ARTISTAS / CONCRET

CONCRET is an art & music project founded and directed by Italo-Mexican musician, DJ, and artist Diego Angelico Escobar, produced together with Italian sound designer and keyboardist Q-pha. The project was born when the two began working together in 2012 on material for Diego’s urban soundscapes art project, which was presented in New York City’s 3rd Ward Gallery. From that point on, they decided to start producing club tracks with a unique and very personal approach. Their sound mixes house beats with dark Spanish vocals, techno atmospheres with disco synths, and deep bass sounds with ethnic percussions. 

Diego Angelico Escobar hails from Milan, however he is currently based in Mexico City in an effort to discover more about his family’s origins and experiment his work on what he deems is the most fascinating up and coming city. In addition to the Concret project, Diego is the manager and owner of Trafico Music, a label that celebrates the love of eclectic sound, mingling current trends with its own tropical electronic wave. He has also played frequently at Rollover in Milan, a party that has gained quite the legendary reputation. Diego met Q-pha when they were in an Italian New Wave band called “Yut!,” where Q- pha was the keyboardist. Since that time, Q-pha has been a sound designer for design brands, an audio engineer for different clubs in Italy, and now a music producer. 

Concret’s debut album, Play the City #0, came out on Truth Underground Records (Los Angeles) in 2013. After releasing Concreta/mente EP in 2014 on In Textures Music (Mexico City), they spent the remainder of the year focused on remixing for various Mexican musical acts. In the summer of 2015, Concret released new material on House of Hustle (Belgium) and on Toy Tonics (Germany), a sublabel of the renowned Gomma Records. London-based label Nein Records released their latest work, First of All EP in 2016. In 2017, Concret became an ambassador for Native Instruments. 

Concret joined forces with New York-based musician Matteo Gatti aka Plastic Health and the great Mexican singer Ana Karla Escobar to form Los Gatos Escobar, a parallel artsy House project. They have published two EPs through Trafico Music and have performed in Europe, Mexico, and the United States. On their own, Concret has collaborated with a wide variety of artists including: Cubenx, Ali X (Azari & III), Métrika, Pepe Acebal, Soni Ceron, Luca C & Brigante (Hot Creations), Vito & Druzzi (The Rapture), DJ Rocca (Slow Motion), Tippy Toes (DFA), Sharam Jay (Bunny Tiger), Mijo (Correspondant), Capri, Andre VII, Tronik Youth, Aimes, and many more. Furthermore, Concret is also part of the Mayan Warrior Artist Collective, performing for them at Burning Man and beyond. 

Concret's creative energy output is remarkable, fueling their passion for creating new music while constantly looking for avenues in which to push the artistic boundaries of their project. 2017 was a prolific year with an impressive list of releases. Perhaps most notable was Concret's kaleidoscopic, Nu-Disco infused vinyl-only release A/R on Wonder Stories with two fresh remixes by Rodion and Timonthy 'Heretic' Clerkin. The Man2.0's Room 2 Reversion remix of Concret's single ‘Ritorno' was featured in Wonder Buds Vol.1 compilation. in remixing, Concret contributed a driving rendition of Daddy's ’I'm a Sword Swallower’ that was released on Lost Diaries. Rounding out the year, Roam Recordings saw the release of Concret's lovely rework of Fausto's 'Vacïvus' that was also featured on The Roam Compilation, vol.2. 

2018 has been a vigorous and promising year for Concret's career, as they began with a successful launch of CLOSER (a touring concept party that aesthetically infuses indigenous Mexican and post-punk New Wave sounds into techno enhanced by elaborate party décor) in Tulum. Never resting on its laurels, Concret debuted its live show - CONCR3T/XYZ live - featuring three musicians (Diego Angelico Escobar,Q-pha, & Soni Ceron), an art installation, and video projections by Error 1322 to create a complete musical journey for listeners everywhere. He also released new music through his own Trafico Music and in other labels such as the french Her Majesty Ship, Italian Hell Yeah Recordings and the Mexicans Akbal Music and VAA. He also did a long and remarkable Europe and Middle East tour during the summer that brought him to a lot of new locations and helped expanding his audience. 

In 2019 he is planning in releasing a bunch of new music through recognized labels Correspondant & My Favorite Robot among others, launching 2 vinyl through his own label as well as working on a full instrumental album that reflects his experience as a musician and multimedia artist. The year has already come with noticeable features by Ransome Note, Les Yeux Orange, Deep House Amsterdam, Xlr8r, Sinchi Collective etc. 

As well as acting as a guest artist in Red Light Radio, Rinse FM, The Lot Radio. Not to mention his residency at Radio Raheem.