Wolfgang Gartner Calls Grammy Nomination 'A Total Surprise'

After an impressive year boasting strong singles "Conscindo" (with Mark Knight), "Undertaker" and "Animal Rights" (with deadmau5), Austin, Texas, electro-house maestro Wolfgang Gartner was particularly ecstatic when we caught up with him this week.

Gartner, born Joey Youngman, is nominated for a 2011 Grammy in the Best Remixed Recording (Non Classical) category for his mix of house-music producer Andy Caldwell's "Funk Nasty" (featuring vocals by Gram'ma Funk). In February, he will face off against Morgan Page's remix of Nadia Ali's "Fantasy," David Guetta's mix of Madonna's "Revolver," Mike Rizzo's mix of Brazilian legend Sergio Medes' "Orpheus" and the Dirty South and Axwell mix of Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition."

"It was a total surprise to me," Gartner said. "I didn't even know that it was Grammy nomination time. Somebody on Twitter said, 'Congratulations on your Grammy nomination,' and I ran over to my computer and looked on the site, and there it was. Yeah, it's awesome. Obviously, it's a milestone to be nominated for a Grammy, especially [with] other nominees I have so much respect for."

While the Grammy nod caps an already-colossal year for the DJ/producer, Gartner isn't planning to slow down. Next week, he drops Space Junk, a 12-track studio effort full of typically sinister, melody-driven electro-house bangers along with some new sounds.

"The response has been great," he said of Space Junk. "We sent out the promos. I know a bunch of people are playing it so far: Tiësto, Eric Morillo, Steve Angello. It's a little bit different to the stuff that people would expect from me as the traditional 'Wolfgang' sound, but I think it's one of the best things I've ever done.

"A lot of my fans want me to re-create the same sound over and over again. They even say it on Facebook and social networking. They'll say: 'Please just keep making songs in the style of "Fire Power" and "Undertaker." ' You can't do that. You can only do it so many times before you hit a wall and you're regurgitating old ideas. I feel like I've made something fresh that hasn't been done before that still has my sound in it but it's just a little bit beyond the boundaries of what I normally do. So I'm happy with it."

And with a new album on the way, fans will also be happy to know the Wolf is gonna be dropping his first official music video soon, though not for a track from the upcoming Space Junk. In fact, it's for his popular joint "Illmerica." "I just got and approved the video for it last night, and I guess it's the first real music video that's been made for one of my tracks. There have been little low-budget cheesy ones done before, but this one tells a story. It kind of blew my mind, actually, when I saw it. It captures the essence of the song into the video. I don't want to go into too much detail and give it away, but it's awesome, and I'm really looking forward to it."

Will you be pulling for Wolfgang at the Grammys? Let us know in the comments!