Ivan Ruiz

Ivan's relentless devotion to electronic music began at age 11. He would stay up late for hours listening to his uncle and friends DJ, in the late 1980's and early 1990's. "I use to watch them spin records for hours and was amazed at how they kept a consistent beat." In 1993, Ivan stumbled across various "house music" mix tapes from Wicked, Simon, and Mark Farina, which lead him to his calling: House Music! Ivan began DJ-ing in 1995 in his hometown area of the Monterey Bay, and by 1999, he was sharing his brew of deep house across the airwaves of 90.9FM KHDC. This earned him a residency on the premiere electronic underground radio show, "Underground Audio", with Jesse Gonzalez and Roberto Solorio. Underground Audio was the longest running show in the area's history catering underground sounds to the masses. Ivan held his residency until the shows demise in 2004. In 2004, Ivan teamed up with friends to launch the infamous monthly "Mint" inside Club Octane in the Monterey Bay. Mint had a run of 2 years of quality parties, until 2006. Mint featured an array of world class DJ's like Bad Boy Bill, DJ Dan, Doc Martin, Derrick Carter, Mark Farina, and Rick Preston to mention a few. In 2005, Ivan moved to San Francisco to finish his college degree. While in San Francisco, he was inquired to be part of the once acclaimed In House Records. While working there, he also worked as the house music buyer for TRC Distribution in San Francisco. He is currently part of San Francisco's institute for music, Amoeba Music. There you can find him in the Electronica aisle helping DJ's from all walks of life to find new soundscapes and styles. In addition to finding Ivan at Amoeba Music, you can also find him at Tweekin' Records on lower Haight Street. Ivan has held a deep devotion to working in record stores since the age of 17 and continues to devote a large part of his life to music. In 2006, Ivan created the "Hidden Cove" project to showcase and feature his love for deep/dubby/jazzy/funky downbeat grooves. His Hidden Cove project has been featured in URB magazine and continues to influence electronic music lover's worldwide. Ivan's passion, talent, and creativity has made him become an integral part of San Francisco's underground music community.