DJ Heather

It takes talented DJs to make mix CDs that don’t resemble underground electronic versions of Now! compilations. DJ Heather, who just released the seamless collection Fabric 21, ranks among the best when it comes to blending beats. She converts funk, disco and soul bass lines into a single elastic groove, and she sequences songs to ensure the maximum dance-floor response for each cut. Female African-American house DJs remain rare, but Heather never presents herself as an exotic figure. It’s all about the skills. On 2003’s Dancefloor Principles, the only album to feature her photo on the cover, she’s shown manipulating the decks, her eyes closed, her fingers clutching the controls like vice-grip calipers. A one-time hip-hop buyer for a Chicago record store, Heather knows her rap wax as well as her techno tracks. She doesn’t switch up styles in the studio (a linear approach works best for party soundtracks), but during her expanded concert sets, she digs deeper into her remarkable repertoire.