Biography

Photo by Debbie Davis

Nottingham Producer and DJ Danny Berman aka Red Rack’em/Hot Coins had a pretty hectic 2009 with appearances at Gilles Petersons Worldwide Awards, Snowbombing, Matter, Glastonbury and Big Chill as well as releasing many records on several different labels including Tirk, Deep Freeze, Untracked and Autodiscoteque. He’s an acclaimed remixer for artists such as Tricky, The Revenge, Zed Bias and is no slouch behind the turntables either.

Danny is also a respected radio broadcaster himself and his fortnightly Smugglers Inn podcasts (available at http://www.redrackem.com or search itunes for ‘smugglers inn’) are eagerly downloaded by leftfield beat heads from across the globe. You can tune in live every second Wednesday @ http://www.myhouse-yourhouse.net from 7-9pm GMT. The show is also syndicated to the Big Chill radio station Purple Radio.

In late 2008, disco giants Tirk Recordings commissioned Danny to give a Hot Coins remix to the gospel disco classic Stand On The Word by the Joubert Singers which is a bona fida ‘don’t touch this’ Larry Levan Paradise Garage classic. Remarkably Danny managed to completely re-interpret the track into a massive new anthem which received extensive radio 1 support from Gilles Peterson. Greg Wilson played in just about every one of his sets in 2009. It was also used as the lead track on the sampler twelve for the new Tirk Compilation Tirk 02..

Joubert Singers – ‘Stand On The Word [Hot Coins Remix]‘ by Red Rack’em

Since then he’s released acclaimed disco, beatdown and house on labels such as Untracked, Autodiscoteque and Deep Freeze, remixed Tricky for Domino Records and become an in demand DJ at large scale festivals like Glastonbury, Snowbombing, Matter, Bestival and The Big Chill. The Big Chill described his recent set as ‘one of the highlights of the festival’ and immediately asked to host it on their site – http://www.bigchill.net/news/2009/10/red-rackem-on-big-chill-radio/

Gilles Peterson has been his biggest supporter, describing Rack’em as ‘not being able to put a foot wrong right now’. He invited Danny to play at the 2009 Worldwide Awards where he had the honour of playing straight after Jazzanovas first ever UK live set. Dannys DJ set was then broadcast on Radio 1 after the awards on the Worldwide show and it got a fantastic response around the globe from the listeners. You can check out Dannys set on Radio 1 here (1 hour 29 mins into show)
http://rapidshare.com/files/191098265/Worldwide_Gilles_Peterson_2009_01_29.mp3

GP also recently commissioned a Red Rack’em guestmix for the Worldwide International show which you can check here – http://www.giantstep.net/releases/2242.

2010 looks like it’s going to continue at the same pace for Danny. He’s taking the plunge with his own label Bergerac (first release out in May). His latest EP for Untracked In Love Again has once again received the Gilles Peterson Radio 1 treatment and has flown off the shelves. More music is on the way on Detroit label Undertones, Shift Music and Home Taping, Plus there’s rumblings that the long awaited Hot Coins and Marlinspike albums may surface this year..

Website – http://www.redrackem.com
Mypace – http://www.myspace.com/redrackem
Facebook Group – Red Rack’ems Crows Nest
Discogrpahy – http://www.discogs.com/artist/Daniel+Berman
Big Chill DJ set – http://www.bigchill.net/news/2009/10/red-rackem-on-big-chill-radio/

DJ Support

Massive thanks to Gilles Peterson, Carl Craig, Rob Da Bank, Idjut Boys, Jazztronik, Domu, Surgeon, Prins Thomas, Kode 9, Yam Who, Unabombers, Ross Allen, Nextmen, Mary Anne Hobbes, Chris Duckenfield, Soul Mekanik, N-Type, Kid Sublime, Hint, Simon Harrison, Geiom, Rune Lindbaek, Todd Terje, Diesler, Bill Brewster for the support so far…

Interviews
There’s also some interviews with a bit more background info in them. These are in reverse chronological order so the most recent is first.

Heads Down Video Interview (2 Parts)
http://www.headsdown.org/?p=128
http://www.headsdown.org/?p=136

Electronic Beats Interview and DJ Mix
http://www.electronicbeats.net/Music/Features/The-faces-of-Red-Rack-em

Basic Soul Interview
http://www.basic-soul.co.uk/features/Red-Rack%27em-35-page.html

Anothernightonearth Interview 2
http://anothernightonearth.blogspot.com/2008/11/press-play-18-hot-coins.html

Cool In The Pool Interview
http://www.coolinthepool.com/redrackeminterview.html

Anothernightonearth Interview 1
http://anothernightonearth.blogspot.com/2008/03/red-rackem-speaks.html