Cardopusher

Venezuelan producer Cardopusher has ventured into numerous styles of dance music throughout his prolific career, incorporating Latin American influences into aggressive styles like breakcore and EBM as well as more accessible dance genres such as house and garage. He made a name for himself with sample-heavy mashcore releases like 2006′s Hippie Killers Don't Mind Jah Conversations, then moved on to dubstep and broken beat, issuing the full-length Yr Fifteen Minutes Are Up in 2011. He embraced analog synths with releases like 2017′s New Cult Fear, which channeled early acid house and electro. During the 2020s, he made deconstructed reggaeton as Safety Trance, and melded breakcore with hard trance on the 2023 Cardopusher EP Immaculate Poison.
Born Luis Garbàn in Caracas, he initially started out making tracks inspired by IDM labels such as Planet Mu and Rephlex, and around 2005 his tracks caught the attention of the breakcore community, including DJs and producers such as Jason Forrest and DJ/rupture, due to their lightning-fast beat editing and unconventional, humorous sample usage. In addition to the requisite mutilated Amen breaks and ragga vocals, his tracks pilfered from less likely sources such as reggaeton and ’90s alt-rock radio staples like Collective Soul and 311. After appearing on a few digital compilations, French artist Rotator began releasing Garbàn’s tracks on his Peace Off Records label in 2006. Cardopusher’s full-length debut, Hippie Killers Don't Mind Jah Conversations, arrived early in the year, and was quickly followed by a split EP with Rotator and Krumble, along with several additional compilation appearances. Two EPs in 2007 (I Need Someone I Can Imitate on Wood Records and Red Red Blood on Peace Off sublabel Damage) continued in the absurdist, sample-munching style of the full-length.
In 2008, Cardopusher moved to Barcelona and began to incorporate elements of dubstep into his sound. Releases such as Down to the Wire (Terminal Dusk) and Mutant Dubstep, Vol. 2 (Spectraliquid) blended his frantic breakbeats and samples with slower tempos and booming sub-bass, while his second full-length, Unity Means Power (Murder Channel), mostly consisted of breakcore tracks along with a few cuts blending the two styles. A remix of Cardopusher’s track “Homeless” appeared on a Hyperdub-released 12” by Japanese chiptune/dubstep artist Quarta 330. German label Ad Noiseam issued an abridged vinyl edition of Unity Means Power in 2009, and releases appeared on labels like Off Road Recordings, Shockout, and True Tiger Recordings. His style shifted again around 2010, smoothing out with U.K. garage-influenced sounds for EPs like Schematic Blocks (On the Edge) and 2011′s Instant Loving (Frijsfo Beats). His third full-length, Yr Fifteen Minutes Are Up, arrived on Kid606′s Tigerbeat6 label, and included guest appearances from MCs Sensational and Juakali.
In 2012, Garbàn and Argentinian producer Nehuen started a label called Classicworks, releasing mostly digital EPs along with the occasional 12”. By this time, Cardopusher’s tracks were heavily inspired by old-school electro and acid house, with bubbling synth lines and banging drum-machine rhythms. Boys Noize released some of Garbàn’s tracks on his BNR Trax label, and Cardopusher’s fourth full-length, Manipulator, which added a bit of an EBM influence to his sound, arrived on Boysnoize Records in 2015. He continued issuing tracks digitally on Classicworks, in addition to 12” releases on THEM and Super Rhythm Trax. New Cult Fear, Cardopusher’s second album for Boysnoize, appeared in 2017.
The EP Muscle Memory appeared on Dark Entries in 2018, while two volumes of A Convenient Excuse were issued by Boysnoize. More EPs followed on labels such as Acid Avengers and Lone Romantic. Garbàn made appearances on Arca’s Kick releases, and adopted the Safety Trance alias in order to focus on reggaeton. Arca guested on the 2022 Safety Trance single “El Alma Que Te Trajo.” Cardopusher released Immaculate Poison on John Frusciante’s Evar Records in 2023. The EP was a return to the high BPMs of his earlier work, combined with hard trance elements. ~ Paul Simpson