Roberto Echo is a young beatmaker who first caught our attention, when he played a warm-up beat set for Knowsum at the Roxy in Cologne earlier this year. Much to our surprise we learned that Roberto is actually from Cologne, has been making beats for a while but lives and works in Düsseldorf these days

The cities of Cologe and Düsseldorf cultivate a (rather playful) rivalry that dates back to the middle age and covers various parts of everyday life – from beer (in Cologne we drink „Kölsch“ in Düsseldorf it’s „Alt“) to Carnival (we say „Alaaf“, they shout „Helau“). But when it comes to music city limits don’t matter. Who wants to choose Can over Kraftwerk or vice versa just because one band was from Cologne and the other from Düsseldorf. So we embraced Roberto Echo with open arms and are happy to announce his debut EP „Jamais Vu“.

In psychology, „Jamais Vu“, a French borrowing meaning „never seen“, refers to the phenomenon of experiencing a situation that one recognizes in some fashion, but nonetheless seems very unfamiliar. Often described as the opposite of „Déjà Vu“, „Jamais Vu“ involves a sense of eeriness and the observer’s impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before.
If you listen to the 11 track strong EP the title makes perfectly sense. Roberto’s music is rooted in classic sample-driven hip-hop. He pays hommage to jazz, soul funk and exotica while adding a sense of moodiness and suspense to his tracks. But when you listen to „Jamais Vu“ it all sounds brandnew new and never heard before …

PS: As we speak, Roberto Echo is back at the Casa de Echo working on his second EP, tentatively titled „Déjà Vu“.

The Tracks of „Jamais Vu“ is also featured in our KO-OP playlist on Spotify: goo.gl/udSSEg