Paula Tape

Suitcase, vinyl, and an Italian circuit earned the hard way

Paula Tape's percussive house is instantly recognizable: drummer polyrhythms, digging for rarities, and an ear that moves from balearic groove to acid without losing the dancefloor's thread. Born and raised in Santiago de Chile, she trained playing drums in heavy metal, indie, and electro bands before making the leap to the decks in her twenties. New wave, shoegaze, and imported magazines like NEO2 and Rockdelux opened the door to GusGus and The Prodigy; in the clandestine afterhours of Bellavista, while working as a waitress and costume stylist for television, she learned to DJ for real.

Frustrated by a local scene she felt was elitist and inattentive to music, in 2015 she bought a one-way ticket to Barcelona and ended up settling in Milan. There, she built her career from the ground up: a residency at Rocket with a female collective on Fridays and another at Apollo alongside the Rollover DJs, where she crossed paths with names like Gerd Janson, Hercules & Love Affair, Young Marco, or Floating Points. In parallel, she co-founded Tempo Dischi, a label dedicated to reissuing Italo and cosmiche gems from the eighties.

Acid Latino, Future Classic, and the Mixmag cover

As a producer, her debut Agua Congas (SOBO, 2018) left a tropical house mark with slap bass and a voice of its own. Then came Panamericana and the EP Astroturismo (Rhythm Section International, 2021), plus Octava Dimension with Volantis, and tracks and remixes on Permanent Vacation, Alzaya, Ransom Note, Planet Trip, and !K7. In 2024, she returned with Acid Latino on Future Classic: TB-303, salsa piano, cumbia, and tribal house on tracks like Acid Latino (Sonido Real), Feel 2 Real, De2 Locura, and Ibis. In 2023, she was the first Chilean artist with a residency on BBC Radio 1; her 2024 Essential Mix was nominated for Essential Mix of the Year at the station's Dance Awards. In March 2025, she starred on the cover of Mixmag.

Hola Mundo, global booth, and an ear without labels

In 2023, she launched Hola Mundo, a party series with dates in Milan, London, and Paris, designed for mixed and non-Eurocentric lineups. She has played at Boiler Room, Mixmag Lab, fabric, Panorama Bar, Sónar, Glastonbury, Love International, or Circoloco. On radio, she left a mark with Astral Jam on Worldwide FM and Music for Plants on Radio Raheem, in addition to appearances on NTS, Rinse France, or triple j. Today, based in Milan, she continues to defend a chameleon-like approach: house, acid, disco, Italo, and leftfield at the service of the dancefloor, without reducing her Latin identity to a label.