Vintage Culture plays to tens of thousands of people each weekend, but Lukas Rafael Ruiz Hespanhol sometimes feels lonely. DJing at his level of superstardom can often be a nomadic existence. And things got “even more crazy” in the final run-up to the release of his debut album last month. “24 hours a day I was thinking and listening to every second, every detail of it. So this pressure is off a little now.”

Ruiz, “a 24 / 7 go - getter”, has an exhausting work ethic.He looks tired when we speak, and in messages beforehand expressed his need to recharge after an “insane” schedule that has already seen him traverse the planet several times in 2024. He spends many, many months a year living out of hotels, and travels the world “with only carry - on luggage, headphones and a custom pillow” to help with sleep on long - haul flights.But the Brazilian still loves to party.Even years after breaking out onto the world stage, the allure of a late - night carry - on is something he cannot resist, but there is always a motive beyond pure pleasure.

“It’s a pressure I put on myself,” he says. “I love to play new music, to test new music, to learn.” So rather than retire to his hotel room, he can often be found doing marathon sets that sometimes reach into double-digit hours. He admits with a wry grin that he will always “find it hard to say no” to almost any invitation to play. Partly because of that, it has taken a week to get him on Zoom. In that time he has played to 10,000 people at Docklands Festival in Germany, soundtracked a rave in an ancient Roman quarry in Croatia (then did the afters, of course) and commandeered the first three-hour set of his season-long residency at Hï Ibiza.

He is staying on the island for summer, high up in the hills in a traditional white Ibizan villa with uninterrupted sea views.There's some bohemian furniture out on the terrace next to a deep-blue plunge pool, sun loungers, a carved wooden Buddha and a stone statue of a dog. Last night...