Dee Montero, The Belfast-born house-head, has gone from listening to mix-tapes and digging in vinyl crates to becoming a global music selector – supported by some of the industry’s biggest players from Lee Burridge, and Behrouz, to Tale of Us.
At the end of 2017, he received his biggest accolade yet: Pete Tong’s Essen-tial Tune of The Year on BBC Radio One, for the string-fueled, epic end-of-nighter ‘Halcyon’, which was released on Solomun’s acclaimed Diynamic imprint.
Dee has also performed several times at Burning Man for Robot Heart, and Carl Cox’s Playground stage, along with massive gigs at Hï with Joris Voorn and Nic Fanciulli in Ibiza.
With releases on quality labels such as All Day I Dream, Ajunadeep, and Knee Deep in Sound, the ‘Halcyon’ days are here, and Dee is just getting started.
Balance Selections Q+A
Name: Dee Montero
Location: United Kingdom
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deemontero
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/deemontero
Labels affiliated with: Diynamic, All Day I Dream, Tale & Tone, Anjunadeep, Knee Deep In Sound, Radiant, Selador, Stereo, Saved
My last 3 releases:
Dee Montero – Lakota [Tale & Tone]
Dee Montero – Carousel [Radiant]
Dee Montero – Azure [Knee Deep In Sound]
What music did you listen too as a child?
I grew up in the 80’s as a kid, so it was mostly synth pop stuff like Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, and Jan Hammer. I remember recording songs off the Top 40 chart countdown on Sundays, and making my own compilations on cassette tape for my Sony Walkman.
When was the first time that you realized that you liked electronic music?
Apart from being into the 80’s synth music the first proper dance/house track I heard was M.A.A.R.S – Pump Up The Volume at the school disco around 1988. It sounded out of this world at the time, so I’d say that was my first introduction to dance music.
When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?
In the early 90’s I went to the local Ice Bowl raves in Belfast, where the local DJ would play the big tunes at the time like The Prodigy, Shamen, and KLF. That got me obsessed with mixing records so I started buying vinyl on labels like R&S, Rising High, and DFC. I saved up enough money to buy my own set of Technics 1210’s around ’93, and I’ve been DJing ever since.
Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?
I’ve quite an eclectic taste, so I get inspiration from all kinds but off the top of my head Vangelis, Lindstrom, BT, Joe Clausell, Carl Craig, Patrick O’Hearn, Tom Middleton, Bonobo, Nils Fram, Paul Woolford, Todd Terje, Kink, Christian Prommer, Jimpster, Henrik Schwarz, to name a few .
What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?
I recently just bought the vinyl albums from O’Flynn – Aletheia, and Psychmagik – I Feel How This Night Should Look
What is your current production and DJ set up like?
I work mostly with samples, and soft synths so keep things to a minimum equipment wise but I’ve some hardware including Moog Sub37, Korg Triton, R3, and MicroKorg, plus a few Roland machines. I like to combine sampled organic sounds, with electronic to give my productions a “realness”, personally I don’t think it’s necessary to have all the latest synths even though it is tempting.
What releases do you have on the horizon?
I’ve collaborated with Newman on a track called ‘Shadows’, which is coming out end of January on All Day I Dream, and I’ve just finished a remix for Nohan on Radiant, which I’ve included on this mix. I’m launching my own label in 2020, which will have a strong visual element to it. The first release is ‘Sapphire’ feat. Shahin Badar who sang on Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’.
Where can we hear you perform?
I have my first Australia tour in January, starting in Melbourne on the 17th at Glamorama, Sydney 18th at Civic Underground, and Brisbane 19th at Sub Rosa, so I’m looking forward to my down-under debut!
Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?
I went much deeper than my usual sets with a range of genres rather than pigeon hole myself. It’s a slowly paced mix starting with sunset balearic style tracks from Shanti Celeste, and O’Flynn building into deep house, afro, and progressive, then ending with more tripped out electronica. There’s a few re-edits and remixes in there from me but I wanted to include other artists and producers rather than being too self indulgent
My Recommendations
The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:
Bjork – All Is Full Of Love (Dee Montero Re-edit)
If I could recommend only one of my tracks for you to listen to it would be:
Dee Montero – Halcyon
If I could recommend only one track for you to listen to it would be:
Four Tet – Anna Painting
The last movie I watched that I really liked:
The Irishman
My favourite TV show:
Mad Men
Balance Selections 114: Dee Montero
Tracklisting:
1. Shanti Celeste – Sun Notification
2. O’Flynn – Neptune
3. Sasha Carassi – Sigh (Sunset At Experimental Beach Mix)
4. Matt Masters – Once Again (Original Mix)
5. Wolf Story – Between the World and Me (Original Mix)
6. Pablo Bolivar, Squire – The Leftovers (Original Mix)
7. David Hasert, BONDI, Francesco Mami – Desert Hearts
8. DkA, Jon Mosto – Mandolina
9. Jeremy Olander – First Sights (Original Mix)
10. 1979 – Lock 33 (Original Mix)
11. Eva Be – Delight (Ian Pooley Remix)
12. El Mundo, Zazou – What’s It Gonna Be (Original Mix)
13. Nohan – Unexplainable (Dee Montero Remix)
14. Cerrone – The Impact (Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas Remix)
15. Frankey, Sandrino – Naos
16. Salt Tank – Sargasso Sea (Dee Montero Rendition)
17. Special Request – Offworld Memory 3
18. Max Cooper – Volition feat. Wilderthorn (Robag Wruhme’s Botnax Caal Remix)
19. Rao (US) – Sprinkles (Original Mix)
