My MUsic
My music collection is as vast as it is varied, and always expanding. I collect all manner of world music, film scores, ambient and experimental material, and of course, all genres of EDM. I find my favorite grooves in Afro/Cuban, Latin Tech, minimal UK Garage, Bush-Progressive and Liquid Drum & Bass, and often contrast with deep dubstep, incorporating world music whenever possible. I’ve beat-matched tracks by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath with techno back-beats, much to the delight of a crowd.
I’ve been mixing beats since I was 11, and attended Berklee College of Music where I studied film scoring and music composition, so my harmonic awareness and understanding of musical phrasing is real.
While most DJ’s prepare their E-Dance sets in advance, I find myself too restricted by that, and prefer to interact with the dance floor energy in the living moment, and be as surprised by what emerges as the dancers themselves.
Bio
Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Apollo Santo (Spiro Theofilatos) was introduced to computer music by his high school jazz band teacher in 1989. He studied music synthesis and technology at New York University in 1991, and was a regular Wednesday night reveler at Disco2000 in the legendary converted cathedral on 6th Avenue known as the Limelight. He made weekly Friday night pilgrimages to Caffeine in Eastern Long Island, and his first Storm Rave in a Brooklyn tractor warehouse that year set him on the musical course that he follows to this day.
Seeking a more immersive music education, he moved to Boston in 1992 to study film scoring at Berklee College of Music. At that time, he experienced the Ultraworld and Primary events in the early New England rave scene.
He returned to New York in 1995, and quickly became one of the early pioneers of the East Coast rave, house, techno, and breaks scene, with seminal releases on Caffeine, Definitive/Plus8, Grinning, and his own label, I.M.U.R.Me Records.
After a detour into progressive rock and jam bands in the early 2000’s, Spiro was one of the first resident DJ’s at Alex and Allyson Grey’s original Chapel of Sacred Mirrors on West 27th Street. He went on to become a member of Brooklyn’s mythic “Freek Factory,” sharing stages with Bassnectar, Random Rab, and The Glitch Mob long before they were filling coliseums.
In 2016, Spiro relocated to the Big Island of Hawai‘i and invested eight years into the cultivation of a vast ethnobotanical collection, and the study of plant alchemy. Now, encouraged by friends, and inspired by the medicine and the land he stewards, he has returned triumphantly to music production, blessing local dancefloors, private events, and online followers with DJ sets, live instrumental sessions, and impeccably curated mixes that span many genres.
