About

  • ARTIST NAME: DJ Denise
  • PREVIOUS ALIAS: DJ D (1998-2001)
  • DJ SINCE: 1998
  • PRODUCER SINCE: 2005
  • GENRES: Hard house, funky house, electro house, tech house, techno, breakbeat, etc.
  • AFFILIATIONS: Mizumo Music, Sound Asylum, Thirsty SF
  • MOTTO: “Keep on listening and I’ll keep spinning!”

Biography

DJ Denise cut her teeth in the underground scene of late-90s San Francisco. Her natural talent and energy behind the decks caused a meteoric rise from partygoer to local hero, and before her first year of DJing was out, Denise was playing weekly for crowds of hundreds and thousands, and traveling across the United States and Canada. But the glory days of San Francisco’s large-scale venues and 10,000-head “massives” started dwindling after a few years, and the scene was pushed into smaller, illegitimate venues. Sensing the shift in both venues’ and crowds’ tastes, Denise saw that her beats could be tailored for a new type of partygoer: the musicsavvy clubber. Eager to develop as an artist, she began studying for a degree in Recording Arts while launching her own studio and fledgling label: Mizumo Music.

Mizumo Music, founded in 2002, began as a hybrid record label and booking company, but by 2006 had expanded and established itself as a quality house label and began releasing vinyl E.P.s (by Los Angeles’ Raoul Zerna and Colombia’s Groove Man). However, more changes loomed on the horizon: vinyl was fast being outmoded, and in 2007, Denise made the call to move to a purely digital format.

Despite Denise’s lost love of dusty vinyl, digital turned out to be the key to Mizumo’s success, which is now booming. The release schedule is packed with artists both local and international: Stupid Fresh (UK), DJ Rage (France), Angel Alanis (US), Calvertron (UK), Sharooz (UK), Pette Vaydex (Slovenia), Mike Balance (US), Markus Ferdinand (Germany), DJ Kue (US), Homero Espinosa (US), Ricardo Reyna (Mexico), Vinjay (Italy), Electrobank (Russia), Beatmaker (Colombia), DJ Exodus (US) and many others, including Denise herself, whose production talents have proved to be as naturally successful as her skills behind the decks. Others have taken notice of her production skills as well, including DJ Shortee, Simply Jeff, and SOS from the infamous super club Ministry of Sound, who have all licensed her music for their mix CDs.

Now in her twelfth year as a heavy hitter in the electronic music scene, DJ Denise has made her name known across the globe. Her original productions and remixes can be found in EPs amidst world renowned artists like Jesse Rose, Twocker, Funkagenda, Riva Starr, Reid Speed, Tony Thomas, Robb G, Mark Trophy, The Bulgarian, Kyle Watson, and many others. Look for her productions on Beatport, iTunes, Trackitdown, Junodownload and all other quality digital download sites.


Event Production & Promotion

2011

  • Rocko Dynamite & Mizumo Music present Accelerator:  G-Force Edition (21 Apr 2011 – Icon Lounge, San Francisco)
  • Rocko Dynamite & Mizumo Music present Accelerator:  G-Force Edition (17 Feb 2011 – Icon Lounge, San Francisco)

2010

  • Mizumo Music presents Champion Beats (24 July 2010 – Shine, San Francisco)
  • Decibeat (23 April 2010 – Ruby Skye, San Francisco, CA)
  • Mizumo Music at Temple (16 April 2010 – Temple, San Francisco)
  • Mizumo Music presents Sharooz (22 January 2010 – The Triple Crown, San Francisco)

2009

  • Purebassed: Mizumo Takeover (9 December 2009 – Shine, San Francisco, CA)
  • Decibeat (20 November 2009 – Ruby Skye, San Francisco, CA)
  • Decibeat (23 October 2009 – Ruby Skye, San Francisco, CA)
  • Trauma: Mizumo Takeover (27 August 2009 – El Rincon, San Francisco, CA)
  • ZumoBeatz: A Free Party in the Park (25 July 2009 – McLaren Amphitheater, San Francisco, CA)
  • Mizumo Music & Rocko Dynamite present Pineapple Express (13 June 2009 – The Bordello, Oakland, CA)
  • Purebassed: Mizumo Takeover (8 July 2009 – Shine, San Francisco, CA)
  • Mizumo Music presents Angel Alanis (25 April 2009 – Shine, San Francisco, CA)

2008

  • Vibration (24 July 2008 – Supperclub, San Francisco, CA)
  • Thirsty (27 June 2008 – Matador, San Francisco, CA)
  • Thirsty (23 May 2008 – Matador, San Francisco, CA)
  • Thirsty (25 April 2008 – Matador, San Francisco, CA)
  • Thirsty (28 March 2008 – Matador, San Francisco, CA)
  • Thirsty (28 February 2008 – Matador, San Francisco, CA)
  • Thirsty (24 January 2008 – Matador, San Francisco, CA)

2007

  • Thirsty (27 December 2007 – Matador, San Francisco, CA)

2006

  • Sound Asylum 10 (11 August 2006 – The Gingerbread House, San Francisco, CA)
  • Sound Asylum 9 (20 May 2006 – StudioZ, San Francisco, CA)
  • Sound Asylum 8 (19 May 2006 – StudioZ, San Francisco, CA)

2005

  • Sound Asylum 7 (8 July 2005 – StudioZ, San Francisco, CA)

2004

  • Sound Asylum 6 (20 August 2004 – StudioZ, San Francisco, CA)
  • Sound Asylum 5 (26 March 2004 – StudioZ, San Francisco, CA)

2003

  • Sound Asylum 4 Take 2 (8 November 2003 – Alpha Zone, Sacramento, CA)
  • Sound Asylum 4 (6 September 2003 – San Francisco, CA)

2002

  • Sound Asylum 3 (27 September 2002 – Broadway Ave., San Francisco, CA)

2001

  • Sound Asylum 2 (24 August 2001 – QZar, Vacaville, CA)

2000

  • Sound Asylum (17 November 2000 – Castro Valley, CA)

 

 

Other Notables

  • Guest panelist at Pyramind’s Test Press, Thursday 1 May 2008