The DJ List

Thomas Zweifel

MIGUEL MIGS

RANK	SCORE ?	GENRE	LOCATION
170	1,086	House	San Francisco, US

At the forefront of dance music's deeper realm stands Miguel Migs personifying the chilled-out, soul-driven vibe of the Naked Music concept. Combining the best of both the electronic music world, with live instrumentation to create an organic-soulful sound to his original productions and remixes.

His remix of the Naked music single, "If I Fall", was the smooth, groove-infected track that first intertwined Miguel and Naked Music. His productions have been found slipping their way onto numerous compilations and sliding into the record bags of top deep house DJs across the globe. Miguel has since found himself on the remixer A-list of dance music's top record labels and producers.

Contrary to many of his club-o-centric DJ/producer peers, Miguel is unabashedly not always concerned with the potential dance floor appeal of his soulful, uplifting tracks. "It's music you can enjoy and listen to at home or in the club, not necessarily just to rock the dance floor at its peak," explains the Northern California native, who grew up with a true love of reggae, soul, classic rock, R&B, jazz, punk and hip-hop.

In the past few years alone, Miguel has quietly put out more than 90 quality, original cuts and remixes on seminal independent labels like Naked Music, Yoshitoshi, NRK, Black Vinyl, Large, Chez, and Transport. All of which have made waves in the underground circuit and hit DJ hype charts of international media. Not to mention his remixes for major label artists like Macey Gray, Lionel Ritchie and Brittany Spears.

A musician at heart, Miguels professional career started at age 18 as songwriter and lead guitarist for Santa Cruz local dub band Zion Sounds, whose Jamaican and African rhythms earned them gigs with globally known reggae outfits Culture and Burning Spear among others. The band parted in the mid 90's due to personal differences. Miguel then put his focus and creative energy into experimenting with the production of electronic music.

Conveniently, Miguel was situated just two hours away from North American club-love mecca San Francisco, in whose arms he discovered an intense musical passion that he could express alone in a studio: the feeling of house, and electronic music. "I was instantly hooked on the sounds of deep, soulful house music from the first time I heard it in the early 90's", explains Migs. "It was a beautiful feeling I got from the music, a very positive inspiration".

As a producer, Miguel perceives a strong connection between his house productions and reggae roots. Reflecting on his live musical background, he writes his own lyrics and plays his own instruments, be it guitar, bass, percussion or keyboard.

As a DJ Miguel maintains the same elements to his sets, as to his productions. Combining a variety of influences and styles fused together. Funky, Deep, soulful, bumping house music. "I like to mix it up and keep it moving, taking the crowd on a very spontaneous journey into the realms of quality, deep house music depending on the mood in the room", says Migs. "But, whether it's vocal, tracky, dubby, moody, percussive, broken beat or whatever, it just has to be very soulful, and funky with emotional content."

Miguel currently can be found regularly travelling the globe as one of the industries top-leading DJ's, as well as at home in the studio creating music, which is his main love and passion. "It's all about the balance between the traveling, studio and everything else in life", says Migs, "music has no limits or boundries and I get inspired by everything around me!"…… Nuff said!

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