Chicago house music is the sound of global pop today. In the 90s, though, it was on life support—until a new wave of producers, including Cajmere and DJ Sneak, got the city doing the Percolator.

By Michaelangelo Matos for www.chicagoreader.com

“You’re as relevant as your last mix.”

That’s a line for a DJ to live by if ever there were one. And if there were ever a DJ to proclaim it, Carlos Sosa is that DJ. Sosa is better known as DJ Sneak, though he also calls himself “the house gangster”—not as a declaration of criminality, but as a ride-or-die pledge of roots. His roots are deep. Born in Puerto Rico, Sneak moved to Chicago in 1983 at age 13, started practicing on his bedroom decks three years later, and went on to become a global ambassador of the Chicago house sound.

Sneak’s success in carving out a career has a lot to do with his visibility on the American rave scene of the 90s—and his ability to evolve his style to suit the much-altered electronic-music landscape of today. “I did the rounds, man,” he says. “I didn’t cut any corners.” By the time he dropped 1997′s “You Can’t Hide From Your Bud”—a disco-powered house ode to the DJ’s favorite herbal snack—rave was in full bloom, and Chicago house was a big draw all over the circuit.

But what drew glow-stick-wielding kids in oversize “phat pants” wasn’t the DJs who reigned during Chicago house music’s first, mid-80s epoch—DJs who conquered the world while remaining relatively unknown in their own back yard. By the time rave culture reached the midwest in the early 90s, Chicago house legends such as Farley “Jackmaster” Funk, Frankie Knuckles, and Steve “Silk” Hurley were busy headlining overseas and producing and remixing pop records. They were already too big for a scene that was scrappy by design. A few years younger, Sneak fit right in with the new breed.

House music has belonged to the world as a whole for most of its history. But like everything else in club life, Chicago-purist house has its vogues of popularity and wider cultural relevance. The mid-to-late 90s was such a time—just as right now is. The original sound of Chicago house music labels Trax and DJ International has been reintegrated into clubland’s matrix with increasing frequency. A number of producers have made back-to-’87-style tracks. Vintage-Chicago-house 12-inches pop up on mixes by under-25 DJs such as Benjamin Damage & Doc Daneeka (their XLR8R Mix, from March, pivots halfway through on Armando’s “Downfall,” first released on Trax in 1988).

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Cajmere · Chicago House · DJ Sneak

First show of the year and intertwined with a load of brand new bass music are some breakbeat excursions new and old, plus a delve back into some classic Chicago beats from the likes of Gemini and Robert Armani. And also some of the best of the festive free giveaways get an airing, listen out for the links to download.

Direct download

Bass Music · Breaks · Chicago House · grime · Mutant Funky · Noyeahno · Rag&Bone · Warlock