Miguel Migs stands at the forefront of electronic music's soulful realm. Whether tackling his original productions or remixes, he achieves an organic-soulful sound by combining the best of both the electronic music world and live instrumentation.
For many years, Miguel's productions have been included on countless compilations and his records have slid into the crates of top DJs across the globe. His music has also landed on numerous TV Shows, including Six Feet Under, Sex in the City, and MTV's Road Rules and Real World.
Contrary to many of his club-centric DJ/producer peers, Miguel is not always concerned with the potential dance floor appeal of his soulful tracks. "It's music you can enjoy and listen to at home, in the club, or anywhere. Not necessarily just to rock the dance floor." explains the Northern California native, who grew up with a true love of reggae, soul, classic rock, jazz, hip-hop and just about everything else.
His impressive discography includes more than 100 original productions and remixes on seminal independent labels such as Salted Music, Naked Music, Astrelwerks, Yoshitoshi, NRK, Black Vinyl, Large, Chez, Transport recordings, Om Records, Defected Records and many others. His recordings have consistently made waves in the underground circuit and have landed on DJ hype charts internationally. He goes highly regarded when it comes to remixes, having worked with major label artists such as Macy Gray, Lionel Ritchie and Britney Spears. Miguel additionally has released numerous mix CD compilations on labels including Defected, Naked Music, Southport Weekender and NRK.
Never one to sit still, Migs started his own label Salted Music in 2004. Having been associated with an extensive number of labels throughout his career, he came to realize a desire to have his own base, a vehicle for building his own catalogue of quality material. Salted Music is a foundation for Migs to choose and release music that inspires him, as well as release his own productions and compilations.
A musician at heart, Miguel's professional career started at age 18 as songwriter and lead guitarist for Santa Cruz local dub band Zion Sounds, whose Jamaican and African rhythms earned them gigs with globally known reggae outfits Culture and Burning Spear among others. After the disbanding of Zion Sounds in the mid 1990's, rather than form a new band, Miguel put his focus and creative energy into experimenting with the production of electronic music.
As a producer, Miguel realizes a strong connection between his electronic music productions and live musical background. He writes his own lyrics and plays his own instruments, be it guitar, bass, percussion or keyboard.
As a DJ, Miguel maintains the same approach to his sets as to his productions, combining a variety of influences and styles fused together. The result is funky, deep, soulful, bumping house music. "I like to mix it up and keep it moving smoothly, taking the dance floor through a very spontaneous mix into the realms of quality, deep house music depending on the mood in the room", says Migs. "But, whether it's vocal, tracky, dubby, moody, percussive or broken beat, the sound always remains soulful and funky.
March 2007 saw the release of 'THOSE THINGS', Miguel's sophomore album released on his very own Salted Music imprint. "Those Things represents an open-minded musical spectrum that can have multi-meaning and definition combining forward thinking electronic music elements with live instrumentation inspired by old soul, funk, reggae, jazz, rock and hip-hop,” states San Francisco-based Migs about his follow-up to his 2002 debut album ‘Colorful You’ (Astralwerks/Naked Music). ). The album received massive acclaim and support worldwide and features Sadat X from 'Brand Nubian', Lisa Shaw, LT, Fred Ross from the legendary 'Family Stone', reggae heavy weight Junior Reid, and Tim Fuller.
2007 also saw Miguel launch his eight piece live band "Petalpusher" which fuses electronic inspirations with organic musical elements. The band consists of eight top notch musicians, who have worked with the likes of Prince, Spearhead, and Tower of Power. Lisa Shaw and Tim Fuller are on lead vocals. It is a unique and diverse blend of old school funk, soul and current dance rhythms that result into a unique and intoxicating live experience. With an arsenal of material to choose from, the band has been focusing on performing new and old songs from Miguel and Lisa’s extensive catalogue. The band played the Virgin Festival in Baltimore in 2007, the San Jose Jazz Festival as well as all the major cities in North America with resounding success. A work still in progress with much more in store so look out.
Miguel can be found regularly traveling the globe as one of the industries top-leading DJs, as well as at home in the studio writing and creating music, which is his main love and passion. "It's all about the balance between the touring and traveling, studio work and everything else in life." Miguel says, " Music has no boundaries and I get inspired by everything around me." Migs certainly draws no limits to his artistry.