JUNIOR SANCHEZ @ LOSO
Saturday, March 8
Doors: 8pm
DJ Sets: 9pm - 2am
2727 W Broad St
21+
As one of the world’s most respected and innovative DJs, Junior Sanchez has remained at the forefront of house music since the ‘90s. But throughout his three-decade-long career, Sanchez has continued to challenge himself—becoming a versatile producer, a hands-on label executive, and an inspiring entrepreneur along the way. Above all, Sanchez’s enthusiasm for his craft, and his passion to share it with others, is present in all of his endeavors.
Although Sanchez’s story begins in the most ordinary of places—suburban New Jersey—his rise to fame was anything but. The youngest of six, Sanchez was raised on his family’s diverse record collection. While his Brazilian mother enjoyed a steady dose of Latin music, his siblings each had their own favorites: from ELO and Fleetwood Mac to Slick Rick and The Smiths. Sanchez embraced it all. But when he discovered house music—a relatively young genre that sprung from the ashes of disco—it resonated with him on a new level.
Sanchez developed his talents on a makeshift rig at home and immersed himself in New York City’s vibrant club scene. By his early teens, he was DJing regularly at Peter Gatien’s Club USA and Limelight. Balancing high school with residencies, Sanchez signed his first record deal at 15. A few years later, he established Cube Recordings, where he released records from the likes of Rhythm Masters, Stuart Price, and Sébastien Léger. There, he also co-produced Felix da Housecat’s landmark electroclash album, Kittenz and Thee Glitz.
The prodigious DJ not only won the respect of house music’s elders but also of a new generation of stars, including Armand van Helden, who took Sanchez under his wing. Together, they founded Da Mongaloids—a global collective of DJs that featured such high-profile names as Todd Terry; Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christ; Roger Sanchez; Laidback Luke; DJ Sneak; and Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. Aiming to create “The Wu-Tang Clan of House Music,” Sanchez was the youngest of the group—and the most enthusiastic. “I recruited all of these people,” he recalls. “We started re-mixing each other and appearing on each other’s records. There was a lot of unity.”