Summoning the club cognoscenti to Archives, a buzzy warehouse venue stashed away in North London, Coach and Boiler Room are raising their glasses to the 365 party girls. On this occasion, they welcome none other than Shygirl to curate an evening of sweat-drenched mastery, flitting from Latin club to no-nonsense techno, and bone-rattling basslines. Amongst those taking to the decks – Mina Galán, Urumi, Miss Jason, Angelita and more – Florentino marks his ascent to the dancefloor with a vision for cross-cultural experimentation.
Since childhood, the Mancunian-Colombian producer, DJ and ‘Club Romantico’ figurehead has pursued a sound that broadens the parameters of dance music, discovering new pockets of influence within collaboration. In doing so, the last couple of years have seen the artist team up with the likes of DJ Python, BAMBII, Bad Gyal, to name a few, whilst putting out a series of notable releases via tastemaker label XL Recordings.
Swapping out crumpled cloak room tickets for statement handbag tags, Coach and Boiler Room are flaunting a too-hot-to-handle affair. Therefore, it was only right for CLASH to get stuck in and catch up with headline act Florentino, talking through his creative process, early inspirations and the club-kid essentials.
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Sharing your heritage between UK and Colombia, how would you say that these two regions have influenced your sound?
In a large capacity, both the UK and Colombia have acted as homes for other cultures and their sounds. As time has gone on, the sounds that come with that, have mutated into different things in each respective space. For instance, when you think about how Caribbean culture has impacted UK music with reggae and dancehall, you can hear the low end approach of those genres in almost all club music now. On the other side, in Colombia, reggae and dancehall has also played a major impact on the rhythms you hear. Reggaeton (emphasis on the ‘reggae’ part of the name,) is one of the most obvious examples of that. These two places have two different connections to the same cultures and sounds. I was naturally drawn to these things as I explored my own identity growing up, looking for commonalities between the two cultures I belong to. To a lot of people, all these connecting dots aren’t so obvious but because of my heritage and upbringing, I’ve been drawing the lines between them consciously and subconsciously, since I was a kid.
In what ways do these influences combine, how do they complement one another?
Whenever a sound moves into a new space, it undergoes some sort of transformation to fit the new context. I channel my influences to fit the contexts around me, which are mainly club spaces. I’ll take the energy of traditional and contemporary LATAM music because that’s what makes people close to me move in the most joyous & infectious ways. I’ll take the approach to low end and bass synthesis of the UK because it’s what resonates with me the most, emotionally speaking. Put those two together and they lock in like lost pieces of the same puzzle, creating a new picture.
Can you remember your first experience with production? What made you want to keep coming back to it as an art form?
I got told I shouldn’t pursue music and I kept coming back to it to prove them wrong.
Do you separate between your production work and DJing? Do they mirror one another, or do you use each medium to explore different sides to your artistry?
They very much work in parallel. The biggest moments of my set the other day were bits of music I made in the days coming up to the event, with the setting in mind.
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Where do you find your source of courage, what empowers you to do what you do, on a daily basis?
I’m a pessimist in many things but I’m an optimist in the belief that the escapism and joy of pursuing musical moments is a very pure thing. That gives me the energy to keep pushing forward, chasing after that.
You’ve teamed up with Coach on a fabulous Boiler Room line-up. What’s your one, essential item that you must bring to the dance floor? What’s in your bag?
I wish it could be my cat ‘eevee’ but in reality, you’ll always find me carrying my 2 USBs.
Last year you teamed up with Shygirl on ‘Pressure Funk’ – tell us about how your collaborative relationship first formed! In what ways do you think you creatively align, and differ?
We first put our heads together on a remix I did of ‘BDE’ a couple of years ago & it came out great. If it isn’t already obvious, Shy is a club kid, as am I. When two separate people see music through that lens, it’s very easy to lock in and create together.
What qualities do you look for in a collaborator?
In recent years, club music has become increasingly viable in the pop sphere and in the eyes of the major labels. With that in mind, what I look for in a collaborator is a real understanding and passion for what these spaces represent. In 2025, you have pop artists who’ve spent time in or come from underground club spaces. Others want in on the moment but have no real proximity or time spent with it, no real understanding. Amongst all of that, I’m looking for authenticity in the people navigating these spaces, artists that are doing it on their own terms and are very invested in the spaces where this music is meant to be played and felt in.
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