In terms of getting yourself noticed as a nascent producer you could definitely do a lot worse than getting your music signed by Detroit’s militant house defender Kenny Dixon Jnr., guaranteeing attention from his co-sign and thus cutting out the infinite promotional circus that young producers feel compelled to undertake in this era of content overload and attention burn out.
That said it’s no easy feat and a combination of opportunity and conviction led to London-based Dan putting himself in Kenny’s path and riding the unlikely moment.
This dream-like scenario actually occurred backstage at last year’s Dimensions festival, with Dan having dropped out of university in favour of a music industry job, which took him there for work and play, or so the legend now goes; fast forward 7 months and Dan’s debut release is sitting pretty on record store shelves baring the Mahogani insignia, offering up two of those tracks that pricked up the Moody one’s ears. (was sitting pretty – it’s now sold out virtually everywhere!).
Dan Shake’s perceptible range of influence might seem obvious on listening to the loopy euphoria of 3 AM Jazz Club and its flipside, the deep and brooding Thinking, with predictable comparisons to his label boss as well as Motor City Drum Ensemble, Soulphiction, and beloved UK polymath Floating Points, however it shouldn’t be overlooked that Dan is a tender 21 years of age – if these are the precarious baby steps of his development he might just blow us away when he’s up and jogging with the big boys.