More elusive than the Loch Ness monster, more infamous than The Kenneth Star Report, with a mind more impenetrable than John Nash -- DJ Tanner, in his short stint as Inuit Jargon's producer, has forged himself a musical stronghold made not out of rock, but of pulse. I caught up with Tanner backstage after a coup with Inuit Jargon's management. I found it a rather monumental occasion considering Tanner strays away from most interviews:

DJ Tanner, your work with Inuit Jargon is without a doubt your best. It seems that you just feed off the almost infinite dance potential that only Inuit Jargon provides. Explain your process.

Jargon is where the money is. You know that – everyone knows that. But this isn't about money – this is about making money. As far as the Jargon's pulse-tential, I have to agree with you. It's there. It's always been there. Deeply embedded in the very fabric of its original genius. I've always felt that Lo-Fi and House were kind of sister genres. You really can't have one without the other. It's like...I don't know. It's like some symbiotic shit, or something.

As far as how I make my music – that's a difficult question. An artist doesn't make art. He lives art. It's difficult to explain, most of what I do just comes naturally to me. I try to pick out a tasty, tasty guitar lick – or a heavy lyric – whatever it takes – and build up from there. When Matt said, "Yeah, so, this pie is freaking awesome," -- it just really hit me deep. I think the song was originally about AIDS. Or maybe a leukemia bus accident. I don't know -- it was some fucking serious shit like that though. Anyway, I just tried to capture all the emotion that went into that song, rap it into a 3 second clip, and just play that clip a whole, whole bunch of times. And... you know, the rest is history.

How would you compare your style to other DJs? What do you take from
them? What do they take from you?

Shit man, that's a tough question. I never really listened to any of that shit. I mean, it seems pretty tight, I just don't really listen to music that much. That guy from Incubus who does all that crazy shit is pretty dope, though. I mean, I saw the music video. He was fucking all over the place doing this insane experimental shit. Makes you think about things. I guess I borrowed that from him. Making people think about shit, I mean.

[Tanner removed an unlabeled perscription bottle from his pocket with his left hand. Swallowing about five of the white pills, he took a long swig from the bottle of vodka in his right, winced, and returned to the questioning.] Why silk, DJ Tanner, why all the silk?

Heritage cuts deep with me. One weekend, I dropped 7 tabs and flew to Morocco with Enrique. I'd never been there before...but man, it was fucking cultural. I respect that in people... brown people, I mean.

Many of your interviews are at best scrambled and at worst incoherant. Why do you always send mixed messages to the press?

It's the motherfucking–it's the...

[There was a long pause where he lost interest in the question]

...fuck, man. Fuck.

What's really on your mind?

Well I've been thinking a lot about my future possibilities. Music has had a huge effect on me, but I'm always looking out for new things. Who knows? Maybe bigger, better things. I don't really know how much bigger it gets than The Motherfucking Jargon...but, you know. It could be out there. I've been reading up a lot on this eastern religious shit. Trying to enlighten myself. I'm talking, fucking self-enlightenment. Who the fuck am I? Who the fuck are you? That shit.

A lot of this comes from working with The Jargon. They keep me on my toes. Shaun's always like, "DJ Fucking Tanner, listen to me! You got the skill to roll deep with the best. You may even have the skill to roll deep with The Jargon...I don't know. But you won't mean shit to anybody if you just pulse because you can. You gotta pulse because you have to." He's never actually said that to me, but I know he thought it. He keeps pushing me forward. They all do. I just have to ask myself, "What do I want to do with my life?" I don't know, man. That's some serious shit. All I know is, now–right now–right this very moment in my life–all I really need to live and breathe is pulse. Until that changes, I'm still going to be DJ Motherfucking Tanner.

[At that point, Tanner, eyes glazed, was carried away by two public relations people into a crowd of screaming female Jargonites.]