THE FUNKY, IRRESISTIBLE DRUMBEAT that kicks off "Touch the Sky" has graced practically every DJs' mix CD recently. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a selector without at least one Dennis Ferrer track in his playlist these past few years. His sound is redefining what people call House Music, and is pushing the boundaries without sacrificing the essential soulful element within the genre.

One of the most well-rounded of songwriter/producers and a forerunner for the newschool movement of House, Dennis' past arsenal has pned the range from Afro-House to ambient to gospel to straight up techno.

Launching his career in the early '90s as a techno producer and putting out records under the Synewave label, he later hooked up with Kerri Chandler and formed Sfere Recordings in 1998. He is responsible for some of the hottest records of the last three years: "Sandcastles", "Son of Raw", "Timbuktu", "Most Precious Love" and "The Cure and The Cause". He continues to push the musical envelope by allowing tech-house and soulful-house lovers to actually vibe off of the same song.

Dennis' debut LP for King Street/Defected, The World As I See It, is a hybrid of deep, funky, soulful and, yes, tech-inspired. And he pulls it off brilliantly. "Church Lady", "Touch The Sky", "P2 Da J" and "How Do I Let Go" are just some of the hot tracks that should have everyone clamoring to own this album. His new label Objektivity Records promises to bring you more sonic surprises that are anything but predictable.

Amazed that I was actually able to catch this incredibly busy man, we sat and talked about his influences, the illness that kept him from music, and his plans for the future. He is intense, brutally straightforward and charming as hell.

Since you said you grew up on the '70s and '80s were you more of a bboy back then, more into hiphop?

Oh I was definitely into hiphop. I grew up with the whole bboy episode, with all the block parties.

When did you start getting more into house?

The thing is, hiphop was kinda combined with dance, you know... People tend to forget that you had a lot of the dancing that was mixed with the hiphop. On the one hand you had "Jam On It", and on the other hand you had a DJ International record. There really were no cut boundaries.

Did you have any musical training?

None formally, except for what I taught myself.

I read that you like the '80s more because they were more song-oriented. What were some of the groups from that time that you liked?

Oh wow, there were so many. AC/DC, The Petshop Boys - I mean I came across a big, big spectrum of influences. Learning how to DJ came on much later in the mix of everything.

So you began as a techno producer in the early 90's?

Oh yeah, definitely. We did a lot of electronic music growing up. A lot of stuff with Damon Wild and this label we created called Synewave Records. It was a fun time but there wasn't enough money in it to keep it going.

I really enjoyed your album and I noticed that every song has a very strong percussive intro. Is that kind of like a signature of yours?

I don't know if that's a signature... I just don't like sleepy tunes too much! I fall into the harder edge of drum programming, probably. My thing is is that I'm not afraid to say that I make dance music. I'm not trying to change the world.

So would you say the most important thing for you is to make the crowd dance?

That's right, that's what you get paid for!