Calvin Harris may have made a name for himself with his first album, 2007’s I Created Disco. And he may have further solidified his status as a modern dance pioneer with his sophomore effort, the 90’s-rave throwback, Ready For The Weekend.

But right now, in the midst of a long line of interviews to promote the U.S. release of Ready For The Weekend, he’s hardly in a dancing mood. Rather, he’s lying in his bed in London, exhausted by the grueling press process that accompanies album releases.

“I always get sick of talking about myself by the first interview,” he says. “I’d rather talk about food.”

Asked if he’s gotten around to eating any good meals, he sighs. “No, not really. I’ve hardly found the time to eat at the moment. It’s more about grabbing a sandwich. But I’m not complaining.”

Honest and opinionated (just read his Twitter page, where he’s sounded off on everything from NME and YouTube to Girls Aloud and Daniel Craig), the 25-year-old Scotsman does appear to realize the good fortune that’s found him.

About four years ago, success did seem to find him, literally, in the form of MySpace. After holing up in his bedroom in Dumfries, Scotland and fiddling around with instruments and computers, he created and posted the tracks that would eventually become I Created Disco. When the songs hit MySpace, respectable online attention ensued. He was soon signed with EMI and SonyBMG.

I Created Disco was released in 2007, riding the electro-dance wave that had hit with acts like the Klaxons, and selling more than 100,000 copies. Kids everywhere from London to New York were, like Harris at the time, clad in neon, donning huge shades indoors and bopping around to bubbly tracks like ‘Acceptable in the 80’s‘ and the anthemic homage to females of all shapes and sorts, ‘The Girls.’

Of course, times have changed significantly since the care-free days of, well, 2007. Ready For The Weekend reflects that: while it’s ultimately a dance record, it’s moodier, a bit more melancholy (see tracks like ‘Blue‘ and ‘I’m Not Alone‘ ). It’s also edgier — the disco overtones of the first album have been replaced with rave hues that are beautiful, epic, and intense.

“I knew that I didn’t want [Ready For The Weekend] to sound anything like the first album,” Calvin says. “I wanted it to be a hands-in-the-air, party album. There are a lot of rave-y references. It was like I mixed it between — definitely pop music, but pop music that references the late ’90s in terms of how classic dance music goes.”

Calvin — who says he usually builds songs around a loop — cites acts like Energy 52 and Armand van Helden as influences on the new record. Indeed, there’s plenty of awesomely delicious 90’s music hallmarks, like the Korg organ presets and keys smattered throughout to the trance-esque loops on ‘You Used To Hold Me.’

Then, there’s the soaring falsetto vocals supplied by Mary Pearce on ‘Ready For The Weekend.’ It’s a howl that woud give 90’s dance divas like Robin S. or Cece Peniston (remember ‘Show Me Love‘ and ‘Finally‘?) a run for their money.

“I came up with a hook while I was singing the falsetto, knowing full-well that it should be sung by a woman,” Calvin says about the tune “I e-mailed my publisher and said, ‘do you know anyone who would work in this big, old mid-90’s beat?’ And he said, ‘yes.’ He directed me to Beverly Knight‘s manager, who put me in touch with Mary, one of her backing singers. She came into the studio and nailed it in three minutes.”

There are several other collaborations in which Calvin’s participated, notably the tracks he produced for Kylie Minogue in 2007 and last year’s #1 UK-hit, “Dance Wiv Me“, done with Dizzee Rascal (which has been included on Ready For The Weekend.)

Then, there’s the Pairing That Wasn’t: in a BBC1 interview, he revealed that, despite considering Lady GaGa to be a good artist, he passed on working with her, pre-‘The Fame,’ after being sent a demo he didn’t really like. (Still, imagine the possibilities of that musical union…)

I ask Calvin if there are any other artists he’d like to work with in the future.

“At the moment, there’s kind of so many, but I tried not to really ask people as far as their albums are concerned,” he says. “When it’s my album, I ask everyone that I want to ask. I just want select people to perform a specific task, like house vocals. I’d never do an album for the sake of having loads of celebrities on it. Although don’t hold me to it…’

‘As far as other people and their albums — they have to ask me. I’m not good at it. It’s like asking people out on a date. I’m not good at that. I reckon if they asked me, I’d say yeah. But I don’t like making the first move.”