Dubfire Playlist

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Grindhouse (Dubfire Terror Planet Remix) by Radio Slave
Float Away (Dubfire's Casaplex Remix) by Robbie Rivera
Emissions by Dubfire
Roadkill by Dubfire
I Feel Speed by Dubfire
Ribcage by Dubfire

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Early Years: 2006 to present

Ali Shirazinia was born in Iran but left with his family for the US aged just seven in the late 90’s. He grew up with a couple of future key figures in the American electronic music scene, namely Brian Transeau (BT) and Sharam Tayebi. Shirazinia and Tayebi would ultimately become the Grammy award winning globally successful house act Deep Dish. In 2007 the duo put the Deep Dish project on hold and pursued solo career, with Shirazinia adopting the Dubfire alias which he had used to previously for a number of solo remixes he had done whilst part of Deep Dish.

Shirazinia used the Dubfire alias to pursue a very different, new musical direction. Whilst Deep Dish had been renowned for the more commercial end of house and radio friendly remixes of mainstream superstars Dubfire has much more underground direction. Focusing on the micro-niche genre of minimal tech-house Dubfire, along with artists such as Nic Fancuilli, has become one of the key exponents of this movement. Fusing the structure and groove of house music with the feel and sound of techno Dubfire’s sound is highly minimal.

His first solo release ‘Emissions’ was a statement of intent and bears all the hallmarks of the sound which Dubfire has positioned around. Built on the foundation of the dull thud of a kick drum and rolling sub bass, the main riff of the track is a single piece of heavily processed percussion, backed with sparse hi-hats and incidental percussion. The sound is light years away from many Deep Dish releases and stands out as a clear message that Shirazinia’s musical direction had changed. His ‘Global Underground GU31 Taipei’ DJ mix showcased Dubfire’s new minimal sound to a global audience, and though it includes some older tracks, such as his 2006 remix of Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Control I’m Here’, the overall effect and sound is clear and distinct.

A series of remixes reinforced the Dubfire message, including the dark and driving mix of Radio Slave’s Grindhouse and the masterful remix of Robbie Rivera’s ‘Float Away’, in which Shirazinia somehow succeeds in converting mainstream vocal pop-dance into a minimal tour de-force. Further reinforcing his new techno sensibilities Shirazinia worked with German techno godfather Oliver Huntemann, resulting in the tracks ‘Diablo’ and ‘Dios'
But all of this and even a remix of Plastikman’s techno classic ‘Spastik’ was not enough to keep Dubfire free of criticism from die-hard techno fans who suspect of Dubfire jumping onto their bandwagon as minimal came into vogue. Shirazinia’s response was that he was intentionally taking a step away from the limelight and a sizeable pay cut to follow his musical heart rather than to manufacture some commercial masterstroke.

By 2010 his doubters were thinner on the ground and his acceptance in the techno fraternity growing. This was evident in the fact he had been invited to put on a night at legendary German techno club Berghain in 2009 but most by the fact he was chosen to mix the ten year anniversary in Ibiza album of techno heavyweight’s Sven Vath’s Cocoon label.

All of Dubfire’s productions have been released on his own Science + Technology Digital Audio or SCI + TEC label which only releases in digital formats. Dubfire’s insistence on digital only releases reflects his strong advocacy for technology. Though by his own admission he took some time to master mixing on a laptop he has become a staunch advocate of using computers in DJ sets to create new textures and sounds by dissecting original tracks and layering loops and stems.