Introducing: Paurro

In 2021, Mexico City-based DJ and producer Paurro and her friend, house music vocalist Steven Klavier – known for his alluring and mysterious vocals on tracks released by labels such as Classic Music, Night People, and Anjunadeep – spent a summer as roommates in Puerto Escondido. While the rest of the world was on lockdown, Oaxaca, a state in Mexico’s southwestern region, remained relatively untouched. The two friends, craving human interaction, would throw late-night parties with Paurro in control of the turntables, playing an eclectic mix of house, UK garage, breakbeat, bass, and techno music that all shared a common thread of euphoria.

One night, Klavier grabbed a microphone and began to sing whatever came to mind. “His improvisation was incredible,” Paurro beams. “I feel like the music was so right for it. After that night, we said we have to make music together.”

Their latest EP, Run Away!, published by Toucan Sounds under the name P3rf3ct Strang3rs, adds to Paurro’s collection of serendipitous meetings that have dotted the rising artist’s journey to electronic music stardom.

Active as a DJ for over a decade, Paurro has established herself as a key figure in Mexico City’s electronic music scene, making waves beyond her hometown for her work with her House of Paurro club nights and warm, textured house music. Growing up in Mexico City, her father shared stories of his clubbing experiences in New York’s infamous Studio 54, but it was her mom’s love of disco that got her into music, playing records by ABBA and early Michael Jackson. After her parents separated, she saw her father rarely, only coming together at big family gatherings during the holidays. “This made me want to be around a lot of people and connect, because for the most part I didn’t have this growing up,” she says.

When Paurro was 22, she visited her older half-sister, who was living in London at the time, and was introduced to the rave scene in the UK, including a stint at fabric. After returning to Mexico, she spent her evenings at clubs like Pasaje America and Club Social Rhodesia, immersing herself in the small but emerging local rave scene. Initially, she worked in PR and communications for various Mexican independent festivals, using her strong social skills to network and make connections with other artists. “At the time, I was really okay with that being my place in the [industry], but I was curious about learning how to DJ,” she says.

In 2014, one of the festivals she was working for, hosted a set by Matias Aguayo, the Chilean-German musician and founder of the Comemé label fusing underground dance music with Latin and global influences. “I was obsessed with Comeme already,” Paurro says. “It was one of the first electronic labels that I knew about.” Eventually, she landed a job at Aire Libre, the now-shuttered community radio station, and began DJing at Departamento, a popular bar in the Roma Norte neighborhood. She also made frequent trips to New York, where she found regular gigs at clubs such as Ludlow House, House of Yes, and Black Flamingo. 

When the pandemic of 2020 forced her to cancel her DJ world tour, she pivoted her focus towards music production, releasing remixes of tracks like “Naughty by Nature” by Odd Ones Out and Head’s “Two Tribes”. A year later, she reconnected with Matias Aguayo through a mutual friend who recommended they collaborate on a project. “We just got along so well. At first, he can seem very serious, but once you get to know him, he’s so funny,” she says. The pair put on a party called La Descarga. “We only did a couple because his schedule is crazy and I was starting to get booked more. But after that, he asked me if I wanted to be the label manager for Comemé.”

This collaboration marked a significant moment in Paurro’s career as a producer, coinciding with the release of her debut EP on Comemé, Galavisión, which blends elements of house and techno with a distinct Latin influence, and features a party-rocking, warehouse-ready reworking of the lead track “They’re Here” by Aguayo. Paurro gushes: “His ideas are so out of the box. He’s a genius to me.”

Being an artist from Mexico, having someone like Aguayo in her corner is especially meaningful, Paurro says. “It’s a very macho country so it obviously translates into like behaviors and dynamics in the scene. There’s very few people [here] that are actually interested in supporting women.” On her Onna-Bugeisha EP, released on the Los Angeles-based women and non-binary artist-focused label SOS Music, Paurro presents a selection of upbeat and playful club tracks with titles referencing female samurai warriors from pre-modern Japan. Paurro specifically chose this theme as a response to the alarming rate of femicide in Mexico.

Earlier this summer, Paurro hosted a night at Tresor in Berlin as part of a global tour of her House of Paurro club series with an all-female, Mexican lineup. “What I’m aiming for [with my club nights] is having as many Mexican artists as possible included, so that one was super special to me. I feel like whatever platform that I have that I can use, I am going to use it. To me [being a DJ] isn’t just about loving music and exploring my sound, it’s also about what I can [give] back to the community. If I can help, I’m going to help.” This mindset also stems from some of the injustices she’s faced in the past – from bullying to sexual harassment – and the resilience she’s had to cultivate throughout her career. 

“I just kept working, and I tried to look for people that actually did appreciate me and that saw me. At some point I did find a group of people in Mexico and outside that made me feel like I'm going in the right direction.” Now, Paurro says, the tables have turned. “I feel like the infrastructure right now is a little bit better for up and coming women artists. Little by little, I'm building a community that will come for the music that I curate without looking towards big artists. But I know that takes time, and the more time passes, the more I want to just bring Mexicans together, help them out and book them.”

Throughout her journey as a DJ, producer and producer, it’s this kind of optimism and can-do spirit has propelled her forward, always seeking out ways to give back to the community while keeping things musically exciting. Having come onto the scene with her genre-hopping sets fusing house, UK-inspired rhythms and Latin American flavours that operate within underground scenes, her P3rf3ct Strang3rs project presents a shift in sound that doesn’t shy away from big room dance floor moments and pop. “I love that I’m making music like that too. In the future, I just want to explore thousands of sides of me.”

She hints at future collaborations, including a new label for Mexican club music named aanjel (derived from the Mayan word for angel) that she is starting with her friend and former Aire Libre producer Valeria Martin del Campo, also known as Valeriana. “I know there’s good music coming out of Mexico. We have the talent, and the motivation to do this,” she affirms. Looking ahead, Paurro is determined to play her part in contributing to the vibrant Mexican music scene. “In these times, I feel like we haven’t realized that supporting each other is key.”