Glasgow has always been a fertile breeding ground for house music. With countless internationally renowned DJs hailing from the city, there is no shortage of world-class talent in the UK’s northern clubbing powerhouse. The latest duo to set dancefloors alight in Glasgow and far beyond are illyus & Barrientos.
The pair have diverse origins – Barrientos has Chilean parents and was born in America, while illyus grew up in Frankfurt after being born in Govan. They met on Glasgow’s dancefloors in 2010, building a friendship over their mutual love of the kind of unashamedly big, floor-filling modern house tunes that have since propelled them to dizzying levels of acclaim.
In many ways, they are an odd couple – while illyus was growing up in the vibrant German then Glasgow hip hop scene, distributing early mixtapes for an enthusiastic audience of friends, Barrientos was still taking classical piano lessons, playing Chopin and Beethoven. In the studio, these diverse influences come together to create some spectacular dancefloor alchemy. Raw and funky, their tracks pulse with percussive energy and deep, infectious hooks.
With releases so far for Suara, Toolroom, Exploited Records and Glasgow Underground and riotous gigs at Space Ibiza, Ministry of Sound, XOYO, The Arches, Riverside Festival and Boardmasters Festival, they have cemented their status as one of the hottest DJ and production duos in the UK. With more music and bigger parties always on the horizon, these two are ready to join the higher echelons of the dance music elite… watch this space.
