Jay Daniel

Within his first few years of DJ'ing and releasing music, Jay Daniel became one of the most buzzed-about figures in the Detroit techno scene, thanks to his energetic DJ sets as well as his stripped-down yet funky tracks. The son of house vocalist Naomi Daniel (who released two Carl Craig-produced tracks in the early '90s, "Stars" and "Feel the Fire"), Jay first became known for co-founding Fundamentals, a monthly Detroit house event, along with fellow wunderkind Kyle Hall. The duo tag-teamed at Movement (Detroit's annual electronic music festival) in 2012, and they threw Fundamentals events in Chicago, San Francisco, and eventually in Europe. Daniel first began releasing gritty yet reflective house tracks in 2013, debuting on Theo Parrish's Sound Signature label with the Scorpio Rising EP. In early 2014, Hall's Wild Oats released Daniel's double EP Karmatic Equations. Daniel remixed Four Tet's "Aerial" and collaborated with FunkinEven (Steven Julien) on the "Discipline" 12", issued by Apron Records. His 2015 12" School Dance was the debut release on his own Watusi High label. In 2016, Daniel made his full-length debut with Broken Knowz, which appeared on Ninja Tune's Technicolour imprint. The album had more of a fleshed-out, jazzy feel than Daniel's prior releases, and the tracks were built from his own drumming. ~ Paul Simpson