Preferring to play vinyl and keep his moustache neat, sample turning Suol signed DJ Daniel Bortz is the enigmatic, ex-Augsburg resident scaling intense depths with his sinister sounds.
If you are lucky enough to be on the dance floor when Daniel Bortz is playing, expect to not stop moving for hours. Creating minimal trance sets vivaciously infused with 90′s German tech references, Bortz has owned the club scene for the past decade. His hooks, dips and builds are truly infectious. Exploring a plethora of techniques with his progressive noise constellations, Daniel keeps to a steady pulsing BPM which runs prominently through his tracks, forging an inimitable backbone to the signature Bortz sound. Into new wave, west coast hip-hop and disco, his tastes are wide and his fan-base vast.
i-D online tracked down the simple-minded but boldly ambitious Bavarian mac daddy to follow him for 24 hours whilst on his current tour of Brazil.
“After three hours of sleep my tour manager Sebastian and I meet up with our hosts Crash & Paulo from Techgrooves and head over to the airport of Curitiba. The last night at Club Vibe is a blast. Upon arriving in Rio our driver takes us up to the hill where our restaurant is located. On our way we are able to see just how amazing this city is; full of beautiful historical buildings next to modern structures. If you ever go to Brazil it’s a must to stop-over in Rio de Janeiro. Trust me. Flow & Zeo from Tropical-beats join us for a dinner of ‘Heart of Palms’ and caipirinhas at a restaurant that overlooks all of Rio. Good times.
Then we head over to club Noon, an open air location next to Rio de Janeiro University. I play an early set and the club fills up slowly. Thirty minutes before I need to end my set it’s packed out. I’m sad to leave Rio at 7pm to catch our flight to Porto Alegre. When we arrive, there’s a three hour car ride to Farroupilha, and the rains starts coming down very heavily. The party I am playing at is located at a farm on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. Due to the rain, the road to this location is so muddy that we get stuck in a traffic jam. Our driver has to tackle ramps in the road that only a jeep should survive. Luckily our driver has the skills of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher and we make it to the Colours Party in time.
After finishing my fourth set in three days we all just want to sleep so we leave the party right after the gig. We need to save some energy for my gig at Warung Beach Club the next night. Everybody in Brazil told us that the Beach club will be one of the best clubs we will ever experience and you know what?! They were sooo right!”
Catch Daniel in London this Saturday at Tief Pres
Text: Milly McMahon
