inthemix | International News | Danny Tenaglia embraces minimal

Danny Tenaglia chatted to Skrufff this week about his new Renaissance compilation Futurism and rejected the suggestion that he’s nowadays ‘Danny Tenaglia’ – the brand. “I’m too connected to other people’s music to think that way: I’m primarily a curator of sounds,” the New York veteran insisted. “If I am a brand, I hope my dominant value is diversity.” The US star remains best known for spinning ridiculously long, predominantly tribal house sets, though pointedly refused to be pigeon-holed. “My values and my taste have always been consistent,” he stressed. “From the time I was a kid listening to Philly soul, to all of this crazy minimal stuff I’m absolutely loving now,” he said.

He also pointed out that his heroes remain electronic music pioneers from the 70s and 80s, with innovation a key component of the artists he’s admired. “I try to tell people, they say, ‘Danny, you play a lot of techno.’ And I say, ‘If you think of the word techno, it’s just short for technology’,” he said. “What was Kraftwerk doing? What was Larry Levan doing up in the (Paradise Garage) booth, with a reel to reel and reverb and all that stuff he used to do with the sound, with Richard Long on sound? They were being experimental with the sound system itself. And Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, Yello have always inspired me since the late ‘70s.”

Danny Tenaglia Futurism is out now on Renaissance.