Alexander Omar Smith, [1] known professionally as Omar-S, is an electronic music producer from Detroit, Michigan, with a substantial discography that spans the past twenty years. [2]
In more recent years, Smith, the owner/operator of FXHE Records since its inception in 2003, was seen as a mentor and champion of younger Detroit artists such as John FM and HiTech, having released their music on his label and provided a physical space for them throw events. [3]
On November 6, 2023, Supercoolwicked, a female Detroit music artist, alleged on her social media that Omar-S broke a wine glass on her head and further physically assaulted her to the degree that it required three people to pull him off her at Paramita Sound, a club/record store in Detroit, on the evening of November 5, after she confronted him over unpaid royalties owed to her for over one year. [4] [5] [6] Both artists have acknowledged that the Detroit Police Department is performing an investigation into the incident. [7]
Shortly thereafter, both John FM and HiTech, who both have releases on Omar S' label FXHE Records, distanced themselves from Smith and condemned his actions via public statements. [8] In the following days, music from both artists released on FXHE was noted to have been removed from streaming platforms. [9] [10]
In January, 2024, Omar-S served as the opening act for Madonna at the Little Caesars Arena stop of her Celebrations tour, despite many in Detroit's music scene having moved to boycott him following his physical altercation with Detroit artist SuperCoolWicked in November of the previous year. [11]
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's Black gay 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.
Richard "Richie" Hawtin is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He became known for his recordings under the Plastikman and F.U.S.E. aliases. Under the latter, he released his debut album Dimension Intrusion (1993) as part of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series.
Tech house is a subgenre of house music that combines stylistic features of techno with house. The term tech house developed as a shorthand record store name for a category of electronic dance music that combined musical aspects of techno, such as "rugged basslines" and "steely beats", with the harmonies and grooves of progressive house. The music originally had a clean and minimal production style that was associated with techno from Detroit and the UK.
Derrick May, also known as Mayday and Rhythim Is Rhythim, is an American electronic musician from Belleville, Michigan, United States. May is credited with pioneering techno music in the 1980s along with collaborators Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, commonly known as The Belleville Three.
Carl Craig is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He has recorded under his given name in addition to a variety of aliases, including Psyche, BFC, and Innerzone Orchestra.
Kieran Miles David Hebden, known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting and critically acclaimed albums such as Rounds (2003), Everything Ecstatic (2005) and There Is Love in You (2010). In addition to his twelve studio albums as Four Tet, Hebden's work includes a number of improvisational works with jazz drummer Steve Reid and collaborations with Burial and Thom Yorke.
Carl Cox is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia.
Felix da Housecat is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electro. Felix is regarded as a member of the second wave of Chicago house.
Luke Slater is an English electronic musician, DJ and record producer, who has concentrated on techno since the beginning of the 1990s. He achieved break through commercial success with his tracks "Love" (1997) and "All Exhale" (1999).
Kenny Dixon Jr., better known by his stage name Moodymann, is an American musician based in Detroit, Michigan. He released his 1997 debut album Silentintroduction on the label Planet E Communications. He is the owner of the record labels Mahogani Music and KDJ Records. He is also a member of the group 3 Chairs.
Dave Angel is an English techno musician. Angel was born in Chelsea, London, England. He is the son of a London-based jazz musician, and the elder brother of rapper Monie Love. He had an unorthodox musical education; his father influenced him deeply, as did his friends and his environment, including the radio. He listened not only to Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, but also to soul music and funk. Even though he was playing instruments at 14 years old, including percussion, his musical development was not easy or straightforward.
Plump DJs are an English dance music duo consisting of Lee Rous and Andy Gardner, considered to be early pioneers of the breakbeat genre in the late 1990s. Throughout the 2000s, they have been very prolific creatively, releasing many celebrated underground singles, albums compilations. Also remixing the records of well-known dance music mega stars such as deadmau5, Mark Ronson, Fatboy Slim, Orbital and the Stanton Warriors. They cemented their international status through their 10-year residency at London's famous superclub Fabric, in a career that has taken the duo to the largest stages on all four corners of this earth to perform.
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often characterized by a repetitive four on the floor beat. Artists may use electronic instruments such as drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, as well as digital audio workstations. Drum machines from the 1980s such as Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro instruments are popular.
Seth Troxler is an American DJ and record producer from Lake Orion, Michigan. His DJ work focuses on house and techno, while he has produced on the Wolf + Lamb, Crosstown Rebels and Circus Company labels, collaborating with artists Art Department, Deetron, Tiefschwarz, Matthew Dear and Subb-an.
Defected Records, or simply Defected, is a British independent record label specialising in house music recordings, compilation albums, events, publishing, artist bookings and management.
Nina Kraviz is a Russian DJ, music producer and singer.
Boris Brejcha is a German DJ and record producer. He describes his music style as "high-tech minimal." His style has been compared with DJ Umek, and Solomun.
Danielle Anne Louise Gooding, professionally known as Flava D, is an English UK garage, grime, bassline and drum and bass DJ and music producer. She was previously signed to the Butterz record label and is now signed to Hospital Records. She is one third of the supergroup TQD, alongside fellow producers Royal-T and DJ Q.
Jennifer Witcher is a house and techno DJ and Producer born in Detroit, founder of the DJ collective 'Women on Wax', and accompanying record label 'Women on Wax Recordings'.