Steve Smooth
The Chicago house DJ’s debut album won’t take no for an answer; Japan’s techno ambassador has an answer of his own

Courtesy of Arights

As one of the birthplaces of house music, Chicago has produced a long line of influential DJs, running from Frankie Knuckles through Derrick Carter and Mark Farina. But the city continues to throw forth new artists, one of the latest being Steve Smooth, who celebrates the release of his and his partner JJ Flores’s debut full-length The Collection at Unit tomorrow night.

Born and raised on Chicago’s Southside, Steve Smooth’s tracks resound with the street smarts of a fast-talking city boy. He took the time-honored route from behind the cash register at a dance-music record store on to DJing and production work.

Numerous gigs on the Chicago club circuit led to a guest spot on the city’s largest radio station, B96, and later production work for labels including International House Records and Moody Recordings.

Smooth’s first production, “Beat Freaker,” became a worldwide hit, and later anthems with Flores like “Release” and “Get Naked” have found their way into the sets of leading Japanese DJs like Takkyu Ishino and DJ Kagami.

Out on domestic house imprint Carizma, The Collection brings together many of the pair’s previously released singles, topping them up with their latest productions. Although edited down for radio, the tracks are no-nonsense, four-to-the-floor peak-hour anthems, leavened with a healthy sense of humor.

DJ Kagami and Carizma resident Moa provide support as part of the record label’s “Midnight Carizma” event...

Meanwhile, Japanese techno innovator Ken Ishii is back with Sunriser, his first disc since 2002’s Future In Light. Ever since Ishii’s 1993 debut 12” “Tangles Notes” went to No. 1 on NME’s techno charts, the DJ has been the international face of Japan’s techno otaku, signing with Sony and even appearing on the cover of Newsweek in 2000.

Dance music’s declining fortunes in the new decade saw Ishii parting ways with Sony to establish his own 70 Drums imprint, but he remains a lynchpin of the Detroit techno community, touring worldwide and appearing domestically with the likes of Jeff Mills and Sunriser collaborator Funk D’Void.

With the new disc, Ishii continues to move away from the dark, abstract techno of his early years to the warmer, more melodic direction established by Future In Light. “With Future In Light, I launched my own record label and was free simply to make the music I want to,” Ishii writes in notes for the album. “Through the collaborations I did for Sunriser, I was able to reaffirm the joy of making music and the continuing power of techno.”

Ishii fronts the Sunriser release tour at Ageha with Detroit hero Carl Craig, Sunriser collaborator 7th Gate, and domestic powerhouses Wada & Yama (aka Co-Fusion), Q’hey and Shin Nishimura. Steve Smooth@Unit, Nov 11. Ken Ishii@Ageha, Nov 17. See club listings for details.

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