Danilo Plessow, the artist formerly known as Motor City Drum Ensemble, is a man who hardly needs an introduction. He is a DJ renowned for his technical wizardry behind the turntables, and a record-collecting nerd with a curiosity for exploring new sounds and genres. His career started whilst he was incredibly young: he started playing drums at the age of six and discovered his love for jazz in the school big band. By the time he turned 11, he was already working on his own original productions using a computer and samples. Jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop and house influences culminated in a first release in 2000, at a time when he had already started building his record collection and playing gigs as a DJ, aged just 16. Since then he has built a vast catalog, with own releases (most notably his Raw Cuts series), remixes (from Caribou to Tony Allen, and John Beltran), and compilations (DJ Kicks and Selectors), as well as playing clubs around the world. His latest focus has been on producing live music for his new label, Space Grapes, which has developed a cult-like following. For this week’s XLR8R podcast, Plessow has delivered a recording of one of his favorite sets of the year, at Nuits Sonores in Lyon. He had just gotten back from a tour in the US and Mexico where he found lots of great records that he was dying to play. “I started with a couple of mostly African disco Records before going into more electronic stuff,” he says.

01. What have you been up to recently?
I had a nice run of shows in those last weeks of summer, and I also got to chill and recharge my batteries a little bit in Italy between shows, so that was great. Now I am back in the studio and mixing the next couple of releases for Space Grapes, my label.

02. What have you been listening to?
The most inspiring set was hearing Ron Trent at Klymax in Bali earlier this year. In a time where a big part of the scene feels like a contest for higher BPMs and energy levels in general, it felt like going to church to hear such a subtle and profoundly spiritual approach to house music from one of the masters. From a DJ side of things, I really enjoyed the compilation from Nick the Record and John Gomez as well as Jeremy Underground’s new compilations. And I loved the Musclecars album.

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
It’s a live recording of one of my favorite shows of the year, a closing set I played for Nuits Sonores Festival in Lyon back in May. It’s one of the best and longest running electronic music festivals in France, and I felt right at home on this stage, playing after one of the best live shows I heard in forever, from Ebo Taylor’s Band. They were incredible!

04. What setup did you use?
Two Technics 1210s, two CDJs, E&S DJR400 mixer. The recording was a bit too hot on my recorder, but it has its charm, a bit like those old bootleg cassettes of DJ sets from the ’90s. I hope the fun still comes across!

05. Where do you imagine it being listened to?
That’s totally up to whatever works for you. Personally I always loved listening to DJ sets on a long car ride.

06. What’s next on your horizon?
Touring doesn’t stop and I’m really looking forward to going back to Brazil, Thailand, and Japan as well as finally making my South Korea debut in December! Other than that, a new remix for John Beltran just dropped on Oath records.

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