For their new EP Life With Mountains on Based Faith, Dani Navarrete and Richard Rozen explore the subtle tension between minimal functionality and evocative storytelling. Inspired partly by a trip through Costa Rica’s lush landscapes — and even a memorable encounter with some famously relaxed sloths — the duo crafted a record that balances hypnotic grooves with a cinematic sense of atmosphere. In this conversation with Minimal Mag, they discuss the ideas behind the release, the role of classic machines like the Roland 808, and why restraint remains one of the most powerful tools in minimal production.
“Life With Mountains” has a very cinematic imagery behind it. How did the concept for the EP emerge, and what role did the Costa Rica trip play in shaping the story behind the release? According to the release notes, there’s even a curious episode involving “passive aggressive sloths.” We’d love to know how much of that story is metaphor and how much actually happened.
Dani:
I live here, so my day-to-day is already surrounded by beautiful nature. When Richie was over, we went to see some sloths just for fun, and we kind of liked the idea of incorporating them into the imagery of the record. So the sloths are actually way more passive than aggressive, that part is definitely imagined. We just played with the idea of what sloths would think of the house record we’d been working on.
Richard:
These sloths sleep 22 hours a day and they wake up only to eat, I can see the metaphor in life for many, but yes I would say the sloths were significantly more passive than aggressive in our journey.
The EP clearly leans into a refined minimal and deep tech aesthetic. When producing, how do you maintain that hypnotic tension without overcrowding the arrangement?
Dani:
I feel like we mostly followed our intuition, making music we’d enjoy listening to in different scenarios within house music culture. So you get different moments, but the common thread is that, in a party context, you want something that’s both danceable and listenable, something you can stay with for a long time without getting tired of it.
A big part of that is restraint. We tend to avoid overly hyperdynamic arrangements because they don’t really serve the environment these tracks are meant to live in. The process is pretty fluid: we get ideas down, and then question whether each element actually serves the bigger purpose of the track. If it does, it stays, if not, it’s probably too much. Of course, there’s always room for a bit of creative nuance here and there.
Richard:
When producing at home I generally work with a lot of machines, and it can become very easy to just turn everything on with MIDI or with clock with trigger and have everything just firing off, but that doesn’t necessarily mean compelling music and sounds are coming out. That just mades lots of sounds, so I ask what makes something compelling and interesting?
Sometimes working with less actually allows you to create more interesting concepts and explore sounds in ways you might not have thought about — especially in the context of working with sound and sound systems. When thinking about what’s possible on sound systems I always think back to an old record from 1990 by Ability II – Pressure and just what it can do on a dance floor and how it can test your sound.
“Heart 808” feels like a direct nod to the legendary Roland 808. What role do classic machines play in your current workflow compared to modern plugins and digital tools?
Dani:
I really look up to producers who are true masters of their craft, proper nerds in the best sense. I’m always exploring new tools and ways to get interesting sounds, but there are certain things that just never go out of fashion, and the 808 is definitely one of them. There’s something very romantic about it, thinking about how many incredible records have been made with it, how much it’s shaped electronic music (and not just that, but hip hop and beyond), and the sheer number of hours people have spent dancing to it. It’s a landmark piece of equipment.
Don’t fix what’s not broken. The 808 is still such an emblematic backbone of dance music, and combining it with modern tools can lead to really unique results.
Richard:
My entire studio is analog. I have a lot of drum machines — from the OG 909 to the Tanzbar, a one-of-kind modded 505, to the new TR1000 — and I can safely say that we used an 808 for a majority of the drums you hear on the track.
There’s a certain permanence when I record audio directly from my hardware. I’m saying, “this is what I’m working with — I’m capturing this wave of electricity right here and I’m going to create with it.” It is as close to magic as you can get I feel. We are literally taking electricity, molding it into sounds, and capturing it so we can relive that over and over — if that isn’t magic, what is?
The three tracks — “Heart 808”, “El Es Dee” and “50mg” — all have quite evocative titles. Do they represent different mental states or moments within the narrative of the EP?
Dani:
Yeah, they each represent different vibes. We wanted to capture different stages of a night through the tracks. I like to think they can take you from one place to another while still feeling cohesive as a whole.
Richard:
As Dani said, they represent different vibes within nightlife, nightclubs, festivals, or whatnot — and we wanted to have functional material that could be used for different purposes on whatever dance floor our sound came to, whether it be our homage to the 303 with El Es Dee or the 808 with Heart 808.
In today’s minimal scene there seems to be a split between highly functional club music and more atmospheric, storytelling-driven productions. Where do you see your sound fitting within that spectrum?
Dani:
I don’t really feel the need to choose between those two sides. For me, there’s music for every context, and that “split” has more to do with how you play and present tracks than how you produce them. I’m interested in making things that can live in both worlds depending on the moment.
Richard:
I would like to think that the sound of the record can be multifaceted where the functionality for the dance floor is there while still retaining aesthetic of high engineering and interesting soundscapes. I don’t think picking a side matters, as when I’m working in the studio I’m not always thinking about the end product but rather the exploration and the learning that comes when you allow yourself the freedom to try things.
This release comes out on Based Faith. What attracted you to the label for this EP, and how do you feel your artistic identity aligns with its catalogue?
Dani:
What drew me to the label is the space it occupies within club music. There’s a real appreciation for the full spectrum, from functional tracks to more rare, left-field releases, and a strong connection to vinyl DJ culture. That kind of context really resonates with how I think about my own work.
Richard:
I started the label as a love letter to some of my favorite labels of old — Driftwood, Question, Guidance, Prescription, Sumo — and really I hope the material stands up to the critique many years from now. Originally the idea for the label was to press only vinyl, however after a few tariff letters I was pretty upset over the idea that music would become even more costly for collectors and lovers. So after much debate, we decided to create a digital imprint that would have material that is different from the physical releases.
For me, Based Faith represents what I want to see on a dance floor — people from all places dancing together and enjoying great music together as if it were a commandment from above.