Gramaphone Records is a DJ-based vinyl record store in Chicago, Illinois. [1]
The store opened in 1969 [2] and originally sold folk, jazz, and blues music. By the 1980s, the store was selling house music records. The store was the first of its kind in the Chicago area, focusing on vinyl for DJs, and since has become a destination point for traveling DJs. [3] The store focuses on stocking house, techno and electronic music [4] and has been important in the promotion of Chicago house music. [5] [6] [7] It is currently owned by DJ Michael Serafini. [8] [9] [10]
The store has been featured in the documentary Better Living Through Circuitry .
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs, club DJs, mobile DJs, and turntablists. Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who mix music from other recording media such as cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names.
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120-130 beats per minute as a re-emergence of 1970s disco. It originated in the Black queer community in Chicago. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
Miami bass is a subgenre of hip hop music that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The use of drums from the Roland TR-808, sustained kick drum, heavy bass, raised dance tempos, and frequently sexually explicit lyrical content differentiate it from other hip hop subgenres. Music author Richie Unterberger has characterized Miami bass as using rhythms with a "stop-start flavor" and "hissy" cymbals with lyrics that "reflected the language of the streets, particularly Miami's historically black neighborhoods such as Liberty City, Goulds, and Overtown".
Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the original house music DJs and producers from the area, such as Ron Hardy and Phuture.
Francis Warren Nicholls Jr., known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of music that began in Chicago during the early 1980s and subsequently spread worldwide. In 1997, Knuckles won the Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical. Due to his importance in the development of the genre, Knuckles was often called "The Godfather of House Music".
Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used for remixes. It also operates a specialized music streaming service oriented towards DJs.
Ryan Gary Raddon, better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, music producer and remixer. DJ Times voted Kaskade "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. DJ Mag named Kaskade fifty-first on its 2009 list of Top 100 DJs.
DJ Magazine is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Latin America, China, South Korea, Brunei, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Canada, Russia, Belarus, and the Netherlands.
Hardkiss is the group moniker of San Francisco electronic music pioneers Scott, Gavin, and Robbie Hardkiss. The trio formed a record label called Hardkiss Music in San Francisco in 1991. Initially promoting underground raves and dance parties where they would DJ, with Hardkiss Music they began to produce and release a catalog of vinyl records which stirred international recognition and launched DJ and production careers. Scott Hardkiss worked under the pseudonym God Within. Gavin Hardkiss works under the pseudonym Hawke. Robbie Hardkiss has worked under the pseudonym Little Wing. They also released music by a myriad of other artists including Rabbit in the Moon, Symbiosis and TTauri. Their music started as a mixture of acid house music, trance music, and breakbeat techno. Hardkiss Music became a blueprint for DJ owned boutique record labels.
Love Mysterious is the fourth solo album by house DJ Kaskade. It was released on September 26, 2006 by Ultra Records.
Kate Simko is an American composer, electronic music producer and founder of her ensemble London Electronic Orchestra.
Joel Thomas Zimmerman, known professionally as deadmau5, is a Canadian electronic music producer and DJ. He mainly produces progressive house and electro house music, though he also produces and DJs other genres of electronic music, including techno under the alias Testpilot. Zimmerman has received six Grammy Award nominations for his work.
Don Pepijn Schipper, better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, digital artist, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music. He is one of the pioneers of the future house genre and was ranked sixth in the Top 100 DJs – 2020 list by DJ Mag. He was also ranked number one Producer of the Year for 2018 by 1001Tracklists. In 2016, he was ranked the number one Future House Artist of the Year on Beatport.
Rebecca & Fiona is a Swedish DJ duo from Stockholm. The duo was founded by Rebecca Scheja and Fiona FitzPatrick in 2007, when they met at a party and started to work and make music together as DJs. In 2010 they released their debut single "Luminary Ones" and during 2010-2011 they were support act for Robyn, other notable performances during those years were also at the Polar Music Prize and the Swedish music festival Way Out West.
Jamie Jones is a Welsh DJ and producer.
Spring Awakening Music Festival (SAMF) was an annual electronic dance music (EDM) festival held in Chicago. The festival started at a theater in 2008, moved to Soldier Field in 2012–2015, and to Addams/Medill Park in 2016–2018. In 2019, the festival moved to the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was not held in 2020, and the 2021 event was held in October at Addams/Medill Park. The 2022 festival was scheduled to be held at the United Center on July 8–10, but was subsequently cancelled.
DJing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience.
Lukas Rafael Ruiz Hespanhol, known as Vintage Culture, is a Brazilian DJ and record producer. He had a great ascent of releasing remixes of songs like "Blue Monday" by New Order and "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. These songs went viral with his versions of "Bete Balanço" by Cazuza and "Bidolibido" by Fernanda Abreu.
Alok Achkar Peres Petrillo is a Brazilian musician, DJ, and record producer. He is known for his single "Hear Me Now". In 2021 and 2022, Alok was ranked the 4th best DJ in the world by DJ Mag, being the highest position occupied by a Brazilian.