Switchdance
Genre: Electronic
Origin: Portugal
Born in the early eighties in Lisbon via Goa, Marco Antão is the man behind the name Switchdance – a monicker adapted from a skateboarding manoeuvre. He is a resident at Lisbon’s notorious Lux Frágil and is widely regarded as being one of Portugal’s finest and most adventurous DJ’s and producers, renowned for his highly eclectic, profoundly hypnotic sets. Known for his diverse musical palette and boundless creativity, Switchdance ultimately seeks to challenge audiences, all the while enticing them with a combination of music that draws equally from a comfortably familiar past and a distant alien future. Any and all boundaries are promptly discarded and conventions that seem to limit many other DJ’s are overcome with impressive confidence and audacity.
His residency at the aforementioned Lux Frágil has allowed him to share the booth with all of his favourite musicians and main influences. He has played at every significant club and festival in Portugal as well as all over Europe and was invited by the Red Bull Music Academy to play at two editions of Boiler Room.
Taking his love of psychedelic arpeggios, gothic melodies and dusty drum machine-driven percussive moments, he distills and restructures these elements into a unique sound elegantly displayed in his productions showcased on labels such as Karakter, Beachcoma, Areal and, most recently, Innervisions – one of the biggest labels in modern electronic music. His track “O Amolador”, featured on the Secret Weapons 9 compilation, merges mysterious eastern melodies and kraut-rock inspired synths with samples that speak directly to the nostalgia of his youth growing up in Lisbon. It was this distinctive synergy that captured the imaginations of label heads Dixon and Âme along with countless others. With the success of “O Amolador”, Switchdance has been revealed as one of the most promising talents to come out of Portugal in decades.
