Dust Traxx Chicago

Music:

Member Since: 7/2/2008
Band Website: dusttraxx.com
Band Members: Maybe You! Send me your track

The dawn of our entire world began in 1996 with a vision and a contact with the legendary Chicago House producer Paul Johnson. Who knew then what would happen? We hoped. We dreamed. We achieved. A sampler with tracks by Frankie Bones, Robert Armani, James Christian and Paul was the DTX 000 release and the one that started it all. The Chicago Filtered Disco House sound that started with Cajual and Relief worldwide, continued with Dust Traxx Chicago. 10 years and 50 releases later, DTX Chicago now hosts a catalog that features the talents of:

Angel Alanis, Bear Who ?, Brother 2 Brother , Candi Crawford, Candi Staton, Craig Alexander, Crump Daddy, Curtis Mathewson, DJ Rhythm, Deaf 'n' Dumb Crew, Derek Conyer, East Coast Boogiemen, Eric Davenport & Gabriel D. Vine, Fab G, G.U., Gant Garrard, Gene Hunt, Glenn Underground, Harrison Crump, James Christian, Johnny Fiasco, K-Alexi, Keith Henderson, Lamont Lambert, LawnChair Generals, Lego, Mandrake, Martin Venetjoki feat. Derek Conyer, Michael Airhart , Miles Maeda, Mr. A.L.I., Nehpets Giddens, Pat Nice, Paul Johnson, Raya Beam, Robert Armani, Ron Carroll, Sebastien Leger, Sista Stroke, Smitty, Smitty & Eric Davenport, Stacy Kidd, T Spencer, Tim Hatfield, Trackhead Steve , Various Artists, Willie Snickers, Yo Se', and Yonkapin.

These artists have made a worldwide stir over the years and have made Dust Traxx Chicago the channel for their commotion. A name brand in the world Electronic Music market, our music has reached the farthest corners of the planet Earth. Such worldwide appreciation has earned us a place in the media, the record boxes of the big-time jocks and the hearts of House Music fans everywhere. This is prime time, big room, no nonsense House Music with obvious roots in 70’s Funk, Disco and 80’s R&B. The Dust Traxx Chicago sound will continue to set trends and make waves throughout the world.
Influences:
Sounds Like: By Dani Deahl

Despite its humble beginnings decades ago, Chicago house now permeates every layer of international popular culture, from Collette’s “Feelin’ Hypnotized” colliding with Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada to The Greenskeepers’ viral “Lotion” music video. Bonus: Chicago is the only city to have a street named after a DJ (Frankie Knuckles Way, anyone?). But within the past five years, Chicago’s house orientation has been challenged. As electro and blog-centric artists burst onto the scene and make superstars out of bedroom producers, classic local house is taking a backseat. Caught in the middle of the auditory war is Dust Traxx Records. One of the city’s most influential imprints, founded in 1997, the label’s bread ’n’ butter has been Chicago house from the likes of Paul Johnson and Glenn Underground. As label head Radek Hawryszczuk watches the industry change around him, the last bastion of Chicago house is making a startling announcement: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Hawryszczuk’s been running Dust Traxx for 11 years, and for most of that time, operations have been out of the basement of his house on the Northwest Side. It wasn’t unusual to see Harrison Crump snacking in the kitchen or Angel Alanis playing guitar next to mountains of yet-to-be-shelved vinyl. As notoriety and sales blossomed, the business rapidly expanded to include handling 45 additional labels, GrooveMedia—a digital-rights management company—the distribution company Sole Unlimited, Sweat parties at Red Dog and a proper warehouse.

Despite the boom, Hawryszczuk watched a metamorphosis outside company walls warily. With vinyl sales on the decline and the music industry buffeted by file sharing, Dust Traxx could no longer rest on its laurels. “Joe from Gramaphone once told me, ‘It’s not your job to have an opinion’ and pointed to the bins of records that filled his store,” Hawryszczuk says. “You know what he called them? Broken dreams. I care too much about this to be selling broken dreams.”

Revamping the company included hiring Marea Stamper as managing director of GrooveMedia and introducing a Digi White Label program to gather feedback from DJs on promotional downloads. Most important, however, it meant changing its sound.

The public was none the wiser until Miami’s Winter Music Conference 2008, when the label hosted two parties featuring electro blog darlings Ocelot and Le Castle Vania alongside Chicago upstarts Jason Tyler and Hollywood Holt. If people weren’t aware of Dust Traxx’s changing direction before, the showcase made it clear. “The new Dust Traxx is more diverse,” Hawryszczuk says. “Instead of being categorized as strictly Chicago house, we’re ranging from techy influences to more banging, edgy stuff. It’s not just going to be for house heads anymore.”

The label’s branding face-lift completes a long-standing connection with electro. Earlier this decade, Dust Traxx performed manufacturing and distribution for Tommie Sunshine’s Xylophone Jones label and Felix Da Housecat’s Rude Photo imprint. “We were early, not late,” Stamper says. “We carried Tommie and Felix’s labels at a time when many house label groups wouldn’t touch electro.”

Before accusing Dust Traxx of selling out to hipster trends, consider that the label recently brought house ace Diz on board to do A&R and has house icon Bear Who? on its upcoming release schedule. Dust Traxx isn’t abandoning its roots, just welcoming what’s evolved from them. “News flash: French house is Chicago house. Fidget house is Chicago house. A lot of these genres wouldn’t exist without [Chicago house’s] influence,” Stamper says.

Hawryszczuk’s gamble seems to be paying off with releases from Junior Sanchez and Jake Childs, plus side projects from the Noise Floor Crew and Tittsworth coming soon. Dust Traxx’s fundamentals aren’t shifting. As Hawryszczuk notes, “You’re only as good as your last record.”
Record Label: Dust Traxx Chicago
Type of Label: Indie