Armand Van Helden

Dance producer/superstar DJ Armand Van Helden's obsession with hip-hop has always informed his look, his attitude, and his music, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. His paean to old-school hip-hop, Sampleslaya, is corny, but infectious, ripping huge riffs from notable sources like A Tribe Called Quest and Nas. While the early tribal tracks on the Greatest Hits compilation from Strictly Rhythm are top notch, he made his true mark on dance music with his late-'90s remixes of Tori Amos' "Professional Widow," CJ Bolland's "Sugar Is Sweeter," Nuyorican Soul's "Runaway," and the Sneaker Pimps' "Spin Spin Sugar" -- the latter three of which can be found on his mix disc compilation Repro. With this run of singles, Van Helden essentially created a subgenre of dance music whole hog. By slurring the vocals, adding hiccupy effects, and shifting the basslines into double gear, he gave birth to speed garage, igniting a sensation that burned out as quickly as it burned up the dance floors. While others tried to follow his lead, they never succeeded like Van Helden. (Those seeking prespeed garage hits can hear them on Nervous Tracks, which follow in the tradition of New York garage, or the more exciting and better-produced Live from Your Mutha's House.)

The turn-of-the-century records were brave forays that more often faltered than succeeded in bridging the gaps between dance music and rock and rap. Van Helden tried to break from the constraining confines of four-on-the-floor house music. While he'd had some success in mutating it, he decided to throw out the blueprint altogether with Killing Puritans and Gandhi Khan, two aggressive and uneven records. He sampled the Scorpions on Puritans' "Little Black Spiders" and Gary Numan on "Koochy," and the near-pornographic Gandhi Khan features the unintentionally hilarious throbbing deep house single "I Can Smell You." Van Helden's most coherent record, while also preaching eclecticism, is 2 Future 4 U, which jumps gracefully from classic deep vocals ("Flowerz") to the salsa inflections of "Entra Mi Casa." "Alienz" proves that Van Helden could still bring the dark side to house music, with him rediscovering the distorted bass line. But this time, Van Helden slows it down and stretches it across the song's skeleton for an effect that resembles tech-step drum and bass. His latest releases find the producer resting on his once-ambitious laurels -- by either rehashing his past (Funk Phenomena, which boasts the bubbly, unbeatable title track, and "Witch Doktor," his breakout 12-inch) -- or other eras altogether. On New York: A Mix Odyssey, Van Helden mixes songs from '80s artists (Soft Cell, Blondie) -- after the '80s revival had come and gone -- with other producers who played their '80s card well (Felix Da Housecat). (TRICIA ROMANO)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide