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Deejay Energy Has Better Taste Than I Do

2026-03-04 · 11:03 UTC ·First Floor ·4 min read

Brief

Deejay Energy (Francisco Ventura, known as Frankie) delivers a guest recommendation for Shawn Reynaldo’s First Floor (Mar 4, 2026), spotlighting El Irreal Veintiuno’s self‑released 2024 album Pulsiones. Frankie—a Mexico City DJ, promoter and 0% co‑founder who has been a lynchpin of the CDMX underground for over a decade—says he first encountered the artist around 2021 and regards Pulsiones as the producer’s most ambitious work. The album fuses futuristic, tribal and distorted production with polished mixing, combining Mexican cumbia and soundsystem aesthetics with psychedelic, leftfield club approaches. Frankie frames the record as an emotional map of inner conflict that moves from fragility and darkness toward movement and fragile reconstruction, using his selector’s ear and digging background to present Pulsiones as a boundary‑busting example of contemporary Mexican electronic music.

Cleaned source text

A guest recommendation from a lynchpin of the Mexican rave circuit.͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­͏ ­

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Hello there. I ’m Shawn Reynaldo, and welcome to First Floor, an electronic music digest that includes news, interviews, new release recommendations and examinations of the issues affecting the larger scene / industry that surrounds the music. This is a free edition of the newsletter; access to all First Floor content (including the complete archive) requires a paid subscription, which you can sign up for by clicking the button below. (Alternately, you can also support the newsletter by making a one-time donation here.)_Upgrade to paid

Deejay Energy Has Better Taste Than I DoA guest recommendation from a lynchpin of the Mexican rave circuit.| | Shawn Reynaldo

Mar 4

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First Floor is in many ways a one-person operation, but every Wednesday, the newsletter fully cedes the spotlight to an artist, writer or other figure from the music world, inviting them to recommend a piece of music.

Today ’s recommendation comes from Deejay Energy (a.k.a. Francisco Ventura), a DJ, promoter and jack-of-all-trades who’s been at the center of Mexico City’s underground for more than a decade. Yes, he’s a skilled selector and devoted digger, and his ability to effortlessly move through eccentric strains of house, techno, electro, breakbeats and leftfield club music is a big part of why he can increasingly be found behind the decks at clubs and parties all around the world. More importantly though, Frankie—as he’s known to all those who’ve met him in person—is THAT GUY, the warm and welcoming behind-the-scenes figure who seemingly knows everyone and has devoted countless hours to building and maintaining Mexico City’s now burgeoning electronic music scene. He doesn’t do it alone of course—in fact, he’s the co-founder of a collective called 0%—but whether he’s throwing parties, putting on workshops or simply showing visiting artists around CDMX, he’s an unofficial ambassador for one of the largest, most vibrant cities in the world, and someone who’s played a key role in putting that city (and its multitude of homegrown talents) on the international rave radar.__Another thing about Frankie —amid all of his other activities, he’s logged some time as a music journalist, making him a natural candidate to contribute a guest recommendation to First Floor. His selection is below, and true to form, he’s used it to spread the word about the boundary-busting sounds created by a fellow Mexican artist._El Irreal Veintiuno - Pulsiones (Self-released)I first came across the music of El Irreal Veintiuno around 2021, and it was very hard to pinpoint. It didn’t sound like anything else I’d heard before, but what I heard completely blew my mind. He immediately became my favorite producer, so choosing just one of his releases for this feature was quite a difficult task. In the end, I had to go with his 2024 album _Pulsiones_.El Irreal Veintiuno’s sound is hard to define. It feels futuristic, tribal, distorted yet extremely polished, and though it’s uplifting, it still carries a strong sense of melancholy. This melting pot of styles and emotions is present throughout _Pulsiones_ , which makes the record, in my opinion, his most ambitious project to date.The album unfolds like a map of inner conflict, tracing a struggle shaped by opposing forces, where fragility, darkness and confusion slowly give way to clarity, movement and a fragile sense of reconstruction. The end result is a work of contemporary electronic music that feels experimental in every sense of the word. It’s psychedelic and deeply informed by Mexican cumbia and soundsystem culture, yet it still pushes toward something distinctly its own.

First Floor is published and overseen by Shawn Reynaldo, a freelance writer, editor, presenter and project manager. Find him onLinkedIn and Instagram—and make sure to follow First Floor on Instagram as well—or you can just drop Shawn an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or other potential opportunities.__You ’re currently a free subscriber to First Floor. For the full experience, please upgrade to a paid subscription by clicking the button below._Upgrade to paid

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