Claude Young

One of Detroit's leading DJs and producers as the '90s closed, Claude Young filtered the more lush elements of Motor City melodicists with the harder, minimalist stream of Robert Hood and Jeff Mills to create productions which lacked for neither emotion nor hard-hitting trance. After helping out Jeff Mills on his radio show during the early '90s, Young debuted with the One Complete Revolution EP on his own Utensil label. He also recorded as Project 625 for another of his own labels (DOW) and with Anthony "Shake" Shakir on his third label, Frictional. Besides other tracks for Acacia (as Rhythm Formation) and 7th City (with Dan Bell as Brother From Another Planet), Young began making the transition to the global techno scene with a single for Andrew Weatherall's Emissions Audio Output Recordings (as Being) and DJAX-Up-Beats (as Claude Young). He followed with several high-profile remixes during 1995, including tracks by Inner City, Astral Pilot, Innerzone Orchestra, Joey Beltram and Slam (with the help of Ian O'Brien). Young's first full-length, the 1996 DJ Kicks compilation, showed him in fine form, perhaps the best DJ to come out of Detroit since Jeff Mills. One year later, his debut album, Soft Thru for Dutch Elypsia Records, earned him much praise for its sensibilities, uniting the minimalist with the melodic to good effect. ~ John Bush