Over the last few months, one producer that has continued to impress us with both his original releases as well as his bootlegs and remixes has been Southern California native DSCO. After a bout as half of the duo No Body, DSCO has now branched off on his own and is headed in a new direction. His debut DSCO EP on Techibeats Records was hot on Beatport’s top releases for quite some time and he’s now cemented himself among our top artists to watch in 2013. Recently, he’s been branching out and working with a whole bunch of new sounds so there is no telling what he has in store for us in the upcoming months. Check out the interview below to get to know him, as well as some of his latest heaters.
Your EDM: How did the name DSCO originate?
DSCO: Funny story actually. When I was a wee lad growing up, my mom would always clean the house with a boom box blasting classic 70s jams, from Donna Summer to KC & The Sunshine Band, to The Bee Gees. I would immediately gravitate closer to the boom box, enjoying the wonderful dance inspired grooves that emitted from the cassette player. Fast forward 10 or so years to my community college days, I was looking for a DJ alias and truth be told, my eyes locked on to a 70s music cd compilation my mother had just given me for my 18th birthday. It read, “Disco Fever”. I took out the I and capitalized all the letters. It instantly clicked and the rest is history.
Your EDM: You used to be into blogging before you were into producing, how did that transition take place?
DSCO: First, let me explain how I got into blogging in the first place. Ever since listening to Daft Punk’s Around The World in grade school, I immediately grew fonder of 4×4 beats. So my love for edm started rather early and continued to strengthen through the years. I became obsessed with Tiesto’s Club Life my freshman year of high school. That led to me to discover blogs and different varities of electronic music like electro house and fidget. And since I was a decent writer and I liked to share music with others, it seemed like an obvious direction for me to take.
Now the transition from blogger to producer occurred quite naturally. After 2 years of blogging basically everyday, I thought it would be worth a shot to try and make some 4×4 music myself. It was painful at first because to a newbie, Ableton is a monster of possibilities that you have to wrestle into submission just to get a simple beat going. As time went on, I became more comfortable producing then I did blogging. Looking back now, a lot of other bloggers made the same transition and I’m assuming for similar reasons. In a way, blogging helped shape my palette for electronic music, which ultimately helped create my sound with DSCO.
Your EDM: Speaking of producing, what is your DAW of choice?
DSCO: I gave it away in the last question, Ableton. It’s exactly what I need to make tunes all day long, from customization to its’ intuitive user interface. I would recommend it to anyone who aspires to make edm.
Your EDM: I know you are a big fan of W&W, what other artists are you into right now?
DSCO: I’m also a big fan of Mikkas, Orjan Nilsen, Jochen Miller. Basically, anyone that illustrates creativity and originality. Skrillex is a fucking mad man when it comes to producing, so you gotta give it up to him. TC makes rad tunes as well and he’s always pushing the genre boundaries with tracks like New Style and Do You Rock? And last but not least, I’m a superfan of Munchi. From his unlimited creativity to his resourcefullness, the dude is always on point, pioneering new genres and shattering the barriers between them. The way he carries himself in this industry is so admirable and inspiring, like for instance turning down $50K from Azelia Banks based on principal alone. Now that’s a man. I’ll be lucky if I even get half as talented as he is today, and will be tomorrow.
Your EDM: It seems like a lot of artists lately have been crossing over and working with different genres than we’re used to from them, and you yourself have been working with a lot of styles too, why do you think this is?
DSCO: It’s pretty simple really, producing one genre of edm can get kind of boring and stale. By attempting other genres, producers get out of their comfort zone and manufacture amazing new combinations of sounds that no one has ever heard before. Genres should only be used to organize the music we listen to, it shouldn’t be the rule we have to adhere to. My guess this will continue into the future and get even more wild ‘n’ crazy. And I’m way down with that.
Your EDM: How do you think growing up [in SoCal] got you into the scene?
DSCO: I was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Orange County. I think it definitely helped get me into the scene because for some reason, a lot of my close friends were open to edm and began exploring the culture. They started going to Insomniac events and reported back with raving (no pun intended) reviews. HARD events was just gaining traction, so my girlfriend and I began going to some of their events, having the time of our lives.
Your EDM: Are there any trends you want to see more of or less of in 2013?
DSCO: I wish Moombahton came back and became the presence it never was. I think that genre specifically has a lot of potential to crossover into Latin countries and completely change the club scene. Well produced Trap is sick. Big Room inspired Trance is awesome. Beautiful melodies and huge Electro House drops go incredibly well together. I would love to see more producers attempt the genre bending like W&W and Norin & Rad.
Your EDM: If you could give yourself from 1 year ago a bit of advice, what would it be?
DSCO: Be patient mate, everything happens for a reason. Be true to yourself and what you believe to be true. Nothing and no one can ever hurt you. Make mistakes. Be humble. Stay humble.
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