BERLINCIAGAY #12 – Michael Cignarale

How have you been lately? What’s been on your mind or energy these days, creatively or personally?

Im doing okay- a lot of travelling between new york and europe right now; which im so exciting to be doing. As for what’s been on my mind, probably horny basslines, slutty platform heels and vocals to match them. I think I might have retired the glitter, but I'm never really sure! She comes out at the weirdest times.

You’re someone who wears many hats and moves very naturally between different creative worlds. What came first for you: DJing, producing, running a label, or graphic design? And how do these practices feed into each other now?

Actually my first love is dancing and listening to house music, I think I started DJing so I could do it indefinitely. I have a music background so producing was really just a matter of time. And with my production it really introduced me to the community at large. Organizing Parties just came as a means to turn all my complaining into actions. In this whole process I worked as a graphic designer, and ran a small studio which really helped organize the creative and logistically for my first party and record label Medusa. Medusa, was a great example of how nightlife meets on the dancefloor, but it also converges in so many other mediums, music, performance, digital design, merch, photography, drag and directing. It was a great experiment in how I could merge so many of these other professional skills into one thing.

You spent a significant chapter of your life in China. What initially brought you there, and how did you go about building community, events, and eventually Medusa in a place that was so different from where you started?

I did live in Shanghai for almost 10 years, Medusa, my label and party started there. And a lot of the visuals, and creative is still made by my friends and teammates who live there. It’s a long story how I got there, but the simplest version is- after I graduated college, I was dating someone who wanted to move there. I wanted to DJ, and the Washington, DC scene, where I was, seemed unnavigable, so when they asked me do I want to come- I said let’s go! Along the process of moving to Shanghai, I came out! That relationship adjusted; and within the year met a really amazing boyfriend; and for once got into the queer community. You know what they say, grow up in America but move to China to find your sexuality! But in that change, I realized along with a few other friends- you could either have fun underground house music or the gay clubs. There was nowhere that was merging the two, and with that no party pushing against masculinity in any way or including, the drag, fem or trans community at all; unless they were a paid performer, absolutely no casual drag was being worn to the club. So my BFF, BF and I started Medusa, and this was really our initial pitch to queer shanghai community. That was all around 2016; just to put where we were in perspective. Medusa has gone on to do over 100+ parties and really gave way to a thriving queer chinese nightlife scene with the help of so many other great parties in that time frame.

When and where did you record “She Thinks She Is Fierce”? The track still gets played everywhere and has really become an iconic queer moment for us. Looking back, did you have any sense it would resonate this widely?

NO! I knew the gurlies would get it, and while we were mixing it my label partner SamTBD was breaking it on the dancefloor, and seeing the huge reactions, but I was so focused on the A-Side of that record that it didn’t even register. It was really just a track I threw in at the last minute as my love for bitchy 90’s house tracks. “She Thinks She’s Fierce” is the ultimate B-side gone right; and when I hear it in the club or see it in a post, or mix, my feeling of joy is nothing less than 120%- seriously it's never wasted on me. One night at Basement I heard it played 3 times in one night! I have nothing but gratitude because this release came at a time where I was ready to pack it up as a DJ and producer and just do something else with life all together. So thank you for the support everyone, She Thinks She’s Fierce kept me from quitting!

The track at large, really started with the drums. I was listening to a Junior Vasquez mix and he had a remix in there with a similar hand percussion line and bassline, I paused the mix, and just went right in the studio with this reference track and ended up with something that wasn't four-on-the-floor but closer to UK Funky which i thought was so modern and cool. Now “She Thinks She’s Fierce” was originally a Ha Track, and there are some drafts circulating with “The Ha Dance” layered in there but ultimately I removed the sample, so it could be its own thing- which really led to the vocals. This was already on my mind, earlier in the year I was working with Enema Stone on our track “Ride It” so our unused vocals were already on hand. All the moans, sorry you gotta go, that all cutting room floor Enema. Right away- this track registered to me as a 90’s NY runway moment, so I recorded the “She Thinks She’s Fierce” and “That’s a Chop Darling” as sort of a sampled dirty recordings you hear in records from that era. The pianos and that B-part were the last to come together, I went through a lot of drafts. But this is a subliminal interpolation of “If Madonna Calls” with layered M1 pianos and organs. There are so many Sound Factory anthems and ideas converging in this one track, “She Thinks She’s Fierce” and it’s 100% where my DJ language and style had been resting for the last decade. It’s aggressively Michael!

Looking ahead to 2026, what’s next for you? Any new projects, music, parties, or design work that you’re excited to share or are quietly working on?

So many projects, and touring in Europe more. I’m living in Munich almost 3 months of the year, while also living in Brooklyn. My current studio projects will take me well into 2027 to finish, and I still can’t find the discipline to say no to a fun remix project or collaboration when asked. Medusa Records is a spring & summer label- so expect another release this summer. And its follow up which will be a little cheekier. I do have a goal by the end of the year to have a monthly release for Medusa; but you know there are a lot of moving parts so i have to be patient. On the topic of Medusa, we have started working on an anthology of all our posters, mixes, party photos and mementos from 2016 to 2025. I want this project to document this really unique time in chinese nightlife, that's kind of unheard of and also as a chapter in nightlife globally. As for new parties, Yes; I am organizing a new party in Brooklyn with Mark Holcomb called Sensible Shoe. We are on our third edition; the art by my friend Lauri is so much fun.