Photo by Michelle Yoon
Michael McKinney understands the cultural importance of Kreayshawnâs âGucci Gucci.â
Brian Piñeyro, a.k.a. electronic-music producer DJ Python, has spent the past two decades shedding his skin. Under a handful of aliases and a variety of side projects, he has explored countless corners of contemporary electronics. He is enamored with downtempo, dembow, UK club music, and ambient records. As one half of Natural Wonder Beauty Concept, he helps sculpt pop music purpose-built for dreamstates; as one third of Sangre Nueva, he cooks up club-night barnburners whose sounds stretch across oceans. Nominally, at least, he splits his time between London and New York, and you can hear both places in his style: his productions often swing in a way reminiscent of UK soundsystem music, and his everything-goes approach has plenty of practitioners on this side of the Atlantic. Piñeyroâs best work makes the inherent differences between disparate genres invisible.
In 2020, Mas Amable, which was named Resident Advisorâs album of the year, saw Piñeyro covering the decks with a mixture of sand and stardust. The album wafts first as an Ibizan chillout compilation, but scan ahead a bit, and you find rough-and-ready reggaeton tooling. One of Piñeyroâs main goals is to produce tracks âtechnically made of weird building blocksâ while maintaining cohesion. His approach to zonked-out dembow music won him popular acclaim, anticipating the global rise of âLatin clubâ music.
To be blunt, despite a flood of gigs and interest, Piñeyroâs simply not interested in adhering to one formula. After his 2020 breakthrough, he branched into sort-of-trip-hop, miles-long techno tools, and who-knows-what DJing. Reflecting upon the evolution of his taste, Piñeyro tells POW: âI have more confidence; [when Iâm DJing,] I feel more able to play ten-minute songs, or some Johnny Marr instrumental. Iâve gotten more adventurous.â
No kidding. With i was put on this earth, his latest solo EP, Piñeyro pushes ever further into parts unknown, revisiting the ethos thatâs powered his projects since the start: mellow electronics paired with a kitchen-sink approach to style and genre. Every left turn is filled with grime, techno, and a grab-bag of chill-out room tools. In a career defined by swerves, the EP is also remarkably tender, playful, and bleary, like a hug delivered after a particularly poignant night out.
In April, I sat down with Piñeyro, digging into the ideas behind his latest release, his approach behind the boards, his relationship to travel, and the value of tenderness. Midway through our conversation, the producer summarized his driving philosophy: âI see the function in club music to be really elated, or to be really sad, or to be really hard. For me, depth is way more important than intensity. I like songs that create spaces for you to feel the things you want to feel.â
ââ(This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.)
I was going to punk shows and noise shows. A lot of these shows had, like, Fuck Buttons and James Ferraro and Skaters and Emeralds and stuff like that: where itâs kind of electronic, but kind of notâsynth music. I really liked Tangerine Dream and the krautrock stuff.
[Piñeyro moves from his phone to his laptop]
Can you hear me?
But then people come around and make something really unique and beautiful. I really love OTTO; I think he does stuff thatâs unique. I donât want to be a part of that revivalist or âhow futuristic can I make thisâ [sound].