Berlin-based producer and DJ Pablo Mateo creates a deep, warm, immersive form of techno with IDM influences and immensely detailed sound design, as well suited to headphones as to the club. His debut album, Weird Reflections Beyond the Sky, appeared in 2019 on Figure. Born Pablo Mateo Sanchez in Colombia, he was brought up on the country's traditional music before discovering pop and rap, becoming a big hip-hop head in his teens. He discovered electronic music through Chris Clark's classic Empty the Bones of You album on Warp, which had erroneously been filed in the hip-hop section in his local record shop. Blown away by the album's sound design, he was turned on to other Warp artists like Autechre before turning to techno and producing his own tracks. His major influences include Basic Channel and Omar S. In the early 2010s he moved to Berlin, and in 2013 released his debut 12", the "Roxy" EP, on his own Lack Rec. label. His early releases had a beat-heavy, tech-housey sound with ambient and electro influences and prominent vocal samples. A prolific string of singles followed over the next few years on labels such as Curle, Idealist, die Orakel, Uncage, and Certain Music, bringing him wider acclaim; he also became recognized as a talented DJ. In 2017 he launched another label, Artful Rifle. A deal with a major techno label to make an album fell through after a year-and-a-half's work and investment on his part, leaving him dispirited and discouraged. Feeling a reset was needed, he moved his studio gear into his home, and developed a different way of working. Focusing on a modular setup with just a couple other pieces of kit, he became adept at sound design, and began engineering for other artists. He developed a cohesive sound and recorded a demo, which landed at Len Faki's Figure Records. Mateo's debut for Figure in 2018 was a split EP, "Figure Jams 005," with Juxta Position. He also appeared on the label's 15th anniversary compilation Figure 100. Faki believed in Mateo's sound immediately and gave him total creative control, even suggesting he make an album as his first solo release on the label. Weird Reflections Beyond the Sky, featuring Emika, was released in 2019. ~ John D. Buchanan