Photo: Bailey Greenwood (Chrissy)
Chrissy has once been called “one of the best disco DJs on Earth” by The Black Madonna and it’s easy to see why if you’ve ever experienced the now San Francisco-based DJ and producer in full effect. For his contribution to our Groove podcast however, the Nite Owl Diner co-founder, who has recently released a slew of releases on the newly launched Cool Ranch sublabel, has opted for a colourful mix dedicated to taking risks. It’s a testament to Chrissy’s versatility as a DJ – after all, this someone who has released footwork bangers on Planet Mu as well as synth pop together with indie artist Hawley Shoffner.
Between 2009 and 2015, you’ve run two different projects, “My Year of Mixtapes” and “My Year of Edits”, exploring a variety of subgenres and sometimes subsubgenres and giving old classics or forgotten songs a new spin. What was your motivation for those more than ambitious projects?
My main goal was to work with music that I loved but didn’t get a chance to play out very often, whether that was by making mixtapes for outside the club or making edits of songs to fit a dancefloor setting. I really love spreading the word about songs or genres that I think are unfairly slept-on, so that ends up being a big impulse behind a lot of what I do.
Together with Alex Burkat, you’ve founded The Nite Owl Diner in 2013 and have since released records by The Black Madonna, Lrusse or Policy as well as productions from both of you. Is there an overall concept that you follow with Nite Owl?
The Nite Owl Diner is about good, catchy, dancefloor-ready house music—especially things that would work in the late night and afterhours sets immediately after peak hour. Closing out the party has always been one of my favorites times to DJ, and the informal 4am afterparties in 24-hour-diners have always been a really special experience as well, so the label kind of focuses on those moments.
With Cool Ranch, you’ve started a sister label to The Nite Owl Diner, dedicated to the Chicago house sound of the nineties, so far featuring only your own productions along remixes of other artists. Why that particular focus?
Cool Ranch is basically an outlet for a lot of stuff I’d been writing that I wanted to release, but didn’t want to put out through The Nite Owl Diner. I didn’t wanna clutter up Diner’s discography with a bunch of releases in a row from myself, so I started a new sublabel for it! They’re all limited edition, hand-stamped white label 12″s, and we have the digital available as well if you go directly to our bandcamp page.
Your contribution to our Groove podcast brings together tracks from a variety of genres. What was your idea behind it?
Mixing things up I guess! I feel like so many DJs play it really safe, and stick to one or two genres in one small tempo range, and I never understood it. There is so much great music out there and so many interesting genres, so why not push yourself to include a bigger range of things?
Last but not least: Where can we see you behind the decks in the near future, and what are your plans as a producer and label owner?
I’m working on a new album, which will hopefully come out in 2018. I just released Cool Ranch Vol. 4 (with remixes from Shaun J. Wright & Alinka and Peter Croce), and Cool Ranch Vol. 5 is on the way (with remixes from Violet and Eddie C). There are some cool Nite Owl Diner releases in the works as well!
And here are my upcoming tour dates:
May 17: Garage 442 (Barcelona, Spain)
May 18: Buttons @ About Blank (Berlin, Germany)
May 19: Oslo Camping (Oslo, Norway)
May 25: The Workout @ Emily’s Bar (London, UK)
June 1: Feeling Better @ The Standard Rooftop (Los Angeles, California)
June 9: Technosaic (Sacramento, California)
June 24: Monroe (San Francisco, California)
Stream: Chrissy – Groove Podcast 158
01. Spring – No Time For Crying
02. S3A – Something More
03. Swales – Feel This Way
04. Jackie Moore – Can You Tell Me Why (Underdog Edit)
05. Devo – Jocko Homo (Chrissy Edit)
06. Abandoned Footwear – Mind Over Matter
07. Lone – Hyper Seconds
08. Chrissy – I Can Feel It
09. Supersempffft – Out Of Time (Chrissy Edit)
10. Rhythmatic – Rhythmatix
11. The Hacker & Jensen Interceptor – Human Method
12. Automat – Disco Traxx
13. Massiande – By My Side
14. Killa Productions – Feelin’ Acid
15. Blackboy – Fam Woulé
16. Gigi – Batoneh
17. Cool Hand Flex – Melody Madness
18. DJ Krome & Mr. Time – Ganja Man VIP
19. Dead Man’s Chest – Trip II Eclipse
20. Om Unit – The Corridor (Danny Scrilla Remix)
21. The Sisters of Mercy – Flood I
22. Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band – Sunshowers
23. Alex Burkat – Moving Day
24. Gillian Lane – You Take My Heart Away
25. Mystica Tribe – Jade Eyes (Chrissy Remix)
