DANNY HOWELLS

Jun 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Ricardo Baca

Danny Howells worships his records almost as much as he loves his coffee, which he takes iced, and his tequila, of which he prefers Patron. Clutching and sipping on his empty iced-coffee cup and nursing a modest hangover from the previous night, Howells heads to Twist & Shout Underground in Denver for a bit of a record-buying spree.

The intimate vinyl boutique is across the street from its larger sister CD shop and a few short blocks away from The Church nightclub, where Howells will be spinning later this night. But it's also only 45 minutes from world-class skiing and snowboarding in the Colorado Rockies, something Howells no doubt takes advantage of on his extended stay in Denver.

Or not. “No, I've never been snowboarding,” he says, flipping through old Pink Floyd records with expert precision and keen interest. “No matter how long I'm here, it's always sleep, shag and club.”

The indulgent DJ mantra makes sense, especially given how difficult it is to stay abreast of new music when Howells is stateside. “It's really hard keeping on top of everything, especially because I'm not the biggest trainspotter,” Howells says. “I'm really bad at remembering labels and the names of artists and producers, so a lot of things just pass me by a lot of the time. That's the great thing about traveling: You get to see a lot of different stores, and all the people tend to give you advice and tips.”

When Howells is home in the coastal town of Hastings, England, just south of London, his closest and most relied-upon resource is Oxford's Massive Records and its legendary owner, Joanna Massive. “Joanna is really good — she's the best,” he says. “I've been with her for years — I've been buying stuff from her for god knows how many years — and, now, she really knows my tastes, and we speak every week or maybe even twice a week. Even if I'm traveling, she arranges to get me the new stuff over here in the states. But if I'm home, I get all the new releases from her, and she knows just what I'll like — the ambient stuff, the downtempo, drum 'n' bass, the hip-hop bit, the house, the techno, the deep house — and we go through all the new releases together.”

Howells relies on stamina for everything he does, be it crate digging for eight straight hours or throwing down a 10-hour set in New York or Montreal. The key to the long sets for which he's become well known is Red Bull sans the vodka; PowerBars; and a lead-up that involves quality food, sleep and record organization. “Spin a 10-hour set, and there's space for everything,” Howells says, “even drum 'n' bass and maybe a few disco classics at the end.”

Talk about marathon-length sets, and it's impossible to not talk about Danny Tenaglia, whose name, of course, comes up. “Tenaglia has that absolute stamina, and he can go days on end and make it thoroughly interesting and manage to go through every style of music and go from Motown to Pink Floyd to some Latin track from the late '70s,” Howells says. “It's pretty amazing. I've seen him do 24 hours before, although I only caught the last 10 hours of it — yeah, only.”

Even though his new release, Global Underground #027: Miami (Global Underground, 2005), is making ripples in dance-music shops the world over, Howells is still concerned about an upcoming Miami gig. “I definitely am lacking that Latin-y vibe, and with Miami coming up, I'd like to make sure I have enough of that to keep them happy,” he says. After rocking a few records on the headphones alongside a packed midafternoon crowd at Twist & Shout Underground, he settles on a simple yellow-sleeved LP called “Latin Boogie” as the first record he will buy — and discuss.

2ND SHIFT FEAT. DIZ

“Latin Boogie” (Seasons)

A real cool, nice, sort of Terrace-y, percussive Latin groove with tripped-out vocals. The groove is really sweet, actually. I don't know what Seasons Recordings is, but we have quite a few things of theirs here in this stack. The B-side's a bit more pumped-up, just a really cool piano, Latin groove — really great for a Space Terrace gig. It's the perfect outdoor-sunshine track, one that might go over great with the ladies, as well.

JAKE CHILDS FEAT. AYANA MACK

“Someone Else (Matthew Bandy Deep Scuba Mix)” (Housetown)

It's lush, warm deep house — definitely lush — with a Naked vibe. There are vocals all over it. It's a nice warm-up or after-hours vibe. It's like a winding-down kind of track, when you've peaked and the people are ready for sunglasses when they leave the club.

COMMUNITY RECORDINGS

“Mountain Nights (Twilight Fidelity Dub)” (Totem)

It has a West Coast kind of vibe, and it's a bit dubby. It's got mad effects and stuff. It's got a real tripped-out dub on the B-side, as well. I've got some other things on this label — Totem, a Vancouver label — but I'm so bad with names and labels that I don't re-member who they are.

SLATER HOGAN & JOHN LARNER

“Caught Out (Original and Phil Weeks Mixes)” (Hip Therapy)

This is Paul Woolford's label, and he's a UK DJ; he also records for different labels. I've got one of his tracks on the new mix CD. It's really funky, vocals in the pits, skippy drums — a really fun club track. And the Phil Weeks mix is even more funky.

ILK

EP (Part 3) (milehighhouse)

This is the main track, “Phase 2,” and it sounds wicked, actually. The other side is more downtempo, a dubbier version and a more driving 4/4 mix. Oh, wait a minute — it was the wrong speed. [Taps the rpm button.] I once accidentally bought a couple drum 'n' bass records and thought they were breakbeats. But this record, I like this record even more now that it's on the right speed. It gets the ol' thumbs-up.

KONK

The Sound of Konk (Tales of the New York Underground 1981 — 88) (Soul Jazz)

It reminds me of some of the stuff that came out on Z, a quite prolific label from the '80s. It's '80s, but it's also quite current in terms of what's coming out of New York right now. It's pop funk put through a filter that's definitely all about the '80s.

SIRUS

“An Eye for an Eye (Pete Heller Re-edit)” (NRK)

The original of this is absolutely awesome. We were just talking about those long sets, and the first time I heard this was the weekend Twilo closed down and Danny [Tenaglia] played this, and it was 10 o'clock at night, and it was like, “What the fuck is that?” So I'm excited to hear the re-edit. It's extended quite a bit. It's real tripped — a mellow groover, absolutely.

SUMO

“Santiago Boys (Remixes)” (Seasons)

It's a quite Naked-style, really funky, string-drenched, summertime house groove. This is the “Main Bounce.” It's a little bit noodly, though. And then it's a much more percussive mix on the B-side. It's another one for the girls. And you have to have these in the box to keep the ladies on the floor.

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Goth Goes Electro (Hypnotic)

This “Ladder Climber” track reminds me of the Pleasure Boys, although I have no idea what the original track is. [It was a take on Sisters of Mercy's “Lucretia My Reflection.” — Eds.] It's very strange, though. No idea what it is, but it's called Goth Goes Electro, so that sounds great. It reminds me of this track that came out on International DJ Gigolo Records, and it sounded like an old Siouxsie track, and I quite liked it. But this, I'm not sure about.

Twist & Shout Underground; 333 E. Alameda Ave., Denver, CO 80209; (303) 777-6252; information@twistandshout.com; www.twistandshout.com

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