From the beginning I was always attracted to scratch but I never knew where to start... 

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Like every child born in the 1980s, I grew up watching television, and my sister, being the oldest, controlled what was watched: MTV and VH-1. This was the time when hip-hop was dominating popular culture and its influence was present in many movies and TV shows like House Party, Juice, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  But there was one in particular that always struck me: the 1984 Grammy presentation of “Rockit” by Herbie Hancock and that unique sound that emanated from the turntables in the hands of Grand Master DST and his white headphones with antennas. 

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It wasn't until 1997 when I bought my first pair of turntables that it all started. But I was missing something very important: I didn't have records, I didn't know where to buy them, I didn't even know what the scratch technique was. On my own, I started to learn the basic techniques and finally buying records made me discover other genres beyond hip-hop (Funky House, Breakbeat, Drum n' Bass). Working these other genres led me to play at many electronic music events in the late 90s and early 2000s. Applying scratch to my DJ sets turned my style into an interesting one and at that time popular bands like Sublime, Incubus and Linkin Park had a DJ which led me to collaborate with some local bands. That experience of playing live from 2002 to 2012 -although it took me away from the local electronic scene- was especially important because I had the incredible opportunity to perform in the best stages of Puerto Rico.

 

Guti Talavera is BORN

In 2013 I moved to Miami. The experience acquired in Puerto Rico and my love for music led me to venture to create my own sound where scratching was part of the presentation. Watching Youtube videos I learned to play piano and music production techniques. In 2015 my first project "Made From Scratch" was released and at the same time a new artistic name: Guti Talavera.

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Guti Talavera, became an action-packed project. My set-up is based on jumping from scratching on turntables to piano keys in the same song, playing hip-hop rhythms with jazz melodies and latin influences, accompanied by live saxophone and drums. This concept managed to capture the attention of the city over time, starting in small bars on South Beach until reaching the best places in Wynwood, and then traveling back and forth from my native Puerto Rico, playing the hottest new spots. Accompanied by my band, we hit stages like the 26th Heineken Jazz Fest, the largest jazz festival in the Caribbean in Puerto Rico, and Sunfest, the largest music festival in Florida in West Palm Beach.

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I am currently based in the city of Los Angeles, CA where I have focused my efforts on production, launching 7 new productions from 2019-2023: MÉTELE, Scratching the Surface, Más Que Ayer, Bien Por Encima, Crazy Loving You, Guti Talavera selt titled album and Claves por el camino where I collaborated with saxophone genius Damian J.