With releases in the US and Europe, a new studio and label, one could say that Swedish house producer Henrik Dahl, aka Jivaro, has been doing well lately. At the beginning of 2005, one of Henrik’s songs was licensed to Ciba Vision’s international commercial campain for their new contact lens product 02Optix. The ad was on heavy rotation worldwide, bringing his music to a huge audience. In 2000 the same track was licensed to an ad for Cingular, the largest wireless company in the US. The fact that the same song has been in two major commersial campains, proves there is longevity to Dahl’s music.

The two albums Henrik presented to the US market in 2002 triggered fine reviews in magazines such as Mixer, Real Detroit Weekly and Grooves. “Wholly original and difficult to resist”, wrote Wayne Hoffmann in his Billboard magazine review. Dahl is also a remixer. He has done production work for Danish label Auditorydesigns, who released his remix of Get A Groove Going by acid jazz producers Ben Horn. The group has gained support from top DJ’s such as Laurent Garnier and Coldcut.

When did you last hear house mixed with Krautrock? Using the motto 'Twisted house with a signature sound', Dahl is running Rucksack Records. The label is home to his aliases Jivaro and Zenpoet as well as a few select producers, several of which are key players in the house scene. Scheduled releases include tracks by Sam Ostyn & Trish Van Eynde (Malinas, BE), K-Alexi (Chicago, US) and Gene Hunt (Chicago, US). Also coming up on Rucksack in 2006 is Throwback 87, a very exclusive track that Hunt made with the late house icon Ron Hardy.