Since 1999, CircoLoco has been finding ways to keep the party going for dance music lovers worldwide. From their early Monday Morning Sessions to the massive CircoLoco Ibiza, their aim has been to bring you raw, unfiltered, old school vibes for the love of the culture. Rockstar Games, who has been committed to pushing new music and sounds forward through their titles—the amount of music being used in the Grand Theft Auto series alone!—is on a similar wavelength, even going as far as to having players build a pirate radio station in the GTA Online world. Needless to say, it shouldn’t be a surprise that CircoLoco linked with Rockstar Games to create CircoLoco Records, a new imprint that’s sure to push what both CircoLoco and Rockstar have been doing in music.
Their first release, Monday Dreamin’, will be released in a series of EPs. The first drops on June 4 (pre-order is available now), and features material from Sama’ Abdulhadi, Rampa, Dixon, Kerri Chandler and Seth Troxler, who’s tune “Lumartes” is a banger and streaming right now.
Wondering how a partnership like this comes together? CircoLoco’s Nick Benedetti explains. “The strong friendship between Sam [Houser, Rockstar’s founder] and Antonio [Carbonaro, CircoLoco promoter] was the real beginning, which evolved over time through sharing the same passion for music. We had talked for a long time about doing something together that would contribute something new and meaningful to the scene,” Benedetti continues, “and this took on more shape as we talked during the lockdown period and dance music culture was hit very hard. Sam and Antonio both had the feeling that it was time to join forces to create something special for the sake of music and our community.”
When it comes to what’s in store for CircoLoco the label, Bendetti speaks on wanting to up the ante. “After 22 years of history in music,” he shares, “we are ready to bring in everyone that has been part of our community and our journey, and that is reflected in the scope of artists that appear on the compilation. As for the future, CircoLoco has always tried to give new talent a platform, as has Rockstar, and we want to do the same with the label—we really want to push the boundaries to combine new music genres and artists from around the world. There will be a lot of surprises coming out from this project. You should expect the unexpected.” One has to imagine that anything is possible, from a massive CircoLoco x Rockstar festival to, who knows, maybe an entire CircoLoco station in GTA Online. Or it’s something that’s far from the basic ideas we came up with.
Bendetti also shares that the CircoLoco teams has been playing Grand Theft Auto V “since it first came out!” He says that the game has made a huge impact, and comments on how it “feels unreal to join all our forces in the name of music.” Knowing how Rockstar gets down, this is only the beginning. Expect the unexpected, indeed, and be sure to check out the first EP from the Monday Dreamin’ compilation when it is released on June 4
