Miguel Migs

Miguel Migs did not establish the house label Naked Music, yet his productions—issued under the Petalpusher and L'isha aliases along with his given name—brought the imprint its widest recognition. Formed by producer Jay Denes, who recorded as Naked Music NYC, the label set its sonic template with the very first release, Petalpusher’s “Breaking It Down”: smooth, polished, organic house that sat cooler than most mainstream house while emphasizing songs and live musicians far more than typical dance releases. Stuart Patterson’s exotic artwork further shaped the Naked Music identity, creating the clearest audio-visual pairing since Designers Republic began designing sleeves for Warp.

Born Miguel Steward and raised in Santa Cruz, Migs was performing guitar with the local reggae outfit Zion Sounds when he started making tracks independently. His debut appeared in 1998 as the Mercury Lounge EP on La Casa; soon afterward his mellow house cuts entered West Coast DJ sets, a region long hospitable to chilled house through pioneers such as Mark Farina. Having already completed a full-length under the Naked Music NYC name and routed it through like-minded San Francisco imprint OM, Jay Denes asked Migs to supply the inaugural release on the freshly launched Naked Music label, which he ran with Dave Boonshoft; the tracks quickly drew attention across the dance community. While Naked Music issued well-received compilations such as Nude Dimensions and Carte Blanche, Migs recorded for Yoshitoshi, Large Music, and NRK, sometimes collaborating with DJ Rasoul under the Nite Source moniker. He also mixed several Naked Music collections, among them 2000’s Nude Dimensions: Petalpusher Sessions and 2002’s Nude Tempo One. His debut artist album, Colorful You, arrived late in 2002 through a distribution arrangement with Astralwerks.