London, UK · house · tech-house

Chris Lake

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Black Book Records boss and one of house music's most reliable groove engineers — bassline-first tech house that fills every dancefloor it touches.

Chris Lake is a British producer and DJ who first drew notice in the early 2000s making bootleg remixes of tracks by the Prodigy, Leftfield and Eurythmics under the alias Cristophe D'Abuc. His breakthrough as Chris Lake came in 2006 with "Changes," featuring Laura V, which reached the UK Singles Chart and was picked up by Universal for a worldwide release.

Further vocal-led house and electro house singles followed, including "Carnival" and "Carry Me Away" with Emma Hewitt, the latter reaching number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay chart. He built a run of US dance-chart hits through singles such as "Only One" and "If You Knew," and in 2012 earned a Grammy nomination for his work with Deadmau5 on the album 4x4=12.

Around 2015 Lake moved toward the bass-heavy tech house style he is now associated with, releasing tracks such as "Chest," "Stomper" with Anna Lunoe and collaborations with Chris Lorenzo, alongside a widely played remix of Calvin Harris and Disciple's "How Deep Is Your Love." Tracks like "Turn Off the Lights" and "I Want You" typify the approach: a prominent bassline, a short repeated vocal hook, and arrangements built for long DJ sets.

Lake runs Black Book Records, launched in 2017 to release his own music and that of like-minded producers, having earlier operated the labels Rising Music and Rising Trax. He has recorded collaborations with Fisher, as one half of Under Construction, and with Green Velvet, and now works largely out of the United States.

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