“What got you interested in electronic music?” seems to get asked a lot, and there is always one very cogent and concise answer. “Homework”, I reply. For if it were not for an unknown outfit from France named Daft Punk, and their “new” album entitled “Homework”, my musical future would never have been realized.
I have been DJing for almost a decade now, and over the years my sound has always had an affinity for the techier side of the things. While current techno has been polarized by European influence, I have been trying to push all of the freshest, most innovative music available – and the response has been extremely enthusiastic. My goal, when I started DJing, was to evolve as an artist that works creatively with respect to programming. Light-speed innovations in music technology have brought all kinds of music closer to what can be considered “mainstream”, which has been a blessing as well as a challenge. I’m still a huge fan of digging through the crates for vinyl, and finding obscure records that nobody else is playing at the moment. You won’t find many “new this week” tracklistings or mixes with only old obscure stuff on them. I love music, no matter when it was made, and I try to mix old and new as I enjoy the challenge it brings to programming sets. Throughout my career, I have been able to meld my love for house, techno, and electro into an experience that has caught the eyes and ears of many contemporary DJ’s, clubgoers, and listeners worldwide.
Within the last few years, I have had the good fortune of traveling as an international DJ, and have met some amazing, like-minded people along the way. Through these travels, I’ve been both the opening DJ as well as the headliner, and appreciate the subtleties of both positions intensely. Production work has taken a serious step into the forefront of my musical life. Over the past couple of years, I have secure record deals with some domestic as well as foreign labels such as Gourmet Recordings and Tic Tac Toe.
I am also co-owner of Siteholder Records, the brainchild of Chicago natives Billy Dalesandro, Daniel Mnookin, and myself. Residing in the city that gave house music its name, Siteholder strives to combine the various elements of modern techno with the jackin’ rhythms that put their hometown on the electronic music map. Siteholder has very quickly established itself as one of the most respected US techno labels in the world. As Sven Vath put it so eloquently, “Siteholder is putting Chicago back on the map”. The label has garnered some serious exposure, getting continuous support from techno giants Adam Beyer and Sven Vath.