Contributing WriterROSA (US) aka Michael Rosa, is an Orlando-born, Denver-based DJ and producer with a sound rooted in house music. With impressive releases such as a full-length album on Deep Tech Records and a standout recent EP on Nervous Records, ROSA (US) has cemented his mark on the scene. We caught up with Michael as he preps for the releases of his upcoming EP, ‘A Time To Do Right’
Hey Michael! Great to chat to you, how’s life?
First, let me begin by expressing my appreciation for this opportunity to answer some questions about my upcoming Fast Lane release.
Life has been good, granting me much abundance as well as giving me more time to explore deeper into my career, as well as allowing me more time to focus on my productions.
Your latest release, ‘A Time To Do Right’, drops this month on Fast Lane. We’d love to know more about this record and why you decided to drop it on this imprint.
The release actually started off with ‘Oh’ Like That’ as the lead track. The idea stemmed from the time I was putting my album together last year. Only getting halfway into the track, i knew it was something I needed to put away until I was ready to revisit it. Also, it didn’t fit into the album as that was more of an introduction and debut to my ROSA (US) project, which is aimed towards a more developed sound that’s rooted in house music vs the more minimal-based sound I was releasing under Michael Rosa.
Really feeling the house roots on this release, lovely stuff. What production techniques/hardware do you tend to use?
I’m really happy to hear you’re appreciation for the vision and sound I’ve been moving towards, I’m glad you mentioned the sound being more rooted into house, as one of my main focuses on my productions is to keep the roots of house music going, but with my unique, futuristic twist on top.
That being said I’m a pretty simple man I don’t really need too much, other than my feelings and emotions to write music, I have an Elektron Analog 2, Komplete Kontrol and Ableton. I usually begin my process with a feeling or emotion and I begin fiddling with sounds samples and whatever pushes me closer to the frequency that resonates best with the emotion or feeling I am having in the moment, then the groove comes then so on and so forth.
Hipp-E provides a great remix on ‘Oh’ Like That’. Do you think remixes hold a certain importance to dance music, if so, why?
Remixes are important for all genres, as it shows the interpretation on a individuals vision, and that can influence growth, like, “damn I see what he or she did there” and adapt to their process. This also creates relationships with artist and mentors. I’ve been blessed by having two straight up legends and friends completely crush their take on my vision of house music.
Could you give our readers a deep-dive into Denver’s house scene? Are there any venues that stand out to you?
Denver has a strong electronic music scene, spread out by many genres mainly more bass music influence, that being said the house and techno scene does not thrive as much as it used to, as there is an ever growing gap in our generation. Some of the venues that currently stand out to me are Stay Tuned for their amazing void sound and small room concept; also, the guys at Zodiac House are doing things proper with their Danley Soundlabs rig and great aesthetics, VXN Den is a very unique venue aswell.
Who’s your top artist right now and why?
I don’t really have a top artist as I tend to look up to my friends and local producers more than anything. Also, the music is constantly changing so fast, that some one I like today is “wack” tomorrow.
It’s been great to chat to you! With summer around the corner, do you have any plans you can tell us about?
As far as summer goes, I’m pretty focused on getting my many edits and reworks out bi-weekly for free via my SoundCloud, and currently scouting labels that make sense and fit my Rosa (US) project I want to get some of these EPs I’ve been holding onto and/or recently put together released.
Follow ROSA (US): Instagram – Soundcloud – Beatport
