Drumcell

Growing up on a diet of punk, grunge, and industrial, Moe Espinoza originally cut his teeth playing in local L.A. hardcore bands before attending his first rave in 1995, which changed his perspective on music. Buying himself a drum machine and starting work at a recording studio in Hollywood, he focused his songwriting on dance music, utilizing the studio's array of classic synths and Roland drum machines. After a handful of releases on various labels, Espinoza helped form the Droid Behavior collective -- alongside Vangelis and Vidal Vargas (aka Raíz) -- in 2001 to kickstart the techno scene in L.A. Using the name Drumcell, Espinoza delivered his debut release, the Genetix EP, for the collective's label Droid Recordings in 2003. Over the next few years, DJ'ing, production work, and building the Droid collective brand continued apace, with the label delivering not only releases by Drumcell, but by artists such as Audio Injection, Dustin Zahn, and Acid Circus. 2009 saw the release of the Cell Injection EP -- a collaborative piece between Drumcell and Audio Injection -- which got heavy rotation in DJ sets by the likes of Speedy J and Chris Liebing. After striking up a friendship with Liebing, Espinoza delivered his first release for Liebing's CLR in 2012, the collaborative Split Structure EP with Brian Sanhaji. The following year, Espinoza's debut album, Sleep Complex (as Drumcell) was also issued by the label, alongside the single Disturbance. Over the next few years, he delivered a handful of releases for the label, including Departing Comfort, before focusing on his more experimental, ambient project Hypoxy1a and label Bl_k Noise. The Flux EP -- which featured Luis Flores -- appeared in 2016, followed a year later by the various-artists release Negative 2_Part 1. ~ Rich Wilson