Burning Man Regular DJ Three Has Some Thoughts on the Rise of Playa Tech
The Robot Heart regular focuses on his Florida roots.
DJ Three is a name that's been on a lot of lips lately, thanks largely to several successive years of extremely popular podcasts recorded live at Burning Man. But this Robot Heart regular, who dismisses, "playa tech is the new dubstep," discovered dance music about as far from the Black Rock Desert as you can get, in the Central Florida rave scene of the early 90s. It was a era that left an indelible mark on the America rave consciousness, spawning local heroes like Rabbit in the Moon and Kimball Collins, but also acting as an early port of call for European DJs such as Sasha and Digweed, and Paul Van Dyk, for whom cities like Tampa, Orlando and Gainesville were early ports of entry on their way to the top of the American club scene.
Though he's called New York home for over a decade (with residencies at Twilo and Output to prove his bona fides), Three's eclectic brand of trippy four-four music (he once ran a label called Hallucination, now cleverly updated to Hallucienda) has made him one of those beloved DJs DJ types, with supporters like Laurent Garnier, Doc Martin and Damian Lazarus. He's able to speak intelligently about all shades of techno and house, regardless of their place of origin, which made him the ideal guest for Episode 30 of Rave Curious.