Miami born, Berlin based Danny Daze (real name Daniel Gomez) has been on top of his game recently, slotted for a slew of gigs here in Ibiza over the summer. Daze has seen a string of successful releases and a spot on Maceo Plex and Alta’s Ellum Audio roster, where he’s championed raw, techno funk tracks like “Shake It Mama” as one half of Jupiter Jazz (alongside label boss Maceo Plex), and moody, edgy, dubbed out hits like “The Calm,” leading to high praise among many of the industry’s elite, gigs around the world, and most recently, an Essential Mix.
In order to find out more of what makes Danny tick, and get a closer understanding of his wide range of musical influences, we asked about the five records he feels define him most & those special pieces of music he still can't live without.
Joe Arroyo - Rebellion
"Embedded into my brain. At least once a week I hum this trumpet melody. Joe Arroyo, El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico, Celia Cruz, Hansel y Raul playing consistently at my house. Salsa & Merengue are the first types of music I really ever heard. Still remember running around my house at five years old playing the cowbell."
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Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F
"This is the one that started it all for me on the electronic tip. First time ever realizing I was listening to "electronic music" was in the opening credits of Beverly Hills Cop. From here I discovered people would break dance to this music and opened up a whole new world to me. The movies “Breakin'” and "Electric Boogaloo" became my next hook."
I-F - I Do Because I Couldn't Care less
"First time I heard this track I asked myself "why does it sound like it was mixed down by a 4 year old?" Then I noticed that’s exactly how its supposed to be. The notion that music needed to be clean and perfect flew out the window. I really started to appreciate nuances in music and this has really helped me out with both production and DJ sets."
Tones On Tail – Go!
"I was never really into bands for some reason…whatsoever. If it didn't have an electronic drum, I just wasn't into it. I never noticed that about myself until one of my friends at summer camp called me an idiot and showed me this track on his Walkman. I immediately wanted to listen to it again. I credit this song for opening up my mind when it comes to music in general. To this day I play this track as the last track of the night in my DJ sets at times."
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Biggie Smalls feat. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Notorious Thugs
"First thing that comes to mind with this song is the fact I'd go to my best friends house every single day in order to listen to it. I couldn't find the CD because it sold out in a matter of seconds, and the only one they had was the clean version. I wasn't down with that! I think this might have been my first massive obsession with a song, trying to learn every single lyric on it. Still consider this one of the best hip-hop tracks of all time. Crazy part is, I'm more of a 2Pac kinda dude."
Danny Daze plays dirtybird at Sankeys Ibiza this Thursday 25 July, followed by Carnival Cities at Sankeys Ibiza co-presented by AIR (Amsterdam) on 3 August.