Danny Goliger on LA’s DIY Scene, Hardware Obsessions & the Cross-Genre Magic of ‘Say I Do’ | Faux Poly Interviews

Danny’s musical journey is deeply rooted in the vibrant and eclectic landscape of Los Angeles, where he grew up immersed in a diverse scene that shaped his creative path. From early piano lessons to discovering production software as a teenager, his evolution as an artist has been fueled by curiosity and a passion for experimentation. The LA music scene, with its DIY warehouse parties and genre-blurring energy, has played a crucial role in shaping his sound - one that bridges UK electronic influences with global rhythmic crossovers.

In this interview, Danny opens up about the inspiration behind his ‘Say I Do’ EP on Faux Poly, detailing the hardware, software, and creative techniques that brought its intricate soundscapes to life. He also reflects on his artistic growth, the thought process behind his track titles, and what’s next in his ever-evolving musical journey including upcoming releases, collaborations, and even some secret tech projects in the works. Dive in to uncover the stories behind the music.

Hey Danny can you give us a little insight into where you're from, your musical journey and your local scene?

I grew up in Los Angeles, California, which is where I am currently based. My journey started young, with piano lessons when I was 5, and then drums soon after. I started exploring computer music around 12 years old when I downloaded FL (then called Fruity Loops), which was free at the time. I was lucky to have a music teacher who showed me Logic at 14 years old, which was mind-blowing to an impressionable teenager. I immediately pirated a copy of Logic (easy in those days for a computer savvy youngster), and I started to get serious about producing. I studied audio engineering in college, and got my first internship in a recording studio at 19. I slowly worked my way up in commercial studios in LA, and have been producing ever since.

The scene here in LA is incredibly diverse and amazing. It is such a hub for production, songwriting, film score, and literally any style of music that you could imagine. I feel like we are less known for dance music, but our scene is full of incredibly talented producers and DJ’s from very diverse backgrounds. The dance scene is less centered around nightclubs, and more focussed on warehouse parties. We have a lot of unused industrial spaces in LA, which promoters will transform overnight into DIY raves. I think it lends the scene a very punk, DIY attitude, and good parties here are often oriented around specific communities rather than commercialized spaces.

What inspired the sound and creative direction for your ‘Say I Do’ EP on Faux Poly and were there any external influences that played a significant role in shaping this project?

I’ve always been very influenced by electronic music from the UK. Specifically, I find the era from 2004 to 2016 to be very inspiring. Dubstep, post-dubstep, UK funky, and techno from this time are significant touchstones to my musical identity, arguably some of my favorite records of all time. I really admire the way that these producers were throwing so many things into a blender to produce new sounds and styles.

I’m also inspired by musical intersections, like for example the way that UK Funky can be very rhythmically similar to Reggaeton, Dembow, Afrobeat, etc. I tried to tap into some of those cross sections to create the grooves for this EP.

Are there any specific pieces of hardware or software that were instrumental in crafting the sounds on this EP?

I’m a total hardware nerd, so I’m always using it in my records. It’s not necessary, but I find that hardware makes the process more fun and inspiring for me. I have a Eurorack modular synth that I’ve been working on for a number of years. Bits of the modular are everywhere in this EP, from pads to basses, textural synths etc. I also love effect pedals! I used my Eventide H90 and OTO Boum on this EP, to re-process elements and add extra texture to sounds from Ableton.

I don’t restrict myself to using hardware though. My DAW (Ableton these days) is the main workhorse. I love plugins too (Soundtoys, UAD, Fabfilter, Izotope, etc). I finally got Serum, which is hilarious because it feels like the most popular synth ever, and I’m super late to the game on that. I think I had avoided it for a long time out of a desire to not sound like everyone else, but I had to get it last year for a project I was working on. As soon as I bought Serum I was like “wow this is amazing, I see why it's so popular.” There’s definitely some Serum sounds on this EP for sure.

The textures on this EP are incredibly detailed. How do you approach creating such intricate soundscapes?

