Frivolous
Classifying the unusual character of Daniel Gardner is a challenge. His school-teachers all tried and failed, finally attributing his unconventionality to a learning disability and decidedly closing the case on him completely.
Born and raised on a farm in the suburbs of Vancouver, Grades were always mediocre at best for young Daniel, until one semester a mysterious new course emerged into the curriculum; Electronic Music Composition. Suddenly discovered, were honor roll grades, and a means to merge an imaginative young mind with over a decade of fiercely enforced classical piano training.
In 1996, captivated by the unified dance floors and Detroit sounds, the 16-year-old embarked on a life-long love-affair with the loop and took his first DJ residency at a Vancouver afterhours. After two successfully directionless years studying electronics and design, and after dabbling with some independent releases, Daniel decided to put his pride aside and demo his accomplishments. A CD of incomplete works were sent out as an experiment to 5 of the most esthetically innovative labels in Germany, and received back were 3 requests to release it. The encouragement and new-found confidence led to the birth of the project FRIVOLOUS.
The rest of it — one more paragraph
Now with more than 40 releases and over a dozen 12"s to his name, Frivolous has toured the globe playing an eclectic array of venues and festivals along the way. His live shows have been hailed for their energy, originality and ingenuity as he's taken the stage next to some of the most respected names in the business. Never compromising the art of showman-ship, these spectacles feature live keyboards and vocals as well as the incorporation of his DIY aesthetic. Integrating homemade devices such as the "Frivolous Patented Electromagnetic knife", the "Broken-Ruler Music Box" and the Double "Cable-Tub" Bass, his sets are injected with a sense of fantasy, imagination and personality scarcely found elsewhere in modern electronic dance music.
Their Resident Advisor profile, in full and unedited.
SoundCloud ↗Bandcamp ↗Discogs ↗
Records out on Cadenza Records, ~scape, Fenou, Karloff, Background, Thinner, Trimsound, Klamauk, 30porumalinha and Things Already Seen. — their own list on Resident Advisor
The nights
2026
- Sat 3 OctGolden Gatetheir 2nd night
- Sun 26 AprJonny Knüppelfirst time
- Fri 13 MarGolden Gatefirst time
2025 — 1 night
- Fri 10 Oct 2025TBA - Disko Babel (Lilli-Henoch-Straße 10, 10405)FRIVOLOUS Charity Event - Bridges For Music (South Africa_)
Their rooms
One tick a night, on the one axis this page has — Aug 2025, where the listings start, to Jan 2027, the last night anybody has announced. The shaded end has not happened yet.
- Golden GateMar 2026 – Oct 20262 nights
Once each: Jonny Knüppel. One of the 4 listings never named a room, and is not counted as one.
Who they play with
Counted from the bills themselves, over bills of twelve names or fewer. A pair's count includes a night that is announced and not yet played; where there is one, the row says when.
- Nils OhrmannGolden Gate ×2 · Mar 2026 – Oct 20262 nights
The nights, the rooms and the bills are the listings themselves. The biography, the labels and the photograph are Resident Advisor's. Nothing on this page was written for it.