MJ Nebreda and Danny From Miami Come Together on Con Cariño

The pairing of MJ Nebreda and Danny Daze may seem arbitrary. After all, Daze (AKA Daniel Gomez) is well-regarded for his blend of scabrous electro and robotic IDM noise. Nebreda (AKA María-José Nebreda), by contrast, blesses the microphone with her contemporary touches on reggaetón music, which is prominently seen on her album, Arepa Mixtape.

Yet, the pair's four-track EP, Con Cariño, released on Fool's Gold Records this month, is less of a collage of their accolades held up by Super Glue and more of a perfect team borrowing from each other's talents.

"I'm sure a lot of people saw our differences," Nebreda tells New Times. "I think we're more similar than people think. Danny is in the left field, and I'm doing something more pop, but the intricacies of our production are the same. We got to come from two worlds but the same world, too, and push each other."

For Gomez, the overlap between reggaetón and electronic music has a rich history, beginning in earnest in the '90s with merengue-house acts like Proyecto Uno. "This is my version of doing something with a Proyecto Uno influence," Gomez explains in a separate interview. "It didn't feel off at all. When I saw she had talent and understood production, I knew this would be cool."

The timing was also right for Gomez, who has been experimenting increasingly with the already experimental intelligence dance music (IDM) genre. "I've been flirting with ideas past dance music, and this kind of falls in line with that; I want to take pop music and throw my more experimental IDM stuff in this EP."

Gomez rightly points out that Con Cariño isn't a Danny Daze EP but a Danny From Miami project, his signature salutation and perhaps a more effusive alias to his darker Danny Daze persona. "It's more of a moniker I use online. It's something I say for fun, so if I wanted to make something more fun and something that could be on the radio, I wanted to use that Danny From Miami alias."

The two started making music without a predestined plan. "It was the initial first batch of tracks we made together. It was a natural collaboration," says Nebreda. Gomez recalls the two starting to chat on Instagram, and he invited Nebreda to his studio in Westchester.
They first produced "Cállate" almost two years ago. "It just sounded cool," Gomez says. "It sounded like something I've never heard before, and we came up with this idea to make an EP."

The three-minute track begins with modular pangs, club-ready if needed, before Nebreda subdues the listener in Spanish. “Cállate que tu no sabes nada/si quisiera preguntaría y ya,” she sings for the chorus.

"You find out about your type of sound when working with people from other sounds, and then you realize what you bring," Nebreda explains.

"I think my job here is to make sure it glues in a way that fits both of our worlds so when people listen, they can hear both of our sounds," Gomez adds.

But the prime example of these two worlds colliding is "Ponte Aqui." You can hear Gomez talk-singing on the track, "Ponte aqui/Aqui mamacita si," in the background. Nebreda then tightens the track with her fluid singing, with the two eventually coming together on the double-time chorus.

Nebreda admits that this is her favorite track. "That song is just the best, "she exclaims. "When Danny showed me that beat, I was just jumping up and down. I was ecstatic." Gomez adds later that while he has put his morphed voice on the EP, "Tiki Tiki Style" is the clearest example of him stepping up to the mic. "This is a bit more in your face, and it's been fun. I look forward to producing this kind of sound."

"It was fun having Danny have his first reggaetonero moment," Nebreda chimes.
With the tracks recorded, Gomez reached out to Fool's Gold cofounder and friend A-Trak, who responded to the music positively. Gomez adds he plans to get Con Cariño remixed so the tracks can suit any club setting.

Both Nebreda and Gomez have played tracks from Con Cariño during their sets to great fanfare.

"They are giving perfect energy. I'm super excited to play these tracks in Europe," Nebreda adds. (She will perform at Primavera Festival in Barcelona and other European festivals this summer.)

Each of the EP's tracks has an accompanying music video. "Tiki Tiki Style" is a pastiche to Gloria Estefan's music videos from the '90s, featuring a taciturn Gomez driving a convertible through Wynwood while Nebreda rides shotgun in the foreground, singing the lyrics.

"We were inspired by Estefan and this Miami energy," Gomez says.

The true magic of Con Cariño was the pair's ability to collaborate organically, respecting each other's process and appreciating what each brings to the table.

"There was no real battle. If I have to battle, I tend not to go for that project," Gomez says. "She helped me out, saying, 'Here, give me the beats, give me the melody,' and then I'll do some chopping. It was a perfect back-and-forth."

For Nebreda, the feeling is mutual. "Danny was a relief to me. He just listens for the best thing."