Miami's Troncoso on His Label Prisoner of Love's "Analog Signature Blend"

Miami resident Nicolas Troncoso has already made a name for himself as a budding tech-house producer with releases on hotly tipped international labels like Neim and Superfreq. But as the A&R mastermind behind Miami's Prisoner of Love label, he's also emerging as one of our local underground dance music scene's eminent tastemakers.

When it comes to handpicking records for release on his label, Troncoso avoids the stylistic pitfalls of an EDM era in which ubiquitous digital tools make for an increasingly homogeneous sound among producers.
"The Prisoner of Love flavor is a signature blend," he tells New Times. "The main ingredients are analog instruments, and lots of processed vocals and drums. We try to look over that free plugins frenzy — let's not forget that because of pirated copies of Sylenth, the most cracked plugin ever, all the music sounds the same.

"And yes, I can hear the difference between a plugin and an analog synth by now," he laughs. "The music has to sound good, therefore all of my artists are really good audio engineers besides producers. At Prisoner of Love, we really focus on the organic and personal artistic profile of the people we sign." 

With its growing catalog of releases from promising local producers like Maurizio Ruggiero, Jean Le Phunk, and Troncoso himself, Prisoner of Love is certainly staking its place among Miami's most distinguished underground house and techno labels.

Troncoso and company will serve up their hard-hitting signature sound during a special label showcase at Treehouse Miami this weekend.

"The show is going to be awesome," Troncoso promises. "I am really excited about it because most of the artists performing are actually those DJ-producers from Miami that follow our label concept.

"I am really lucky to have put them together under one flag," he adds. "Not an easy job, because it took a long time selecting and listening to demos. It's going to be a unique-sounding show, and of course, each one of them will bring their own ingredients for the soup. But the Prisoner of Love taste and flavor is going to be a common denominator for the night."

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Prisoner of Love Showcase. With Troncoso, Maurizio Ruggiero, Jean Le Phunk, Chava and Marowicz. 11 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at Treehouse, 323 23rd St., Miami Beach; 305-674-7447; treehousemiami.com.