Computer Magic is the solo-project of American musician and producer Danielle Johnson, also referred to by her alias, Danz, based in New York City. She is the singer, writer, composer, and the producer for Computer Magic. She also composes music for commercials, specifically for Japanese brands. Her musical influences include Gary Numan, Broadcast, Radiohead, New Order, Giorgio Moroder, Stereolab, and New Wave, Italo Disco, and Krautrock. She also lists the sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, and the films Barbarella and Logan's Run as further influences. Her music has been described as otherworldly cosmic-pop. She has maintained success in Japan and has gained a cult following in the United States. Attracting sci-fi enthusiasts, she often performs or takes press photos in space suits with backdrops reminiscent of NASA base camps. She is a self-described analog synthesizer enthusiast. In 2018, she was featured in the artist spotlight by Dave Smith and Sequential for using the Prophet 6 analog desktop synthesizer module.
Early life and beginnings
Johnson was born and raised in the Catskills in both Woodridge and Rock Hill, New York. She started her own music blog at the age of 15. At the age of 18, she moved to New York City to attend Hunter College and became a DJ at places such as the Tribeca Grand Hotel and The Annex. She started producing music at her mother's house in Tampa, Florida while on a break from New York City. She has said that she discovered there that she could write music entirely by ear. She taught herself how to write and produce songs over the course of six months, afterwards returning to New York City to pursue a career in music. The name Computer Magic is derived from a quote by Viv Savage in This Is Spinal Tap: "Quite exciting this computer magic!"
Music career
Since 2010, Computer Magic has released nine EPs and three LPs, most of them self-produced and either self-released or on her own record label, Channel 9 Records with Kobalt Label Services. She has also released six full length records in Japan with P-Vine and Tugboat Records. A number of Computer Magic's songs are released for free at first, giving fans a chance to download them before they go on digital sale on iTunes. About this, Danz has said, "The more people that have your music and enjoy it the better." A song she wrote and produced herself, "Running ", was used in two separate television commercials for Aria Resort and Casino and Lexus.
Davos
Computer Magic released her first LP, Davos, on October 16, 2015, with her own record label in the US and in Japan with Tugboat and P-Vine Records. She recorded the songs with Claudius Mittendorfer over the course of two years in New York. The title Davos is a homage to a now-decrepit ski resort where Johnson grew up in upstate New York, where her father worked and still resides, although the ski resort closed when Johnson was 3 years old. The video for the first single from the album, "Be Fair", shows Danz in a space crash that was filmed in Trona Pinnacles. The video for the second single, "Fuzz", shows Danz in dramatic futuristic wardrobe, through which she splits her time between light and dark roles.
Japan
She has released seven full-length records in Japan with Tugboat Records and P-Vine Records. Many of the Japanese versions include bonus tracks specifically for that territory. Her first Japanese release, Scientific Experience, debuted at #5 on the iTunes Japanese Electronic Music Chart. Her 2015 release "Mindstate" debuted at #1 on the iTunes Japanese Electronic Music Chart.
Commercial work
Johnson has composed numerous songs for commercials in Japan for companies such as Panasonic, Body Mainte, and two separate commercials for QP Half and QP Sesame Dressing. She has modeled clothes for Sofia Coppola's Japanese clothing company Milkfed, and in 2017 was in the fall catalog for the skate clothing brand X-Girl, founded by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon in the 1990s.
Channel 9 Records
In 2015, she started her own record label, Channel 9 Records, to release merchandise, and her own music on limited edition vinyls and cassettes. It's based in Brooklyn, NY.
Cody & Danz
In June 2017, Danz announced a collaborative EP with the musician Cody Crump titled Only The Hits. The EP was released on July 14, 2017, by Channel 9 Records digitally and on a limited edition cassette.
