Derrick Carter

Born and raised in the western suburbs, Derrick was into music from a young age, but during his teens Chicagods house scene sucked him in for good. Before long Derrick became a strong presence in Chicagods underground dance scene. "When I got my driverds license at 16 my sneak ability was validated," he laughs. "I was a fierce bedroom jock for a long time. After you mix for the love of it for six or seven years, you get it pretty tight and you can take it on the road." Derrick got by working at dancemusic specialty stores like Gramaphone and gigging at parties. later Derrick landed regular DJ stints at Shelter, Foxyds, and Smart Bar.

Though he doesndt spin much locally anymore, when he does he attracts large crowds. Derrickds sets are rooted in house, but he freely travels outside club tastes, seamlessly incorporating oldschool disco, soul, jazz, and whatever else catches his fancy. Most of the time Derrick works in Europe, where heds become a major celebrity among dancemusic aficionados. And the moneyds a hell of a lot better there. "Itds hard not to laugh on the occasions when youdll make 20 times what you make in Chicago on a Saturday night, but here are also times when you do it just for the fun, like at home. So many people come up to me and say, dMan, I had the worst day. My girlfriend left me, I locked my keys in my car, but you turned me for two hours, and that made me able to get up in the morning.d Thatds the best thing going."

In 1988 Derrick, fellow DJ Mark Farina, and friend Chris Nazuka released an EP as the group Symbols & Instruments. The record had a strong influence on the burgeoning ambient techno movement in England. While it wasndt a commercial success, it established Derrick as an international figure in the dancemusic underground. Since then heds been involved with a number of recording projects, firstly his solo project Sound Patrol under whom he released his first album dSweetened No Lemond which exuded a soulfulness and lowkey grittiness that resonated beyond the infectious grooves and made a departure from the machinelike quality of the dance music fare of the time.

Since then the pioneering, innovative tracks and consequent critical acclaim have marked Derrick out as one of the most important players in dance music. Most notably through his more recent releases on Classic. His first release was as Rednail with dI Think of Youd, followed by N? Pschidt and Hope under his own name. N? Pschidt combined woven scatting with sleepy minimal beats on dDreaming Againd and skilfully cast his own low, sexy drawl over his trademark Carter grooves to form dBoompty Boomp Themed, described by Seven magazine as dwithout doubt the slinkiest and downright funkiest track Idve heard for a long time.d Derrickds latest Classic release dHoped is again causing a storm amongst DJs and press alike and his Classic album is eagerly awaited and expected for release sometime within the next year.

Derrick Carter is most definitely bringing the Boompty Boomp back to the dance floor!

http://om-records.com/artists/derrick_carter


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