There are plenty of places to boogie around town, but if you want a suggestion, save a dance for Deorro.
The LA-based DJ, producer and songwriter born Erick Orrosquieta boasts one of the most prolific minds in EDM today. His dalliances between bouncy basslines and Latin-infused house have sent him to the top of the charts and across musical markets. With several platinum releases, prefaced by his original viral hit “Five Hours,” Deorro, a first-generation Mexican-American DJ, is as dexterous behind the decks as he is with his pen.
It’s hard to imagine ever wanting to abandon that level of promise. Recently, he says, he almost did.
“When I got into EDM, it was a whole new world. It was big for me,” the 30-year-old explains. “It was weird going to Europe being the only Mexican there, but it was cool. The industry welcomed me with open arms.”
Yet as time passed, that passion started to fade. “It became routine, it became more business and unfortunately, I started to disconnect with myself,” he says. “It was really hard to remember after many years who I was, and there came a time where I was like, ‘Wow, I don’t want to do music; I don’t like it right now.’”
He even had another career—a taco truck owner—lined up. But before he hit the road with his new endeavor, Deorro went home.
“I was with my family at this party, and I started to remember all those times when I went to DJ with my dad when I was little,” he says. At 8 years old, he would accompany his father to parties of all kinds—quinceañeras, weddings and, in some cases, funerals.
“It was mostly Latinos [there], but it was all kinds of Latinos,” he says. “I got to learn about different kinds of music, where my dad would play merengue the entire night or just norteño music or mariachi.”
Those memories allowed Deorro to reconnect with his roots and awakened a side of him he says had gone dormant. “It was like I’d discovered gold.”
In July, Deorro released Orro (Spanish for “gold”), a love letter to Latin dance. The album features a top-heavy list of collaborators, many of which the DJ grew up listening to.
“Every time I hear [Mexican cumbia group] Los Ángeles Azules, it takes me back to being in the back seat of a car,” he says, remembering when his family used to cruise Downtown LA, searching for the best alley shops.
Orro is a jubilant affair, teeming with banda styles and trilling trumpets. It’s a melting pot of Mexico’s regional flavors and the cerebral soundscapes that make Deorro’s music so compelling.
It’s impossible not to grab a dance partner for “Yo Las Pongo,” a track with a festive nature that will transport you to a backyard party—or perhaps the much-larger outdoor set he’ll perform at Tao Beach Dayclub on August 12. And “Si Tú No Estás Aquí” reveals just how smoothly Deorro can make a funky bilingual bop sing.
“I’m seeing a lot of Zumba videos, a lot of people working out making choreography to some of the songs, a lot of Tweets saying, ‘Tell me why I just heard my mom playing the Deorro album,’” he says. “That’s, to me, what it was all about, getting people to recognize a sound that they grew up with, and knowing what to do when that happens.”
DEORRO August 12, 11 a.m., $20-$30. Tao Beach Dayclub, events.taogroup.com.
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