From ReSolute To RA+RE To Tresydos: Discover The Story And Unrestrained Style Of Mari.te
We hosted the underground dance-floor specialist to discuss her story Through different continents, the development of her own label and pick her latest record favourites
Mari.te is undoubtedly one of our favourite DJs. Through the years she developed a specifically underground style - her mixes are deep and moving, a blend of tech minimal house and modern breakbeats and techno that builds up marvellously throughout her sets. She has been a resident for the might ReSolute parties in New York, she’s a member of the infamous RA-RE collective and three years ago launched her own label, tresydos. Today she shares with us how all these endeavours came together through a story touching different continents and realities. Enjoy the read.
Listen to her latest mix as you read:
Hi Maria! Thank you so much for joining Guerrilla Bizarre for this interview. We’d like to talk about your background and influences before moving on to more current questions.
Hello! Thank you for having me! :)
You were born and raised in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Did your upbringings influence you musically speaking? What did you use to listen to while growing up?
Music was always present in my life. I remember my dad used to listen to classical music all the time at home, he had a huge CD collection. When I was little I was in piano classes, and then I learned how to play the guitar when I was in high school. My music taste was a bit different back then, mostly pop, rock and indie. Then later on I discovered electronic music and never looked back.
Was this before or after you moved to New York? And how did you get involved with Resolute?
It was before, while I was living in Boston for college. I was actually visiting New York a lot during my last year there, and that was when I started going to House and Techno parties, like Blkmarket and Verboten (before it became a club). After that, I moved back to Caracas for a few years, which is when I started DJing.
Then I moved to NY to study a Music Business Masters degree at NYU. I had to do a few internships and one of them was at ReSolute. I was going to their parties all the time and I decided to send them an email, which they received at the perfect time because they were looking for someone to help with the promo and logistics. After the internship, they decided to hire me to do more things and I've been working with them ever since. Since I moved out of New York I'm mainly working as their booker for the agency. I can say I have learned a lot from this experience, and I'm thankful for that. It's also been amazing to play at some of the parties, they have a unique vibe that you can't find anywhere else.
You are also part of the female-only label & collective RA+RE? How did you get in touch and what’s your experience with RA+RE?
One of the founders, Jessie, is one of my best friends from Venezuela who also lived in New York when I was there. Sometimes they would have events in the city and that's when I joined them as a resident DJ. Then when I moved to Europe it became much easier to travel and play at their parties here. I think all the girls in the collective are very talented and each has her own style, which is very inspiring to me. We were planning a showcase in Madrid last year, but of course, the pandemic ruined our plans. We will definitely reschedule that as soon as we can!
“ ‘tresydos’ is a Venezuelan saying - it's like a moment of tension, that can really define the game and change everything. “
You have been through a lot of different party situations in all these years and different continents. If you would have to choose the most(s) significant gig(s) of your career on a personal level, which would they be? What was special about each?
The most significant ones for me maybe haven't been the big ones, but the ones that have been the most rewarding personally. The first ones that I can think about are:
• The time at Sigh (Madrid) when I played a long warm-up set before the Slow Life crew.. that one was special to me, I felt very connected with the crowd.
• My first time at the Panther Room (Output).. It was my favorite venue and finally being behind that booth felt amazing, it's so sad that it doesn't exist anymore.
• The first and only time I've played at CDV. I couldn't believe I was playing there and I enjoyed every minute :) Hope I can be back sometime.
• Finally, Breakfast Club with RA+RE, which is the most recent one on the list. It was very intense and fun.
It's always hard to answer this question, like when people ask me about my favorite track. Can't really tell, because I can name so many that I have enjoyed in different ways.
Let’s move onto the present now. You are currently based in Madrid - what attracted you to Europe and this city in particular?
I felt it was the time to move out of NYC after a few years, and the visa I had was about to expire so I took that opportunity. In general, I enjoy the European way of living and also the fact that I can travel so easily. Madrid was my choice because part of my family is here.
It was in Madrid that you started your own label “tresydos” in 2018, right? Tresydos is a label which released some outstanding & fresh takes on modern house and breakbeat. What’s the concept behind the label? What do you want to achieve with this project?
Thanks for saying that! I'm glad that you've enjoyed the releases.
I started working on the idea when I was living in New York, but the first release came out when I was already in Madrid. Launching the label was something I'd wanted to do for a while, to create my own concept from scratch. It wasn't really created with an intention in mind other than dedicating myself to something that I really enjoy, which is discovering and selecting music.
To explain the idea behind it, I can start with the meaning of the name: "tresydos" is a Venezuelan saying - it originated from baseball which is the most popular sport in our country, and being on a "tresydos" situation means to have a runner on every base (3) and 2 outs... it's like a moment of tension, that can really define the game and change everything. People use this for all kinds of situations, of course, not only when referring to sports. And if you try to apply this to a party moment, it's when you listen to that track that will probably get stuck in your head until the next day because it made an impact. That is the kind of music that I want to have on the label. I also try to sign artists that are not the most known, to make sure we are offering something fresh and different.
What can we expect next from tresydos and your endeavours in the near future?
I'm very excited about all the next releases we have planned! We'll share the next one very soon, it's an EP by Ed Hodge. We are also launching our first merch collection in the coming weeks, and it's looking great.
I'm looking forward to the moment when this situation is finally over to be able to play all the new music I've been gathering for the last year. I also can't wait to continue with the tresydos parties in Madrid. We only did the first one right before the lockdown last year and it was so good! It was supposed to take place every two months, and hopefully, it will be that way once we are back on track.
We also can't wait for this to be over... What’s your day-to-day looking like at the moment? What are you focusing your energies on during this weird time?
I used to work and travel a lot before the pandemic, so it's been a bit hard to get used to the new lifestyle. Right now I spend a good part of my days focusing on the label, finding new music, looking for new ideas... It's hard to have a routine, but at least half of every day I spend it doing music-related stuff. In general, it feels good to have time to do all this with calm for a while because I know at some point things will get busy again.
The bad part is that having more free time made me a bit addicted to video-games. But I'll get over it :) (I hope).
Cool! What's the game you are playing the most?
I’m playing mostly Call Of Duty on my phone, never thought I'd find killing people with a sniper so relaxing haha… But I've also just finished the last Assassin's Creed and had a Super Mario moment a few months ago.
Final question: let’s say the pandemic ends tomorrow. Can you share with us three new records that you haven't been able to play yet and that you would surely have ready in your bag for the first gig of 2021?
If you ask me about new stuff, these would be among my favorites for sure:
Fantastic Man's Utopioid LP, out on Mule Musiq. I love his music in general but this release is probably my favorite one from him. It's a very complete record with tracks that could work at different times of the party and I could play more than one if I play a long set.
I started my last podcast for Off The Grid with one of the tracks from there, Forbidden Fiction.
Anderson's Easter Eggs EP on Day By Day. All 4 tracks are great and they are definitely peak-time material so this one's coming in my bag for sure. All of his releases are usually fire :)
Spage - Party Hello on Ritual Acquaintance. I've already heard this one in a few live-streams/podcasts over the last months, but haven't really had the chance to listen to it in a proper soundsystem, so I'd definitely bring this one to the after-pandemic inauguration.
Thank you again for your time and all the best for the development of your projects!
Thank you, too! And I wish you the best of luck with the website! It's looking great so far :)
