Get Your Old School House Music Fix With These New Local Label Reissues

By Katie Karpowicz in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 10, 2013 7:10PM

House. Trap. Drum and bass. Acid. Dubstep. Techno. Trance. Sometimes we miss the days when dance music wasn't a swirl of acronyms and subgenres. After all, defining and dissecting it isn't nearly as fun as dancing to it is. Sometimes it just feels great to get back to the basics.

If you're a fan of the early days of Chicago house music—or you just want to learn more about what came before "Macbook DJs"—local record label Still Music is prepping a pair of gem-like reissues profiling two of Chicago's most influential dance music labels in the '80s.

The first, Kill Yourself Dancing; The Story of Sunset Records Inc. Chicago 1985-89, is slated for a Sept. 17 release. If you (hopefully) don't take the title of the first compilation too literally, check the follow up Bang the Box: The (Lost) Story of AKA Dance Music Chicago 1987-88 set to be released on Oct. 15. Both projects were managed by Sunset Records Inc. founders themselves Matt Warren and Miguel Garcia (Warren also went on to found AKA Dance Music Chicago) as well as longtime local DJ Jerome Derradji.

Chicagoist had the pleasure of checking both albums out in advance and, yes, we're recommending you pick them up if you still catch yourself at Neo, Berlin or any of our other favorite Chicago dance joints every weekend. These tracks might be old, but they've held up surprisingly well and sound fantastic with a bit of remastering.

For those who still prefer the feel of a physical record/CD in your hand, the reissues will be come with some sweet treats for collectors including booklets detailing the history of each label written by Chicago house music expert Jacob Arnold.

Both reissues will be available for purchase on Still Music's website.