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Mar 16, 05
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Danny Howells - Global Underground 027: Miami, 2xCD
 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Miami. This is the first Global Underground album proper for Danny Howells, who has already released a Nu-Breed and a 24/7 mix for the label. The 34 year old from Hastings in Sussex first became known as a warm-up DJ for John Digweed's Bedrock club. Three New York residencies, a tireless international touring schedule, and a way of combining cutting edge grooves with crowd pleasing dynamics have changed all that: he's now one of the hottest DJs in the world. Danny Howells is a DJ with a broad musical taste – he loves the Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, and James Brown, and collects archive rock n' roll and funk footage from all over the world. "There’s not a lot I don’t listen to" he says. Consequently he's confident enough – as this mix amply demonstrates - to champion his own special tracks, records nobody else has latched on to. "I tend to distance myself from tunes that are associated with other people. You are trying to find your own all the time" he says. If you want to break it down, CD2 of this mix is what Danny played in the main room at Space in downtown Miami in the early hours of a Sunday morning back in October, and CD1 is what he played out on the Terrace when the sun had come up. This first CD is not so much a warm-up as the soundtrack to a party that really gets going at eight o'clock in the morning - a deliciously groovy blend of oddball disco, spacey grooves and toasty deep house. "It's sunny, warmer, sexy – a bit funkier as well" says Danny. He singles out the balmy deep house of Mimosa's 'End Of Me'. "It really sums up how I interpret the terrace at Space. A pure sunshine track, really beautiful." There are two such forgotten classics on this CD. Tantra's 'Hills Of Kathmandu' is a brilliantly camp, Italian disco wig-out from 1979 that mashes jiggling guitars with heavily percussive breaks and robotic basslines. Legendarily rare amongst DJs, it took Danny seven years to find a copy. He first heard a DJ called Steve Proctor play it in 1991. "It was a really big influence when I started DJing" he says. "One of those things that blows your mind." "I love being in Miami. I find it quite a surreal place" continues Danny. "I'm always drawn to places that have a darker undercurrent. Scratch the surface of Miami and there's something a lot more twisted there, and I'm quite into that." Like Miami, Danny's got a lot of colourful character – one reason he chose the city (the other being all the great nights he's had during the Winter Music Conference). They love him there. He doesn't look or behave or even think like a normal DJ. There's the eyeliner, for one thing – and a passing resemblance to Keith Richards in his stylishly dishevelled glamour. "The whole moody DJ in a record company T-shirt standing there is a bit dull" he laughs. "If somebody wants to get the make-up out or go a bit crazy with the hair, I'm bang up for that." Disk 1
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