The Bloody Beetroots have been producing some of the hardest electro-tinged tracks in dance music since the Italian duo (made up of Bob Rifo and Tommy Tea) first joined forces as a DJ team in 2006. More recently, their Mexican-wrestling-mask-wearing DJ personas have been augmented by what Bob describes as the “live chaos” of three-piece band Death Crew 77. Bob goes on to tell DJmag that his proudest moment of the past year was “the challenge of bringing a full live, almost punk rock band to the dance stages”. Bloody Beetroots have been championed in the USA with releases on Dim Mak, and Rifo (a man of few words who obviously prefers to let the music speak for itself) describes label owner Steve Aoki as “a happy boy, my brother”. The majority of Beetroots tracks, mostly written and produced by Rifo, have been noted for their aggressive use of heavy limiting and compression techniques, the style of post-production that is the subject of the much-discussed 'mastering wars'. But Rifo hints at interesting developments ahead when he tells us that “Brick wall mastering isn't over, but most artists are looking for a more dynamic sound”. DAVID McCARTHY
