Staying up in the music industry can be a daunting task, as trends and opportunities are shifting as unpredictably as sands in a windstorm. One Manhattan DJ who seems to not only create the trends but bend the rules is Alex Gimeno, aka Ursula 1000. He has been spinning fresh, modern sounds for more than a decade, playing internationally, producing music, including a track on the dance-oriented "Pink Panther" soundtrack, and packing dance floors from Hawai'i to England.

I caught Ursula 1000 on the phone in Miami, where he was playing before he comes to Hawai'i for a News Year's Eve party at NextDoor in Chinatown, to ask him about his music and career.

Q. Describe your music.

A. My set right now is in a fun spot. It's super party music: a mix of breaks, electro house, mashups, a lot of familiar things that are presented in an updated way. I want it to inspire you to let yourself loose. I play a mix of records I look for, and CDs.

Q. Where did you get your DJ name?

A. It has a real '60s vibe; I took the name from the iconic actress Ursula Andress, the blond bombshell from James Bond, and created Ursula 1000.

Q. What's your inspiration?

A. I've been collecting records since I was a teenager, and have been fascinated by different types of music. In the '90s, I got into it more and bought dance records, and started DJing in the mid-'90s, during that techno-rave time.

Q. Tell us about some of the highs and lows of your career: What would you boast about? What would you like to forget?

A. My most recent high was playing at the Big Chill Festival in England. I played for a sea of thousands of people. It was a surreal outdoor festival.

As far as lows, it's hard to say; there have been those moments where maybe the promoter is a fan, but you're in a weird place, the attendance is low, and no one knows you.

Q. Where is DJed music going? Is it changing? Where are you in it all?

A. I think that I'm in a real comfy space as a producer, and a touring DJ. Right now it seems like people are DJing with laptops and playing with MP3s, as opposed to traditional vinyl. I think it's getting lazy, versus music they dug and looked for. Any time technology steps in, it might get easier, but there is something more aesthetically pleasing in queuing up vinyl.

I think that the only major change in produced music is the way it's being sold. There are four major companies owning all the record labels, and I think it's kind of starting to collapse. As far as styles — indie, deep house, breakbeats, there hasn't been a decline in the different genres.

Q. What are you listening to now?

A. I'm working on my new album right now, so there are older things that I'm re-discovering in a way. Old favorites I had as a kid, like goth-rock from the '80s, dancehall, things that inspired me as a kid.

I'm into early-'70s glam rock, like David Bowie, T.Rex and Roxy Music. Now I have a different ear; I listen to it like, "How did they do that in the studio?" I'm reading in between the lines, trying to figure out how things are created.

Q. What's next in the life of Ursula 1000?

A. I have a digital album out soon called "Undressed," it's a collection of remixes that people did for me; it'll be out in a month or two online at www.ursula1000.com. My new studio album will be out next summer, with a super eclectic style of sounds; I keep wanting to push it to another level, and it gets crazier and crazier.

I've also been toying around with the idea of doing something live, maybe I will get a combination together and do something next year. I've had an indie-rock background, and there is something magical about performing in a band that I kinda miss. It's something that I'm thinking about re-visiting."

Lacy Matsumoto is a freelance writer and producer of Urban Pacific, a seasonal fashion event that is presented in Chinatown.

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