Brian Knolley has spent nearly three decades in the trenches of Dallas’ house music scene. He can be seen laying down sides as part of the Our House crew or as a guest at parties all over the city. Knolley’s experience comes through with every needle drop, every mix, every…
Wade Hampton has seen it all. As DJ Wish FM he manned the storied dance floor of the Starck Club and was a guiding light of the original rave scene. Now he’s settled in Dallas, where he was involved in Ghostbar and now Uptown hotspot Sisu. He’s been helping club…
In the past few years, Decks in the Park has become a staple of the Dallas summer music schedule. Each free event brings thousands of people out to listen to music in the open air. Jeff Mitchell is the DJ behind the concept and the party. He grew up in…
For the last two decades, Joe MxMind has been active in all aspects of DFW DJ culture: behind the decks, in front of the decks, promoting other DJs on the decks and broadcasting DJs by way of his active sessions.fm online radio station. MxMind is driven by a deep appreciation…
There’s a long list of house and techno producers who have come from Dallas but garnered more success outside its limits. Brett Johnson’s discography begins in ’99 with his Vibrations EP for Esoteric Records. Since then, he’s had 50 more releases, including singles and remixes, for top labels such as…
DJ Bradlee’s face is one many will recognize; he mans the bar at Beauty Bar and It’ll Do. But there was a time when Bradlee spent more time behind the decks than the bar. His night jobs give him a front-row seat to the best of local DJ culture, and…
DJs come in all shapes and sizes, varying from casual weekend raver to the career, full-time DJ. Mike Stewart is the latter. He makes people happy for a living by pulling from a wide variety of genres in the two DJ businesses of which he is part owner. Stewart is…
Shawn Kasal has been a DJ for only a few years, but it’s clearly his calling. Under the alias Stone Castle, he spins and produces techno in support of local DJ crew Lolo and as a guest on other DJ nights throughout town. Unlike many DJs, Kasal has a background…
Aidin Hafezamini has played just about every role in DJ culture. First, he served time as a promoter, having co-founded the Dallas DJ promotion group Prime. But Hafezamini left that stressful gig five years ago to pursue deejaying. He’s also worked other day jobs. For a year, he was behind…
Encouraged by his recent trip to Detroit for the Movement festival, Matthew Urbanic delivers an inspired mix that is heavy on techno. As a DJ, Urbanic is mostly associated with house music, but he recently began exploring new sonic pastures. Choice cuts from the likes of Fred P, Deadbeat, Function,…
Miss CJ knows what it means to hustle and grind. The producer, DJ and promoter is a unifying force for the bass-heavy music scene in DFW and a founding member of the Basshead Society, which throws the annual Evarland Music and Arts Festival, a weekend of music, dancing and camping on a…
Techno is a misunderstood genre in Texas. Here, the word techno is a catch-all used to describe all electronic music. Some even confuse it with the pop music-centered EDM fad, which is lot like lumping Good Charlotte in with Black Flag and calling them both punk. They’re just not the…
John Walker has been a consistent presence in Dallas DJ culture for two decades. He’s best known in house music circles, but he also deals in minimal house, tech house and, more recently, straight-up techno. For this week’s mixtape, Walker meets in the middle of his many musical interests and…
Chase Dugger is a core member of the Disco Initiative and The Guild and creative director for Deep Ellum venue The Nines. In these positions, Dugger has helped to keep dance music alive in the neighborhood. Dugger deejays under the alias Space Chase. You can hear him every month at…
Sean Humphrey isn’t old school, but he’s not exactly a spring chicken, either. He got his start playing in bands but in recent years has embraced the life of a working DJ. Humphrey operates under the alias Redsean, playing in Uptown most weekends. Humphrey is also active as a musician and…
Detroit Swindle play It’ll Do 10 p.m. Saturday, May 20 Since their formation as Detroit Swindle in 2011, Lars Dales and Maarten Smeets have had a meteoric rise in the world of house music. The Amsterdam-based duo have put out a steady stream of albums, and the entire history of…
On the second Tuesday of every month at Double Wide, Brad Sigler slips into his DJ Dead Wax alias to spin the finest in country, rockabilly, western swing and Americana. Sigler only started deejaying in bars a few years ago, but he has roots as a radio DJ that go all…
Dance music genres go in and out of fashion, but drum and bass has continually defied the odds to remain relevant. Two:Tone Crew ahem done the same. They’ve provided a consistent platform for drum and bass music at their Thursday night residency at Wit’s End, where they regularly host…
Robert Taylor has been a key figure in the Dallas DJ scene since the 1990s. As one of the core members of the legendary Hazy Daze Collective, he helped set the bar for underground dance parties. Then he went on to a fruitful partnership with DJ Red Eye as Cold…
Given the indie rock pedigree of the musicians playing in BNQT, it’s surprising that their first album is so steeped in the ’70s. Over the course of the album, Volume 1 pays lip service to Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, the Beatles, the Byrds and Electric Light Orchestra. The supergroup is backed by…
Junk Food has been making the rounds in Dallas with residencies at Candleroom and Nickel and Rye, and his own monthly gathering, Junk Food and Friends. As a DJ he explores an array of genres, but the common denominator is a funky, groovy sound that’s heavy on sub-bass. Junk Food…
Bon Spengler works as a DJ and promoter and is a key player on the online radio station and label Proton Radio. She is one of the gatekeepers of the local techno scene and one of the loudest cheerleaders for the many talented DJs and producers emerging in Dallas. Spengler…
