From Punk Rock to the Dancefloor: Marco Repetto

Marco Repetto may well be your favourite DJ’s favourite producer. The Swiss / Italian artist has been quietly constructing elegant dance floor techno, house and trance, plus downtempo and broken musings under a plethora of aliases since the late ’80’s. It’s safe to say that at Bonanza HQ he is a firm favourite, so we were beyond delighted when he agreed to make the trip to Colombia for Bonanza 2026.

Marco plays most of his gigs in his home country of Switzerland, so it’s extra exciting to have him as part of the festival, playing two sets - one as his beloved Planet Love alias, the other as his wonkier Bigeneric nom de plume.

Ahead of his trip over, we asked him a few questions. Have a read!

 

Most of your performances of late have been close to your home in Switzerland. What made you want to take the trip to Colombia for Bonanza?

At first I was hesitant, especially because of the instrument transport I always have with me when I play live. But then the request was so loving and coherent that I decided to undertake this long journey.

I also didn't want to play a thin live set with a labtop, so I will come to the Bonanza Festival with all my instruments, with this equipment I can glide beautifully through soundscapes as I like.

It's also true that I love Colombia, the country, the people with their culture, and the breathtaking nature. We've already spent a month in Chachagüí near Pasto in southern Colombia. Colombia has a big place in my heart.

That's why I was particularly pleased with this request for the Bonanza Festival.

You'll be playing 2 sets at Bonanza, what can we expect from both slots, both of which are live sets?

My live sets are always different, that's exactly what fascinates me so much about playing live.

With my instruments, the sounds come directly from the sound generators.

I can determine at any time what happens next, of course everything merges with the current situation, it is a symbiosis with the audience and the energy moment of being.

One live set slot will be very techno oriented, as „Planet Love“ with melodic and abstract elements. Important components of my techno performance are a certain roughness and psychedelic sound situations, driven by warm rhythms and deep bass frequencies.

This techno live set is the basis of my upcoming Planet Love album, which is expected to be released in late 2026.

I always start all my work first as a live set, play it a lot, then I process these impressions into an album in my studio. This way of working is the most fun and meaningful for me.

The second live act slot will be a „Bigeneric“ Live performance. The Bigeneric Sound, is very melodic, melancholic and driven by broken rhythms with warm bass frequencies. Kind of downbeat experience...

Exciting sound samples enrich the sound journey. The Bigeneric Live Act at the Bonanza Festival, like the Planet Love performance, is the basis for the upcoming Bigeneric (2027?) album. This live set will be heard for the first time at the festival.

For those who may not be familiar with your music, how would you describe the Marco Repetto / Planet Love / Bigeneric sound?

For many years I have devoted myself to electronic music from the bottom of my heart.

I can't explain exactly what fascinates me so much. It all started in 1977 when I was a punk rocker from the very beginning and at that time I immediately fell in love with this new wild music and this love for music has remained unbroken.

I came to electronic music through punk rock; the song from "Fad Gadget - Back to Nature" (1979) was a key point in my career as an electronic musician.

At that time, I founded Grauzone (with the underground hit Eisbear) my New Wave Band with synthesizer, among other things.

My sound today ranges from ambient soundscapes to captivating techno, which is inspired by my punk-new wave past and techno from Detroit (USA) .

Always, psychedelic moments are an important part of my music. I like it when music just transports you away without you noticing anything.

They are good worlds that I work on with my sounds. At least I try to send good energy and subtle messages to everything and all who need it.

I'm sure there are a lot of us who can conjure up something quite beautiful and big, I'm just a small part of it. That's why I loved it when other people play music and I just enjoy it.

At the Bonanza Festival I will definitely enjoy a lot of music and the people there, I am especially happy to be a part of it!

You have made so much music under many different aliases over the years. How do you go about your production process? Do you have a certain idea in mind when making music aimed at a certain project, or just see what happens?

The "Bigeneric" project has now become my main project. The name comes from Greek (botanical) and means that the origin has 2 sources.

For me, these meanings had two sources, one was clearly techno and the other ambient chill out music. I adopted this name in 1994 for my first "Bigeneric - Myriades" album on Spacefrog's label Germany.

"Planet Love - Magic" was my first techno album on CD in 1993.

The fact that I'm working on a Planet Love album again today is because this project was rediscovered several years ago by my dutch friend Michiel Graafstal, who released three maxi singles with early, partly unreleased Planet Love recordings on his label "return_backspace“.

The fascination of that time for something lovely, for science fiction, synthesizer technology and detailed techno music IDM has definitely caught up with me again.

The project Random Fluctuations stands for everything else i want to do with electronic soundscapes, from rough techno to abstract ambient sounds.

In each different project, I am under a changing beam of light and energy to focus myself. To put it briefly, in all projects, I define myself in the composition work to the scope of the current project. Bigeneric is nature, Planet Love is off course Love and Random Fluctuations is futuristic sound research etc. etc.

What runs through all the projects is the fact that musically I put myself in an exciting environment without any claim to the comfort zone, where I quickly get bored.

Rio 017 - Chez de Milo (recorded live at Bonanza 2025)

Chez has a style that is hard to put your finger on, as Rio 017 well demonstrates. Recorded on the opening night of Bonanza, Chez kicked the terrace into action with a chuggy but cheerful selection of swampy groovers.

Moving seamlessly from heads down tech house to breaks and EBM-ish numbers, Rio 017 is peppered with flecks of acid, swaying basslines and plenty of character.

One to keep the summer flowing xx

Rio 016 - Que Sakamoto

The 16th part of our podcast puzzle comes from Que Sakamoto.

The nomadic Japanese DJ and producer and self proclaimed "party ninja" serves up 3 hours of peak-time breaks, trance, tech house and techno, recorded live in March 2025 at the Rio. There is a certain quality that courses through his DJ sets that is hard to pin down; psychedelic? Definitely. Playful? Of course.

It's fair to say that a lot of the music Que plays you won't have heard before and most likely won't hear again. He's always got his own unreleased bombs up his sleeve, plus plenty of Japanese rarities that just hit each time. Dive in to the world of Que Sakamoto.