Amir Alexander

Amir Alexander has been a DJ since 1993 and a producer since about '98.

However, he only officially started pushing his production skills properly in 2008 and his discography – which includes cuts for Secretsundaze, Plan B and Argot as well as his defining hit 'Gutter Flex' – culminates in the release of his debut album 'Love & Fear', released earlier this year.

A Chicago native, behind the decks he's something of a DJ's DJ. A true student of the music he spins, he's always shifted along the deeper end of classic Chicago, Detroit and New York sounds.

And then there's his record label: having set up Vanguard Sound in 2006, he's since used it as a tool to chart the evolution in his own productions as well as the artists found in his mixes. As well as cuts like the sleeper classic 'Experience' EP – which featured Alexander on side A, with G. Marcell on the flip – the label has also become synonymous with heavier tracks, like those on 'Vanguard Sound Vol. 5', which landed earlier this year and features the heat that is Dakini9's 'Delphinus'.

Alongside the plethora of music Alexander represents on Vanguard Sound, he also launched its sister label Anunnaki Cartel in 2013, which has seen releases from the likes of Chris Mitchell, Joey Anderson and Nubian Mindz – showcasing slightly more left of centre music than the Vanguard stable. It's this imprint that Alexander used to drop 'Love & Fear!', and it's a release that presents a much more expansive and experimental side to his production, with tempos that range from tech-house to footwork.

Amir's In Session introduces itself on a deeper tip, easing in before riding the gamut of music that both his productions and labels' have represented in recent years, moving all the way from deep house, through tech and acid house, all prior to arriving at some huge slabs of sublime acid techno – with a few unexpected turns in between.

Amalgamating a range of sounds from his native land and way beyond, along the arc of the mix Alexander lays down tracks that instantly evoke the desire to move. It's journey music crafted to go missing to on the dancefloor, blended seamlessly by a DJ schooled to get a nightclub bouncing.

Alexander will play the Vanguard Sound showcases at Tresor, Berlin on September 18 and Concrete, Paris on September 19. 'Love & Fear' is out now