- Since unleashing the mighty "Jaguar" upon the world in 2000, it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Rolando Rocha. After coming up through the Underground Resistance ranks and co-founding the UR spin-off Los Hermanos project, Rolando left both camps in 2005, citing creative differences. Since then? Not much. Rolando's first release in a dog's age, the appropriately named Hiatus EP, features two versions of the track "Where Were You?" At least we can be sure he hasn't lost his sense of humor.
It doesn't seem like Rolando has lost a step production-wise either, as "Where Were You?" picks up right where he left off. Fusing silky-smooth Detroit synths with Latin-influenced rhythms, Rolando kicks in the beat in earnest at the two-minute mark and never looks back, as a mere whisper of a riff creates more texture than a melody and the percussion drives along to keep you from noticing. The Dub mix on the flip shows that Rolando has learned a new trick or two during his time away, as a healthy infusion of echo effects and an increased sense of space propel the track into more cosmic territory, taking the Detroit synths of the original and making a hard right toward Berlin. Rolando shows here that he is still a producer capable of great things; the only question is how long he'll stick around this time.
Tracklist A Where Were You? (Original Mix)
B Where Were You? (Dub Mix)