Damian Lazarus

It would be easy to write off Damian Lazarus as a casualty of the electroclash trend of a few years ago, which promised so much yet delivered so little. Lazarus was at the forefront of the movement as a label executive with City Rockers (the imprint responsible for bringing Tiga and Fischerspooner to the world). As the craze fizzled, though, the London native found himself out of a job. True to his surname, he resurrected his career at a new label, Crosstown Rebels, where he's been pushing a sound that's far less dependent on hollow imaging. Incorporating elements of electroclash with house and straight-up techno, the DJ (due at Vinyl on Friday, November 25) has managed to retain everything that made the style interesting in the first place. -- Timothy Pittz