Thank you, I really appreciate that! Some of it is just the character of the synths, and the recording techniques that I’m using. I like to record through effects, and commit to sounds as I go. It helps the production feel more finished as I’m building the track. I often resample those recordings, chop them up in the DAW or time-stretch them. Especially with the FX baked-in, I feel like it adds a lot of character, and forces me to get creative if I choose to alter a sound that’s already heavily processed. With audio, there’s only so much that you can do to the sound after its recorded, but I find that those restrictions often lead to interesting textures if you work within those restrictions.

Also, like I mentioned in the last question, I love running things from the computer back into hardware and having a jam. I find that I’ll get unexpected results from fiddling with the effects as I record myself, and then I edit those recordings back into the structure of the song. If you combine those techniques with automation to fade these layers in and out, you will quickly land on something that sounds very lively and detailed.

What does a typical day in your studio look like from when you're coming up with the ideas and developing the tracks into an EP?

As much as time affords, I like to schedule a full day to work on my own music. I’ll wake up in the morning, go outside, and get some exercise (plus some LA sunshine). After a shower, food, and coffee it’ll be late morning when I sit down in my studio to start working. Most of my ideas start with hardware. It feels more playful that way, so I just play with the gear until I hear something that I like. Once I have the first couple layers, I will start building a whole track around it.

I prefer to have an entire tune sketched out in one sitting, because I find it can be more challenging to go back to an unfinished idea later. Ideally, I will have all the parts written, arranged, and roughly mixed so that I can export the new song. Sometimes this will take me all day to finish one tune, or sometimes it only takes me a couple hours, so I will start on a second one. I usually work till about 9 or 10pm, and give myself a couple hours to watch tv, or read at the end of the day. I try not to listen to new songs for a few days after I make them, so that I can return with fresh ears. Most of the tracks will require another session to polish the production details, and a final session to finish the mixdown.

Obviously I don’t always have a full day to spare to make music. I just prefer it because it’s very relaxed, and there’s less time pressure. If I spend a couple hours on something that turns out to be a dud (which happens all the time), I still have enough time to finish another track.

What was the inspiration behind the track names?

My disclaimer is that I’m absolutely terrible at naming things, I really struggle to come up with titles. This is also the reason why I release under my given name instead of an alias, because I can never come up with an artist name that satisfies me.

“Gimme That” is the main lyric from the vocal sample, so that was easy. “Say I Do” is also based on the vocal sample. The main chop sounds like she’s saying “I Do.” This song has this emotive quality, so I thought that “Say I Do” would be a nice title. It reminds me of something romantic and cheesy, like a wedding ceremony. “Pearls” came from being fascinated by pearlescent colors, but I exported the file as just “Pearls” and the name stuck. “Weightless” was formerly called “Boneless” because the synths reminded me of something squishy. But “Boneless” was too reminiscent of chicken nuggets, so I changed the name to “Weightless” which seemed more appropriate.

How does this EP represent your evolution as an artist compared to your previous works?

This is a tough question! I think that I’m looking for in-between spaces with this EP. Crossing different genres together, and also different moods. I think that much of my previous work has been identifiably one thing or another. Either it was banging, or it was chill. Either it was techno, or it was dubstep, or break beat, or electro etc. I’m hoping that this EP occupies a space between banging and spacey, something groovy, psychedelic, and meditative, without being too aggressive or too chill. I’m also hopeful that I’m starting to fuse some of my influences, and turn them into abstractions which are less directly referential to the thing that they are inspired by.

Can you give us a little inside info on your next projects? What do you have coming up?

Ya definitely! I have an EP coming out on Jubilee’s label Magic City, which is going to release Q1 next year. I’m really excited to get those tunes out in the world, especially because I’m such a huge fan of Jubilee and the label. Faux Poly is working on a remix EP for “Say I Do” which should be ready next year. I also have collaboration EP’s with 2 of my closest friends, in the US scene: one EP with Carré which will release in fall of next year, plus another one with Farsight that has no release plans yet (but hopefully soon). Outside of production, I’m also going to be DJ-ing as much as possible, and will be spending much of my time in the next few months teaching music production classes. Finally, I have some music technology projects that I plan on developing next year, but it’s a bit too early to reveal those details :)

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