Club Scout

His resumé reads like a rap sheet, complete with a list of aliases such as Aphrohead, Sharkimaxx, Thee Maddkatt Courtship and, most notably, Felix da Housecat. The guy who grew up in Chi-town as Felix Stallings Jr. can't stop the name game; since the age of fifteen, when DJ Pierre's mentoring led to his first hit track, "Phantasy Girl," da Cat's been on the prowl. Although his parents tried to keep him out of the scene by sending him to college in Alabama for three years, Felix finally found his way back to music -- and back to the charts, marking his territory in Chicago's second wave. The burgeoning beatmaster brought sweltering style and frolicky retro to his left-field house foundations, dumping it all on the dance floor. Kittenz and Thee Glitz (Emporor Norton), released in 2001, inspired critics to underscore what the fans had known all along; in 2002, Felix earned a (rather belated) slot on Rolling Stone's "Next 10 Artists to Watch" list. Today the labels he founded -- Radikal Fear, Clashbackk and Thee Black Label -- are scouting for new talent, while his production prowess can be heard on a litter of releases by artists as diverse as Madonna, Diana Ross and Giorgio Moroder. September sees Felix's second Bugged Out! compilation hit the stores with a double CD that includes such acts as Yoko Ono and Depeche Mode -- two names you're not likely to find on the same album again. Then he's off to perform at the Athens Summer of Love Festival. We get Felix first, though, when he stops by the Church on Thursday, August 14. Meow!