Traxx's roots run deep in Chicago, growing up assimilating the music of the city's legendary house and acid house producers. He began to come into his own around the early '00s, as he released his first productions (with a slew of collaborators) under the name The Dirty Criminals on International Deejay Gigolos, a record label run by the famed German DJ Hell with a gritty, raunchy acid techno-electro sound. He ramped up his productions toward the end of the decade, eventually launching his own label, Nation, and crystallizing what he called the "jakbeat" sound: A twist on acid house with a raw, industrial flavor, "jakbeat" is like classic Chicago acid house's surly, unruly, lawbreaking younger cousin.
When Traxx gets behind the decks, he has a knack for tying all these things together, mixing up classic Chicago house with '80s EBM (thereby drawing out the links between these two genres — they're more related than many imagine), post-punk, and fresh, new techno. But his range is broad, and you never quite know what you're going to get — synthpop, disco, electro, and more are all fair game. And if that's not enough, We Are Monsters' resident DJs are some of the city's finest: Solar, Mozghan, and Jason Greer, all of whom know their tunes inside and out.
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