PERFORMERS

A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Caro (Orac Records co-founder Randy Jones) grew up in an environment just connected enough for him to receive hazy transmissions from dance music’s cultural centers. The Midwest dance scene, resonating from the founding influence of the Hot Mix 5, was fiercely eclectic. Tells Randy: “A few local DJs brought techno music to Madison. Those guys would mix genres like crazy. On Nick Nice’s night at the Cardinal bar in 1991 you could hear everything from Speedy J to Inner City to Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

In 1993, Randy moved to Seattle where he honed his programming skills and eventually found interesting work combining music and computers. Meanwhile he had never stopped delving into dance music. “I was listening to a lot of electro, new wave, Detroit techno, and this crazy techno that the San Franciscans were making.” Armed with this panoply of influences, in 2000 Jones started the Orac label with partner Konstantin Gabbro, and shortly thereafter the ROBO.trash weekly, which became a focal point for a new generation of Northwest producers. At ROBO.trash, Jones honed his DJ skills playing sets as eclectic as the ones he started dancing to.

Spinning led back to producing, and the alter ego Caro. His first full-length, “The Return of Caro,” was released in 2005 following a string of critically-lauded 12"s which bring to mind old Chicago House as much as modern techno. Caro shows blend these influences with live singing and a willingness to improvise, to work with pop and soul as well as dancefloor energies. “I want to blow up the party, but also leave some words and hooks in your head. To keep it flexible enough to grab the moment and stretch it out into unique sounds for a certain place and time and group of people.”