
Rimarkable
Maria “Ri Ri” Garcia, known worldwide as Rimarkable, is not just a DJ, producer, and vocalist. She is a cultural architect, an Afro-Puerto Rican powerhouse who has been shaping the sound and spirit of dance music for more than two decades. Brought up in Detroit, sharpened during childhood summers in Chicago, and thriving in New York City, Rimarkable embodies the full spectrum of the Black diasporic tradition—gospel, funk, soul, jazz, house, and techno, all transformed into electrifying soundscapes that ignite dance floors across the globe.
Her story begins in the sanctified heat of a Pentecostal church, where her mother, a classically trained pianist and music minister, saturated her childhood with gospel harmonies and discipline. Summers in Chicago exposed her to the earliest pulse of house music, embedding in her DNA a rhythm that would later define her life. By 1997 she was on the decks, and by 2006, frustrated with the industry’s barriers and biases, she became her own producer, turning resistance into innovation and claiming complete autonomy over her craft. Since then, Rimarkable has built a singular career that bridges worlds.
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She has shared stages with legends including George Clinton, Madonna, Erykah Badu, Louie Vega, Honey Dijon, Roger Sanchez, Pete Tong, and Francois K, while simultaneously cultivating underground spaces that honor community, authenticity, and radical joy. Her long-running events in Detroit, New York, and San Francisco have become touchstones for dancers and DJs alike, curating nights that are as spiritual as they are explosive. In 2021 she joined the storied Defected Records family, cementing her place among global house music royalty. As a host of the weekly Defected Radio Show, she now reaches millions of listeners across more than 170 FM stations worldwide, bringing her distinctive voice and impeccable taste to an international audience.
Beyond the booth, Rimarkable is a celebrated educator and thought leader. She serves as an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, and instructor at Waajeed’s Underground Music Academy, where she teaches her groundbreaking course series, “The Alchemy of DJing.” This work frames DJing as both art and ritual, blending technique, history, spirituality, and cultural analysis into a visionary curriculum, with raw truth and resources for navigating the scene as a business. She has presented versions of this lecture and workshop in Nairobi, Berlin, Yale, and the Queens Museum, underscoring her mission to expand dance music’s role as a vehicle for healing, liberation, and collective power. Rimarkable’s artistry is rooted in more than beats. It is about presence, justice, and transformation.
Whether unleashing a thunderous techno set, layering vocals over soulful house grooves, or leading students through the metaphysics of rhythm, she approaches every arena with the same intent: to elevate. To remind us that music is ceremony. To preserve the roots of dance music while pushing it fearlessly forward. With releases on labels including Classic Music Company, Big Love, Club Bad, and her forthcoming imprint Betty Jean’s Dream, Rimarkable continues to expand her sonic universe. Each project is a testament to her philosophy that excellence, dignity, and artistry are not optional but essential. Detroit is her foundation, New York is her canvas, and the world is her stage. To experience Rimarkable is to step into a revolution of rhythm, where every beat is an invitation, every set is a sermon, and every dance floor becomes a sanctuary. This is more than music. This is Rimarkable.
Their Resident Advisor profile, in full and unedited.
SoundCloud ↗Bandcamp ↗Discogs ↗
Records out on Defected Records, Planet E, Nervous Records, Liberate, Beatdown, Reveller Records, Rise Music, Dirt Tech Reck, Toucan Sounds and Classic Music Company. — their own list on Resident Advisor
The nights
- Fri 30 OctIndustry Citytheir 2nd night · Closed-Sessions, House of Yes Presents, Ladyfag, Reggaeton Rave, The Vampire Ball, nyc rave girls636 going
- Sat 31 OctIndustry Citytheir 3rd night · BOUND, Closed-Sessions, House of Yes Presents, Synthicide, The Vampire Ball125 going
2026
- Sun 5 JulSignaltheir 2nd night · Signal NYC
- Sat 20 JunThe Chocolate Factorytheir 3rd night · Soul in the Horn
- Sun 7 JunRefugefirst time · Refuge NYC
- Fri 6 FebThe Chocolate Factorytheir 2nd night · POWERSTROKE
- Fri 23 JanHouse of Yestheir 5th night
2025 — 9 nights
- Fri 26 Dec 2025Good Roomtheir 2nd night
- Fri 21 Nov 2025Signalfirst time · Signal NYC
- Sun 9 Nov 2025Good Roomfirst time · Benny Soto
- Fri 31 Oct 2025House of Yestheir 4th night
- Sat 4 Oct 2025Industry Cityfirst time · Book Club Radio, House of Yes
- Fri 26 Sep 2025House of Yestheir 3rd night
- Sat 16 Aug 2025Rumsey Playfield in Central Parkfirst time · King Britt
- Thu 6 Mar 2025TBA - Three separate locations
- Sun 16 Feb 2025Dead Letter No. 9first time · Dead Letter No 9, Sundae Sermon Music Fest.
2024 — 11 nights
- Sat 14 Dec 2024House of Yestheir 2nd night
- Fri 13 Dec 2024Xanadufirst time
- Sun 13 Oct 2024Blue Midtownfirst time · The LiteHaus
- Fri 30 Aug 2024The Abode of the Messagefirst time · Shaker Mountain
- Sat 29 Jun 202499 Scott Avefirst time · Associated, Glitterbox, House of Yes, Soul in the Horn
- Thu 25 Apr 2024Elsewheretheir 2nd night
- Sun 7 Apr 2024public recordstheir 2nd night
- Sat 30 Mar 2024The Chocolate Factoryfirst time
- Fri 29 Mar 2024Jupiter Discofirst time
- Sun 18 Feb 2024public recordsfirst time
- Sat 17 Feb 2024House of Yesfirst time
2023 — 3 nights
- Fri 15 Dec 2023Elsewherefirst time
- Sat 23 Sep 2023Circle Line Cruisesfirst time
- Sun 3 Sep 2023H0L0first time · ReSolute
Their rooms
One tick a night, on the one axis this page has — Aug 2023, where the listings start, to Jan 2027, the last night anybody has announced. The shaded end has not happened yet.
- House of YesFeb 2024 – Jan 20265 nights
- The Chocolate FactoryMar 2024 – Jun 20263 nights
- SignalNov 2025 – Jul 20262 nights
- Good RoomNov 2025 – Dec 20252 nights
- ElsewhereDec 2023 – Apr 20242 nights
- public recordsFeb 2024 – Apr 20242 nights
Once each: Refuge, Industry City, Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, Dead Letter No. 9, Xanadu, Blue Midtown, The Abode of the Message, 99 Scott Ave, Jupiter Disco, Circle Line Cruises and H0L0. One of the 30 listings never named a room, and is not counted as one.
Who they play with
Counted from the bills themselves, over bills of twelve names or fewer. A pair's count includes a night that is announced and not yet played; where there is one, the row says when.
- DJ DawsonThe Chocolate Factory ×2 · Mar 2024 – Feb 20262 nights
- The Illustrious Blackspublic records ×1, The Chocolate Factory ×1 · Apr 2024 – Feb 20262 nights
On record
- 2017Sometimes I Wonder Deep House, Vol. 1 ↗track appearance
- 2008I Love You More ↗appearance
Every one of these resolves on Discogs; the ones that do not are not printed. What Discogs files them under is not printed either — its label column carries mix series as if they were imprints.
The nights, the rooms and the bills are the listings themselves. The biography, the labels and the photograph are Resident Advisor's. The records are Discogs'. Nothing on this page was written for it.