wave goodbye to 2022 with a delicious mix of balmy balearic and groovy r&B

Hailing from the city of Rennes in the northwest of France, Timéo lays down an hour of feel-good beats just in time for summer down under.

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Can you tell us a bit about your journey into electronic music and DJing? When did you first discover electronic music? I first fell into electronic music around 2008 after discovering artists such as The Hacker, Birdy Nam Nam, Boys Noize and all the French Touch 2.0 artists like Justice, Busy P and Surkin. I also bought lots of CDs back in that time like compilations of 90s electronic classics. So my first listening were of genres like electro-house, electroclash, and a bit of mainstream tracks also. Raw and hard stuff in general. Then I started DJing and I discovered the techno and house scene with my first crew around 2011-2012. We started organising parties in bars and private places.

But I was attracted by more organic and acoustic stuff and in 2013 a soul/funk/jazz vinyl shop opened in my home city of Rennes. The vinyl dealer, Phil, introduced me to those grooves. I’ve never come back from that feeling. House and funk grooves are what I'm really keen on. More recently, three years ago, a friend of my current crew introduced me to the Balearic groove in many genres. It was also an important moment for me! Now I love to mix house, downtempo stuff, balearic groove and a bit of world groove. Lots of 90s electronic tracks with an ethereal and warm feeling.

You’re part of the La Rennes Des Voyous crew. How did you guys come together and what’s it all about? It all started with the disco vibe. With three good friends, we launched disco-funk and vinyl oriented parties in a bar in 2016. Historically, our city is very influenced by a rock scene and also the free-party culture near the city. We wanted to propose something different with organic and warm vibes. The main goal was to spread the music that we listened to together. And then, the crew has grown up with other friends that came into our crew. Today, we are nine with lots of genres represented and different artistic projects.

What is the club scene like in Rennes? Like I said before, Rennes was represented by rock and techno. But today you have a diversity of cultural events that have bloomed over the last fifteen years. We are also an area of festivals in Brittany, so, we don’t lack opportunities to discover more music in Paris and Nantes, which are not too far away.

How did you decide to approach your mix? Was there a concept behind it? Like most of my mixes the past two years, I gathered downtempo tracks from different subgenres where it emanates a balearic and organic feeling. Something fresh, easy-listening with warm grooves.

Are there any particularly special tracks or moments in there for you? I would say that the second track, dubbish stuff from Lexx Feat. Woolfy called ‘Too Hot’ is one of my favourites of the last year. I also remembered that I put in a remix of a track by the French singer Alain Souchon that I really love too. And a track around the end, by Jilo, my friend, that was released in August - a beautiful EP on Dream Chimney. Check it out!

Name your go-to album or mix compilation for chilling out. It’s hard to pick one, but I would say Before by Calm on Hell Yeah Recordings. That is a beautiful one!

Favourite album of 2022? Dennis Mpale – Paying My Bills