JP Lopez has spent the better part of a decade building something that the European techno establishment didn't think was supposed to come from Medellin. As Verraco, he's constructed a sound that treats Colombian rhythm, UK bass culture, and Berlin-grade sound design as equal ingredients rather than a hierarchy -- and with his 2025 debut on XL Recordings, Basic Maneuvers, the argument is no longer theoretical. It's settled.
From Journalism to the Booth
Lopez studied journalism at university in Bogota before abandoning the profession to make the music he'd been writing about. "My mentors in journalism gave me the tools to better understand my identity," he told Mixmag, "which set me up to better conceptualize projects like Insurgentes and my work as Verraco." That intellectual rigor shows in every production decision. There are no accidents in Verraco tracks. The dembow rhythms that surface in his club sets aren't nostalgic gestures -- they're structural choices, load-bearing walls in architecture that also happens to make people move.
His debut album Grial (2020) established the vocabulary: IDM textures, analogue techno warmth, and a distinctly Colombian sense of rhythmic complexity. But it was the Escandaloo EP on Blawan and Pariah's Voam label in 2023 that changed the trajectory. The title track became the summer anthem nobody predicted -- a piece of club music so catchy, so texturally rich, and so rhythmically disorienting that RA and Crack Magazine both named it among the year's best releases.
TraTraTrax and the Scene
As co-founder of TraTraTrax alongside Nyksan and DJ Lomalinda, Lopez helped build a label that Resident Advisor famously compared to "this decade's Hessle Audio." The comparison makes sense structurally -- both labels operate as scenes unto themselves, curating a sonic identity that's bigger than any single artist. TraTraTrax has released music from producers across Latin America, from Bogota to Ecuador, and commissioned remixes from Pearson Sound and Perko that bridge the gap between the South American underground and the European club circuit.
But Lopez has been careful to resist the "Latin club" label that journalists keep trying to pin on the work. "We're just focused on the next move," he says. The point isn't to represent a geography. The point is to make music that's undeniable regardless of where the passport says you're from.
Basic Maneuvers
The XL Recordings EP consolidates everything. Three tracks that move between hypnotic techno, bass-heavy groove, and the kind of rhythmic invention that makes you forget what time signature you're supposed to be counting. Lopez's production has never sounded more confident -- the tracks are sparse where they need to be sparse, dense where density serves the dance floor, and consistently surprising without ever losing the thread.
With Dekmantel, Berghain, and Berlin Atonal already on his CV, and an Escandaloo party series in Bogota that's sold out every edition, Verraco has built a world. Basic Maneuvers is just the latest invitation to enter it.
Find Verraco on Instagram: @verraco__
