The Language of Soul

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 23, 2005 2:57PM

If the experience of going to a club to see a big name DJ has always felt a little soulless to you then DJ Language might be the answer for the kind of “real music” you crave.

While Chicagoist spends most of its time in rock clubs, we’d be happy to live in a world where every car stereo played nothing but 70s soul. So when we heard DJ Language’s Real Music For Real People mix, it hit that sweet spot in our hearts reserved for artists who combine warm bass lines with crooning vocals and danceable beats. In fact, it takes us right back to those Saturday mornings when we’d fantasize about being a Soul Train dancer while Don Cornelius nodded approvingly in our direction.

Though he gained fame in NYC, DJ Language honed his skills here in Chicago, the home of house music. Described by a friend as a “party DJ,” his mixes strike a balance between the familiar and those deep album cuts you might hear if you were listening to Al Green's iPod on shuffle. Real Music calls upon a variety of genres and artists (Nas, Patrice Rushen, Roy Ayers) in the service of pulling people onto the dance floor and keeping them there by exposing them to music they didn’t even know they were missing.

Sadly, Language doesn’t live here anymore but he’s gracious enough to visit from time to time. Tomorrow night at Sonotheque, he’ll be playing a free Scion show with Ali Shaheed from A Tribe Called Quest and Evil Dee from Beatminerz. Click here to RSVP for the 8 PM show but make sure to arrive early as entry is not guaranteed.