Pissed Off in Buenos Aires: meet the Off Side Brothers

Pissed Off in Buenos Aires: meet the Off Side Brothers

11 March, 2008 | 9.09PM

• Section: Music News Topics: South American Music Conference
• Written by: Zack Rico

Beatportal grabbed lunch with Manuel aka MOS and his older brother Oliverio from Off Side / Pissed Off Records in the trendy district of Palermo, in Buenos Aires.

With posh clothing stores like Diesel, boutique fashion shops and bars with tables on the sidewalk it felt more like Milan or Soho in London, than South America.

In between big glugs of red wine, the brothers explained all about their record label, and the events that pushed them both into electronic music.

“We’re Argentinean and used to live in Barcelona, but we moved back three years ago just when the scene started to blow up big here,” explains Oliverio, who has a decade on his brother.

“Apart from Sonar and a few clubs, the scene in Barcelona isn’t very exciting, whereas Buenos Aires is a haven for electronic music.”

His younger brother Manuel continues, “The first thing that made us want to go back to Buenos Aires was when somebody sent us a video of Hernan Cattaneo playing one of our tracks in front of 15,000 people.

“We couldn’t believe that the video was from Buenos Aires, but it was, and we knew we had to come back.”

What made the brothers move to Barcelona in the first place was an economic crisis in Argentina in 2001.

“Before 1999 the club scene in Buenos Aires was good, but the economic crash changed everything,” says Oliverio.

“Suddenly no one had any money, people lost their savings, the banks had no money, and promoters were unable to pay you for DJing.

“You had to play for free if you wanted to DJ anywhere.

“So we moved to Barcelona.”

Four years later though, Argentina’s economy was more stable, and electronic music was gaining momentum once again.

“What’s amazing about Buenos Aires is that the people are very passionate about the music,” reckons MOS.

“People here love electronic music with a passion.”

With their record labels Offside and Pissed Off the brothers have put out music from artists such as Plastique Version and Dokser.

They’ve also released plenty of their productions which regularly get picked up by the top DJs like Sasha, Adam Freeland, Hernan Cattaneo and John Digweed.

Oliverio has been involved in electronic music since 1993 and the story of how he first got into DJing is a funny one.

“Me and Hernan Cattaneo used to produce music together in his studio, and when Hernan was the resident DJ at Pacha when it first opened, we used to go to the club and play our productions off DATs,”
reveals Oliverio, giggling at the ridiculous idea that a DJ might attempt to do such a thing off a Digital Audio Tape today.

“We used to play DATs and then mix vinyl into them.

“Anyway, one day Hernan said just before Pacha opened ‘I’m hungry, I’m going to get a sandwich, I’ll be back in 10 minutes.’

“One hour later Hernan was still missing, the club was open, and the owner was getting angry.

“He said to me: ‘Oliverio play some music!’

“But I had never DJed before, so I didn’t know what to do.

“In the end, I just started playing even though it was my first ever time on the decks.”

The first time Oliverio touched turntables was in Pacha in front of 2000 people.

Unbelievably, after Oliverio finished his set the owner asked him to become a resident DJ.

It turns out that it was all part of a plan concocted by Hernan: they had been trying to find a resident DJ for a few weeks but they didn’t like any of them.

So one night, Hernan pretended to disappear leaving Oliverio with no option but to start spinning.

By the time MOS was old enough to chat up girls, his brother was a big name DJ in Buenos Aires.

The story of how MOS got into DJing is equally as amusing.

“When I was 15-years-old I used to take girls out to see my brother DJ so I could impress them,” he explains.

“I’d get them drinks and try to act like the big man.

“One night Oliverio was DJing and he called me over to the DJ booth looking upset.

“He asked me to play a record for him because he wasn’t feeling well and had to go to the toilet.

“He showed me very quickly how to mix one record and then he disappeared.

“He came back 10 minutes later and said there was too big a queue, so he was going to go to the club next door where they had a separate toilet for VIPs.

“I kept on playing because all the girls I were with thought I was really cool, this 15-year-old playing in a big club.

“Eventually my brother came back an hour later and took over, but that set was enough to get me hooked on DJing.

“It was so much fun.”

The brothers laugh and we all drink booze as the afternoon sun begins to dwindle.

Their enthusiasm and love for electronic music is inspiring, and their love for life is very apparent. It’s typical South American.

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