’s electronic scene. From the streets of Caracas to dancefloors worldwide, his raw and vibrant sound blends tribal percussion, urban energy, and futuristic electronic pulses. Paris-based collective and label Couvre x Chefs had the honor of hosting him for his first club show in France in October 2023 at Petit Bain. This defining moment marked the beginning of a lasting connection between the producer and our label.
Two years later, this relationship comes full circle with the release of Pedro Le Dino (Bandcamp), an explosive and organic EP, due late 2025 on Couvre x Chefs. With this new project, DJ Babatr continues to push the boundaries of his sound, weaving techno and trance influences into the relentless rhythmic intensity that defines Raptor House, asserting more than ever his unique vision of contemporary electronic music.
On his remix, Tim Karbon wanted to revive the growling, percussive pace of DJ Babatr’s original tune by adding weird, alien-like sound design. Topped with his own (distorted and twisted) voice chanting a successive collection of antiracist and 1312 Spanish-speaking mantras, embodied in the main chorus ‘‘Baterista contra fascista’’.
Tim has also re-sampled the whole drum patterns from Babatr to turn them into another furious and speedier image. ‘‘It was a pure emotion to be able to give my proper vision of Pedro’s legendary rhythmic approach, hoping it will target all dancers’ hearts and crazy-ass drum heads’’, said Tim Karbon.
Featuring four original tracks and four remixes by Couvre x Chefs members — BJF, Scarlett, Tévéa and Tim Karbon — Pedro Le Dino stands as a vibrant testament to the ongoing artistic dialogue between Caracas and the French electronic scene.
How was the process behind this EP? I know, you invited DJ Babatr for the first show in France. When did you talk about this EP?
Philippe (Couvre x Chefs): As you said, we invited DJ Babatr for his France debut back in October 2023. Since then, we have maintained a friendly relationship and see him with the members of CxC every time he passes through Paris. During these visits, we have exchanged quite a bit of music (and merch). In the spring of 2024, when Baba came to play in Paris for Arca’s residency at the Bourse de Commerce alongside Björk and Bobby Beethoven, we spent a few days together, and he spontaneously offered to release an EP on Couvre x Chefs. The concept behind it was twofold: to release four tracks from his old-school repertoire that had never really been officially released, and to have them remixed by four artists affiliated with Couvre x Chefs, in order to release a true collaborative project between DJ Babatr and the label.
Baba made a selection of his tracks from the 2000s, we listened to them together with him when he came back to Paris in the summer of 2024, and chose the four that seemed to work best on CxC.
How did you choose the artists for the remixes? What was the selection process?
The only remix suggested by DJ Babatr was Do You Like This by Tévéa. He listened to Tévéa’s track on our CxC Vol. 2 compilation and immediately fell in love with it (Tévéa also released a track on his annual Raptor House 2024 compilation). For the other remixes, we asked the producers who are members of Couvre x Chefs, and they divided them up according to their affinities and inspirations.
The remixes were then sent to Pedro for approval, and the EP was then mastered by Imaabs in Mexico City. After quite a few schedule changes, it will finally be released on 3 December.
We also wanted to mark the occasion by offering a physical release. We have only released one physical edition so far (our CxC Sampler 001 cassette), and this EP seemed like the right opportunity to offer something new. We chose to have a double CD manufactured, as the CD was the medium through which Raptor House spread in the early 2000s. The first CD includes the original tracks, and the second includes the four remixes. The whole thing will be presented in a digipack.
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