Varhat
From the outskirts of Strasbourg to the Paris Yoyaku crew: how Vincent Lubelli built Varhat into one of the names of French minimal house.
- Alias of Vincent Lubelli, French DJ and producer raised in Strasbourg, later based in Paris.
- First Varhat track, “Mantra”, in August 2015; EPs on Aku from 2016.
- A key figure at Yoyaku, the Paris record shop, label group and agency.
Varhat is one of the names behind the Paris minimal house sound of the late 2010s. Behind it is Vincent Lubelli, a largely self-taught producer from Strasbourg who became a partner in Yoyaku, the record shop and label group at the centre of that scene.
Strasbourg and the internet
Lubelli grew up in Strasbourg, in north-eastern France. His first memories of electronic music go back to age five, when his older brother DJed at home. He learned mostly online, beatmatching included. At 18 he started making tracks in Ableton and playing small clubs in Strasbourg, and at around 20 he started taking it seriously. At 21 he missed the grades for a two-year technical diploma and chose music over resitting his exams.
A reset called Varhat
He created the Varhat name in February 2015 as a reset, once he felt his sound had matured. The first track under it, “Mantra”, appeared in August 2015 on a compilation from Crocus, a small Ukrainian label. Early 2016 brought a run of EPs, two of them on Aku, and another two-track Aku EP followed that June. In 2016 he told XLR8R: “It’s important that Varhat has an identity — it must have a personality.” He cited Margaret Dygas and Zip, artists who keep their releases rare, and sorted his own work into “tracks” and “tools” for smoothing transitions in a set.
Yoyaku
Yoyaku started in Paris in early 2013, set up by Benjamin Belaga as a booking agency for DJ friends, with a name taken from Japanese. By 2016 it had a record shop, a distribution arm and its own labels: Aku, Hostom, YOY, Joule Imprint and the YYY series. Lubelli became a partner and took charge of the artistic direction of the labels and the shop. He also masters releases for the group under the name Vincen. In 2018 Yoyaku launched a main label of the same name with an EP by Cabanne; all its releases are vinyl-only. In 2019 Mixmag described Varhat and his Yoyaku colleague Janeret as ambassadors of the French minimal scene.
He also records under other names, Niwa Tatsui and Volière among them. XLR8R linked him to the Hostom releases too, though in 2020 that alias was still not officially confirmed.
On the road
In January 2020 XLR8R published his Podcast 625, an hour taken from an all-night set at Fuse in Brussels. By then he lived in Paris, where he had built his studio, and toured Europe most weekends. He was working on an album without rushing it. In December 2022 Trommel reported that, after his central role in Yoyaku’s success, he had announced he would go solo, with new material and a live set.
His sound is minimal house in the Paris sense: rolling, swung grooves, small details and long blends. For the Perlon side of minimal, read about Fumiya Tanaka, a regular at the label’s Berlin parties; for another Paris house DJ, see Dan Ghenacia.
FAQ
Who is Varhat?
Varhat is the main alias of Vincent Lubelli, a French DJ and producer who grew up in Strasbourg and later moved to Paris.
What does the name Varhat mean?
Lubelli created it in February 2015 by joining the letter V with “Arhat”, a Buddhist term linked to enlightenment.
What is Varhat’s link with Yoyaku?
Yoyaku is a Paris record shop, label group, booking agency and distributor started by Benjamin Belaga in 2013. Lubelli became a partner, ran the artistic direction of its labels and shop, and masters releases for the group.
