San Soda

San Soda

San Soda is a Belgian electronic music producer and DJ from Deinze, Belgium. He is associated with house, deep house and electronic music, with an approach shaped by underground club culture as well as broader black music traditions including Chicago house, New York deep house, soul, hip hop and funk.

Early musical development

He grows up listening to The Beatles and Queen, then begins moving towards mainstream music as a teenager. In his teens he joins a local radio station and soon starts DJing at larger mainstream functions and local youth parties.

At 18, a visit to the Clues bar in his home town becomes a turning point. There he encounters Chicago house legend Tyree Cooper, who is playing at the venue with Belgian house DJ Red D. That experience changes the direction of his musical interests and leads him deeper into underground dance music.

Production work and We Play House Recordings

Through the internet he discovers artists including Theo Parrish, Jus Ed and Omar S, and from there explores more Chicago house and New York deep house. This discovery process leads him towards production.

A demo he gives to Red D in the dressing room of their football team leads directly to the creation of We Play House Recordings, a vinyl label set up as a home for San Soda’s music and for other similar producers. The label becomes associated with deeper house music and receives support from DJs including Jimpster, Ame, Deetron and Reggie Dokes.

FCL

San Soda also works as FCL with Red D. This collaboration is one of the main names under which he releases music, alongside his solo work as San Soda.

Style

His work is defined by deep, boundary-crossing house music, and he is presented as a DJ and producer whose taste is rooted in underground dance music and the wider tradition of soul-inflected black music.