The best Dallas electro tracks chosen by the DJs that play them
Following our investigation into Dallas Electro, the artists involved pick their favourite tracks that define the sound, including cuts from E.R.P., Plastic Sleeves and Rick Simpson...
Dallas, Texas is a buzzing hub of raw, hard-hitting electro music, with DJs like Helena Hauff, Maceo Plex and R9 all avid followers of the sound.
The small city has been pumping out essential electro cuts since the mid-’90s, which have drawn influence from hip-hop, Krautrock, industrial, and the sounds of the Motor City.
Now, innovators like Minto George, Blixaboy, Cygnus, Textasy, E.R.P. and more are pushing Dallas electro forward, releasing on labels like Craigie Knowes, Dolphin Traxx Frustrated Funk, Solar One, Semantica and many more. You can read the unlikely story of the hard-hitting Texan underground.
Below, five DJs pick their favourite tracks tha define the sound...
Blixaboy picks...
E.R.P.
‘Lament Subrosa’
(Frantic Flowers)
“My fave Dallas electro track is probably E.R.P. ‘Lament Subrosa’. Just a perfectly deep electro tune. His music is simultaneously romantic and dripping in melancholy. He pulls that off while still being funky.”
Textasy picks...
Plastic Sleeves
‘Cybernetic Properties’
(Down Low Music)
“I would say ‘Cybernetic Properties’ by Plastic Sleeves. If you look at the video on YouTube, you get the idea. He puts on this mannequin mask obviously influenced by Dopplereffekt in its own way. It’s the same kind of energy that Tense, who’s also from Dallas, would have.”
Cygnus picks...
Rick Simpson
‘The Modern Mind’
(Frustrated Funk)
“The name sums it up pretty nicely.”
Vectorvision picks...
E.R.P.
‘Tuga‘
(Frustrated Funk)
“Gerard and I are some of the older geezers of the Dallas electro scene, meeting in the early ’90s. He’s a constant inspiration and the one person I trust most musically, as I often ask his opinion of my own music. This track contains all the elements I love in his music; delicate crystalline melodies, icy strings, and a tough bassline that jumps out of the speaker and wiggles your body.”
Minto George picks...
Soul Oddity
‘Cruxx’
(Astralwerks)
“Though he no longer lives here, Josh Kay started out in Dallas and made some very influential tracks that I think are cemented as part of Dallas music history. This particular track he co-produced with Romulo del Castillo, as Soul Oddity. It encompasses some of the best aspects of electro in my opinion; alien sounds, experimentation, syncopated rhythms and a dark, deep mood. You can also hear the breakbeat or funky breaks cousins of the electro sound that became very popular in Dallas circa 1995 to 1997 in this track.”
