“We just followed our instinct, our intuition,” Michael says. Upon asking about how it came to be, he finds himself a bit lost for words because of the organic nature.
Michael co-founded Understated with friends and fellow members of the LA community back in 2016. He played all over town and landed a coveted residency at Sound Nightclub as a pure DJ, also spinning at other notable venues and parties like Exchange, Minimal Effort, Day Trip, and his own parties through Understated. “I know once I play, I’m going to shut it down because I really unlocked that creative freedom in my brain,” he says.įrom there all it took was the grind to make things happen for himself and the LA community. That archival knowledge of the craft gave Michael complete confidence in his skills behind the decks. I learned the roots of it, and that to me is what unlocked that creative freedom.” I did so many different things and I really learned the history of it. “When I got into DJing and dance music and house music I just did my research,” Michael says. From blues to jazz to rock to funk to disco to techno and beyond. Michael then launches into a quickfire history lesson on the evolution of American popular music. This idea is his guiding light on the decks, which is why when people ask what genre he plays, he doesn’t know the answer.
DJing unlocks the creative freedom to demonstrate that connection in the moment. In his opinion, DJing requires a different talent, and different kind of musical knowledge a knowledge based on the connectivity between all genres of music. He discusses the pure DJs who don’t produce and the derision he feels because people who champion the art form aren’t celebrated the way producers are. Anyone could talk to him about it and know that he belongs on the decks without ever seeing him play
When the conversation hinges towards DJing, a passion lights up in Michael’s eyes. I’m such a music head in general and I want to express that. “I love all these different types of music. “ I can bend music genres to my will and also present them in ways that I can show that they’re linked together,” Michael says. With an appreciation and growing reverence for those different styles feeding into Michael’s existing affinity for hip hop, rock, soul, and funk, DJing was the most natural conclusion to express his eclectic taste in a tangible way. It opened up a whole new realm and added to his already widespread appreciation of dance music. As soon as he walked into the festival, he heard both drum and bass and dubstep for the first time. Michael also went to his first EDC Los Angeles in 2008.
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