Physical Therapy

Stretching from the R&B rave bangers of Safety Net to the grab bag of chilled-out house, techno and electronica that is Non-Drowsy, New Jersey eccentric Physical Therapy, born Daniel Fisher, is a serious exercise in highly emotive, genre-free dance music. Often caught sporting a trusty ten-gallon hat, the self-proclaimed urban cowboy also has a pretty goofy sense of humour – just take a look at the photos Julia Burlingham shot for us and the website for his newly-minted label Allergy Season. We put Daniel’s humour to the test with a series of hypothetical situations.

Interview by Koen van Bommel, photos by Julia Burlingham in New York, USA

“I always travel with my rotating ‘no requests’ lamp”

Your best friend just bought a new hat. It looks ridiculous. He asks what you think.

I would tell them the truth for sure. I would probably be the first to make fun of them for it.

A random person sends you their music and asks for feedback. It’s garbage. Do you give constructive feedback or do you tell them to fuck off?

I’ve been dealing with that a lot since starting my label . I try to be nice, I mostly end up explaining to people that a 30-second .wav file does not count as a demo.

You’re DJ-ing at a cool party with some art students or whatever. Someone comes to the booth and asks you to play a song for a significant other who just had his/her birthday. What’s your response?

I always travel with my rotating ‘no requests’ lamp to avoid those situations.

You’ve just finished playing a set and are being wooed by a groupie. You don’t really find her that attractive and seem to notice only that enormous spot on her forehead, but she’s very persistent, even after you’ve made it clear you’re not interested. What do you do?

Hide.

You’re at a nice Italian restaurant. The waiter has screwed up your order of a large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and has instead served you one with artichokes and capers. What do you suggest he should do with the pizza?

I don’t know, the second one sounds more up my alley.

I’m afraid in that case it would be the other way around. You get pepperoni instead of artichokes.

I would politely ask for a replacement and pray they don’t spit on it.

A tortoise lies on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?

Impossible, I would help. There is nothing that could stop me from helping. Poor guy. I’m sad just thinking about it.

Physical Therapy plays Somewhere Else on 22 March at Het Veem Theater in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members until midnight. Check out his soundcloud and the Allergy Season website for more info.