Mirko Loko’s passion for music has led him on an upward trajectory ever since he first started DJing in the late ‘90s clubs of Lausanne. Based at the crossroads between Detroit-inspired techno and the stripped-down-yet-jacked-up side of house, his music is that of diversity and subtlety. It’s high-class yet low-slung, a hypnotic collage sewn together by shifting layers of darkness and light.
Mirko’s impressive discography has spanned such labels as Cocoon, Border Community, Wagon Repair, Planet E, Desolat, and Visionquest.
This is not to mention his collaborative work with Detroit’s Stacey Pullen, and his remixes of everyone from Martina Topley-Bird (Massive Attack) to Layo & Bushwacka. He’s also been on the receiving end of the remix treatment from such techno titans as Carl Craig and Ricardo Villalobos.
Born in 1979 in Lausanne, Mirko has always loved music. After DJing in clubs, Couleur3 (Swiss national radio) snapped him up as a DJ and programme planner between 1997 and 2001. During this time he continued DJing nationally but also started performing internationally at places like Rex in Paris, DC 10 IBIZA, Tresor Berlin or Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Streetparade in Zurich, and In 2003 he became artistic programmer at Loft Club in Lausanne. He then met Raphael Gros and together they formed Lazy Fat People, a production unit that was to impact heavily over the next few years. Their debut, ‘Big City’, came out in 2006 on James Holden’s Border Community.
From there tracks spilled across other labels, including Mathew Jonson’s Wagon Repair and Carl Craig’s Planet E. There were remixes too, like their reworking of Daniel Bell’s ‘Science Fiction’ and Oliver Lieb’s ‘Isotropy’, and not forgetting the sublime C2 remix of Fat Lazy People’s ‘Pixelgirl’. However, in 2007, at the height of their success, the duo decided to go their separate ways. So Mirko continued remixing for Tania Vulcano and Tato’s IsGud as well as Alexkid’s Imprimé Records.
Between 2007 and 2009 he was also assistant programmer for the electronic side of Montreux Jazz Festival. Yet something else was brewing: it was big. It was the ‘Mousa Big Band’ track, Mirko’s collaboration with Cadenza boss Luciano, included on their Family EP and released on Loco Dice’s Desolat, alongside Mirko’s own productions ‘Liah’ and ‘Serena’. This period also marked the beginning of his presence in Ibiza, and before long he was appearing regularly at the legendary Circoloco at DC-10.
In 2009 Cadenza released Mirko’s debut solo album – Seventynine. It proved to be both a timely tribute to his inspirations and a testament to his own journey through music.
There was a new influx of shows across the globe, from Space Miami to Monegros in Spain, Lowlands in the Netherlands, Summer Sonic in Japan, Creamfields in the UK, and Sonofilia in Mexico. And an innovative new venture with Luciano and the Cadenza family was born: a live ‘visual music’ performance named Æther, which premiered in the summer of 2009.
2010 saw Mirko remix Layo & Bushwacka’s ‘The Longest Day’ on Olmeto, Ghost Dancer’s ‘Home’ on Panorama, and dOP’s ‘Assurance Vie’ on Circus Company. This was the time of his Seventynine Remixes project, with remixes by Carl Craig on ‘Love Harmonic’ and Ricardo Villalobos on ‘Tahktok’. Mirko became a professional ‘Vagabundo’ with Cadenza in Ibiza – a journey that continued in 2011. In 2012 he laid down an original collaboration with Stacey Pullen on the Deux Éléments EP (‘Formulaic Mode’/‘Tronic Illusion’) for Cadenza. He also remixed Martina Topley-Bird’s ‘Baby Blue’. ‘Gloria’ made its way to onto Shaun Reeves, Ryan Crosson and Lee Curtis, Seth Troxler’ Visionquest imprint. Various new partnerships have recently been formed with experimental pianist and composer Francesco Tristano, and Jow from dOP.
In 2013, Mirko released some of his strongest techno material yet, some of which was included in the Cadenza 10 Year Anniversary and Vagabundos 2013 Volume II compilations. His hectic tour schedule only seemed to increase as well, being hosted by many of the world’s biggest electronic music events and club brands, such as Time Warp, Cocoon Ibiza, Sonus Festival, B.P.M, Richie Hawtin’s Enter at Space, or Carl Cox’s Music is Revolution.
2015, Mirko released his second “Comet Plan” with remix from sebastian Mulleart, Brett Jonson and Carl Craig. Then he create his own festival called “Polaris” in the prestigious ski ressort of Verbier. This event is already considerate as one of the best event in Switzerland.