Chicago-based DJ/producer Chrissy has made plenty of waves over the years courtesy of his productions for Planet Mu, Hypercolour and other imprints, his residency at Smart Bar, and from his blog My Year of Mixtapes. He’s teamed up with singer-songwriter Hawley Shoffner for an electronic dance-pop project — aptly called Chrissy and Hawley — for a synth-driven endeavor influenced by everyone from the Pet Shop Boys and Arthur Russell to Boytronic and Patrick Cowley.
Ahead of the release of their debut album out July 15 on The Nite Owl Diner label — the imprint Chrissy runs with Alex Burkat — the Windy City maestro shares his five tracks of the moment.
DMX Krew – “Bright Colours On A Cloudy Day”
Ed DMX is a totally underrated genius who I’ve loved for ages, and I wish I’d written this song myself. I’m pretty much always dressed in loud patterns and colors—a friend one said that my laundry looked like “a Care Bear’s ayahuasca vomit”—so this has kinda become my personal theme song.
Bézier – “Cosmos”
Bézier (and the whole Honey Soundsystem crew) are amazing musicians/DJs/people and their label has been going from strength to strength lately. This track is one of my faves from Bézier, channeling Patrick Cowey and Hi-NRG and SF history at a time when it couldn’t be more relevant.
Mister Wallace – “Whoremoan”
Mister Wallace is insanely talented. Everything about this track is on point: the lyrics are genius, the delivery is flawless, and the production effortlessly translates Ballroom/Vogue sounds into something more song structured and accessible to outsiders. If the world were fair this would be on the radio nonstop all summer.
V – “La Nouvelle Epoque”
A new group (or solo artist?) that I know literally nothing about, and can’t really discover more because their name is completely ungoogleable. The single channels 1980s Belgian New Beat and industrial, and coupled with the artist mystery it kind of brings me back to the era of digging in record stores and imagining the back stories behind my fave groups.
DJ Bone – “Black Patterns”
Gorgeous piano-driven Detroit banger that I’ve been playing in every DJ set. I feel like epic tracks with huge build ups like this could kinda be the gateway drug for EDM kids to get into deeper, more mature house and techno sounds.