When he isn’t trawling the flea markets or records stores of his native Paris and adopted homes of Brussels and Tokyo, discovering those obscure party hits that never were, Raphaël Top-Secret can be regularly heard rocking some of the best underground parties and festivals around the world as far wide as São Paulo, Melbourne, Moscow, Seoul or Vancouver.
Upon moving to Brussels near the turn of the decade, Raphaël was befriended by legendary Dutch DJ Loud-E (CBS), himself a protégé of I-F, a mentor with whom he developed a strong bond, and embarked on long, relentless digging sessions in which time was forgotten and a new world of discovery was found. Back in Paris, his thirst of discovery kept growing, and only grew deeper across regular trips through Europe and beyond, which led him to settling for a while in Tokyo, following a gig at the prestigious Contact club. There he adopted the local customs and and scours daily the countless record stores of the capital guided by his friend and Tokyo teammate QPchan.
On the production side, he has released some of his outstanding edits for Rush Hour, Dekmantel, Macadam Mambo, produced songs for Antinote and remixed for Versatile. His early Antinote tracks caught the ear of scene figureheads such as Metro Area, Ivan Smagghe and John Talabot, indicating positive things to come. In 2018 his compilation skills found a home on Music from Memory with "Uneven Paths: Deviant Pop From Europe, 1980-1991", in collaboration with friend & label head Jamie Tiller, which was highly anticipated and released to critical acclaim, earning them even an invitation to Dekmantel’s Boiler Room this same year.
Not afraid to push the boundaries of club music, as a DJ Raphaël has built up a very distinct sound signature that remains inimitable by brilliantly mixing together House, Disco, Electro-Funk, Italo, Afro-Latin, R'n'B, Downtempo, Dub and Deep-Techno, creating a fluid and explosive dialogue between styles, where genre plays no role.
It is through this quest for authenticity, his prolonged efforts to unearth obscure tracks and the positive attitude he brings to presenting them to new generations that Raphael has been able to captivate an enthusiastic and receptive audience in all four corners of the globe. Quality is the one and only common aspect of the records he selects, plays and shares, and listening to an extended set can be one of life's greatest pleasures - so familiar, yet so unknown.
Agent Contact
jamie@crownruler.com