Buenos Aires. Rio. These are party towns known the world over, but House Music in South America has always been slower to catch on.

Enter Jay West (aka Pablo Sabetta) (facebook, myspace, soundcloud, discogs, label), the tireless one man promotion, production and DJ machine pushing House Music in funky new directions. From his base in "Candy Town" Argentina, Jay has produced some of the best underground House of the last decade - under his own name, on his Candy Music imprint and perhaps best known of all, the funky House project with Christian Malloni, the Candy Dealers.

One day I started hearing these delicious cut-up tracks from this guy named Jay West and pretty soon you were everywhere. Can you tell me about your musical background?

Well, I started playing guitar as a kid and then moved to the keyboards. I had a couple of bands back in Argentina as a singer, songwriter and key player. I've always been a big music collector so I started buying some House and disco records while living in Spain at age 18, and when I got back home started spinning at some pool parties and everything grew from there.

House Music production came later but I already had the musical training for it so it was a good foundation to start.

I'm curious about your aliases - where did "Jay West" come from?

I wish I had a good story for my Jay West alias, but it just came out from juggling names and influences. I always loved the West Coast House percussive vibe and the name seemed like a catchy and easy to remember option. I still get people booking flights on that name!

And the use of "Candy" - as in your group The Candy Dealers, and your MySpace refers to your location as "Candy Town, Argentina"?

We came up with The Candy Dealers since Christian Malloni (the other half of the project) was actually working delivering and distributing candy to stores when we started it! Then my Candy Music label came after that, also relating to my first label, Flavor... All references to candy are welcome since I've got the biggest sweet tooth of all!

Argentina experienced a financial meltdown similar in impact to what happened to the rest of the world a few years later. How did that effect the nightlife scene there? and did it change what you were doing?

The worst crisis in Argentina happened in 2001. I had to move to Spain to find a job when really young... We've been suffering the consequences since then. Nightlife remains thriving, though: people always go out and parties are awesome. I really enjoy playing back home. The fact that the country faced so many difficulties built our character. Of course making it into the scene being so far away took a lot of effort but it's been a very enjoyable trip.

So tell me about the scene in Candy Land. Maybe we know of you, and DJ Meme, and a few well-known clubs but very little of the scene in Argentina or South America in general.

As far as the record industry goes, we are far behind. Radio doesn't play a lot of underground music in Argentina and it makes it hard to reach the average public.

People are very open-minded and usually well-informed about what happens all over the world. Sadly House Music is yet to be developed... We are doing our best!

But it's good to be able to play the big clubs amongst the more mainstream-sounding artists since that brings in a lot of new people into deep and underground House.

Creamfields Buenos Aires brings in like 50,000 people. Can you tell me about that experience of DJing in front of such a huge audience?

Its one of the most expected gigs of the year. I play a lot of festivals but Creamfields in Buenos Aires is usually THE event. Lots and lots of people dancing outdoors, sun going down to House Music... You just gotta love it!

What producers had an impact on your distinctive style? Who's that one guy you can never get enough of (or "guys" if that's changed over the years)?

Well, I always like to think that every song I ever heard influenced me, mostly disco and funk...And House Music allows you to work those influences into a 4/4 beat.

I always admired the consistency of Inland Knights, and was a big fan of the whole Tango/Siesta crew from the West Coast and 2020 Vision as well. There's really too many artists to mention since I'm always trying to keep my sets varied. I always tried to develop my own sound without taking in too many House Music influences in favor of more disco, funk, rock and pop.

I think you probably release more new music on vinyl than just about any artist I've interviewed lately. Do you still play it on a standard turntable at your gigs?

I'm a vinyl junkie, and still buy vinyl whenever I can, but I'm touring with just CDs lately - makes it a lot easier. I will never give up collecting vinyl though - I just love the smell and the sound too much!

I'm pretty sure some labels or artists arch an eyebrow at how many of your releases we've been reviewing lately. The truth is you're just on an incredible roll. What else can we look for from you, from your various projects and from your labels in the last half of 2010?

Definitely a lot more coming! A new single featuring Morrisson with awesome remixes on Myna, EPs for Salted Music, Open Bar and So Sound, a lot of remixes, some new projects looking for a home as well as very exciting collaborations.

We also a great line-up of releases on Candy Music featuring really big names and some really talented newcomers. A lot of new tours as well, so keep your eyes (and ears) peeled!