Plastik Funk

The German house music duo Plastik Funk was formed in 2002 in Düsseldorf by Rafael Ximenez-Carrillo and Mikio Gruschinske. Spaniard Ximenez-Carrillo was born in Madrid but grew up in Grevenbroich, Nordrhein-Westfalen, while German-Japanese Gruschinske spent the first part of his life in Tokyo before moving to Berlin. The pair started DJing in high school, growing up on hip-hop but switching to house music after hearing Frankie Knuckles and David Morales, and met after becoming the resident DJs at two different Düsseldorf nightclubs. Their debut single, the "Do It Right" EP, was released in 2003 and their subsequent string of popular club hits made them well-enough known on the dance music circuit to begin playing throughout Germany and beyond. They remixed the likes of David Guetta, Robyn, Shaggy, and Deadmau5, and they also recorded separately under the monikers Guernica and Turbopascal. Their most prolific year was 2011, when they released no fewer than 13 singles, including their hit cover of C+C Music Factory's "Everybody Dance Now," which gave them their first mainstream German chart entry. They were also commissioned to mix several compilation albums, including Ministry of Sound's 2009 Sessions Germany outing. In 2012 they broke out internationally with the track "Who," produced in conjunction with fellow German Tujamo and played out by big names like Avicii and became a huge hit at Miami house music mecca the Winter Music Conference. Following its success, they played high-profile sets all over the world and took up a summer residency at Space in Ibiza. In 2014 their biggest hit yet came when the reworked "Who," retitled "Dr. Who" and featuring British rapper Sneakbo, hit number 21 on the U.K. singles chart. ~ John D. Buchanan