Photonz

Portuguese producer and DJ Marco Rodrigues makes various styles of techno, electro, and house under the name Photonz, in addition to being a driving force of the Lisbon dance scene. Along with his partner Inês Borges Coutinho (aka Violet), he co-founded online station Rádio Quântica and queer-friendly party mina, and he runs his own record label, One Eyed Jacks. First appearing with minimal techno EPs such as 2006's Ronin, subsequent releases such as 2008's "No Fear" single displayed a reverence to classic Detroit techno and acid house. As he became more prolific, his work got stranger and spacier, exploring offbeat rhythms on releases like 2010's Plague of the New Age EP. Following records that took influence from newbeat (Etheric Body Music) and breakbeat hardcore (Angel Heart), Rodrigues made his full-length debut in 2019 with the eclectic Nuit. Apart from Photonz, Rodrigues has also produced or spun under the names Negentropy, Markur, and DJ Senior Vasquez, his cheeky moniker dedicated to vintage house music.

Active as a DJ since the early 2000s, Rodrigues released his debut EP as Photonz, Ronin, on Living Records in 2006. Limited releases on labels like Dissident and Astro Lab Recordings followed, receiving enthusiastic words from the dance music press. Rodrigues launched One Eyed Jacks in 2010 with his Aquarian Ball EP, and the 2011 single "WEO" was the second release by the scene-making Lisbon label Príncipe Discos. Material appeared on labels like Don't Be Afraid (Love Spectre, 2012), Unknown to the Unknown (1551, 2013), and Crème Organization (Gnosis of Wolfers, 2015) as Rodrigues and Coutinho relocated to London and founded Rádio Quântica as a sort of Lisbon-centric equivalent to stations like NTS Radio. By 2017, the two had moved back to Lisbon, where they helped launch mina, a rave collective dedicated to LGBTQ causes. Photonz continued releasing records such as the deep, spacy Memories of Burma (Cosmic Club, 2017) and the harder, more acid-tinged Etheric Body Music (Dark Entries, 2018), while 2019's Angel Heart (on Violet's Naive label) explored a more breakbeat-heavy sound. Photonz's 2019 debut full-length for Dark Entries, Nuit, ranged from complex electro to slower, Balearic-influenced tracks. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi