For Spanish housemaster David Penn, 2020 has been business as usual as he continues to throw down the gauntlet to the rest of the global house scene. In a year defined by global uncertainty, he seized the opportunity to ratchet his studio output to new levels, culminating in the signing of an exclusive publishing agreement with Defected Music and corresponding record deal with Defected Records.
Ranked #1 house music artist of all-time and #5 all genres artist by an unassailable points margin on Beatstats in 2019 (to go alongside his already longstanding #1 position on Traxsource), he released two standout tracks on the Defected label. First came his ubiquitous roof-raising remix of Pete Heller’s ‘Big Love’, followed by ‘Stand Up’, a supercharged gospel house masterpiece which captured David at his hand-clapping, piano-riffing best.
These anthemic tracks paved the way for the afore-mentioned deals, epitomising the unique style and contagious energy encapsulated within a modern-day David Penn DJ set. Captivating audiences with his live keyboard-playing, boundless enthusiasm and infectious trademark grin, the resulting perpetual hands-in-the-air moments provide a joyful reminder of the remarkable power of DJ’ing as a performance art.
This summer, he turned in a carbon copy performance, making the summit of the Beatport and Traxsource charts his own with a string of new releases, including another huge remix of Heller & Farley’s ‘Ultra Flava’ for Defected and ‘Ain’t Got No’ (his house interpretation of a Nina Simone classic), remixes of 'Remember Me' by Blueboy and ‘Soul Heaven’ by Goodfellas, accompanied by a trio of summer anthems in ‘The Power’ (Defected), ‘Jerkin’’ (Armada) and 'The Heat' (Club Sweat). In August, David proudly boasted a total of 8 tracks in the Beatport house chart simultaneously.
With more than two decades of output under numerous guises (including “Sun Rising Up by Deux and “Night train” by Kadoc, which sold over two million copies globally), alongside previous huge club hits such as ‘Hipcats’ , ‘Nobody’ and his remix of the Todd Terry classic ‘Babarabatiri’ , David’s ever-expanding arsenal of standout dancefloor anthems have cemented his position as the most exciting and successful house music artist in the world right now.
