REX THE DOG ROCKS, REELS AND RULES!!!

If you’re like me — ancient, grouchy and over-opinionated — and hopefully you’re not, then you absolutely love Rex The Dog. Who he? Rex The Dog is a very talented British dance music producer whom I hella do be likin’ at this point in history. “Why,” I hear you gently whipser (misspelling intentional). I like his stuff ‘cos it kicks ass, and when I buy a record by him it remains in my play stack for months on end. He’s been making music — as Rex the Dog that is — since about 2004.  Jake Williams, the real name and brains behind this little cartoon canine, has been making tunes since he was a teenager in the early ‘90s. He got a very lucky break when a demo caught the ear of Red Jerry, owner of British dance label, Hooj Choons. Club anthems like “Son Of A Gun” “And You Belong To Me,” were the fruits of that connection, with Williams trading under the name JX.

He has also recorded under the pseudonyms Mekka and Oblik and was part of Planet Perfecto with Paul Oakenfold. I know what you’re thinking, “Oh he makes trance.” No, Rex The Dog makes tough, melodic electro full of lush analog nuance and modern production and glitch, which is coupled subtely with the uplifting feel and drive of classic trance. If you threw Jam and Spoon’s remix of Age of Love into a pot with Dexter’s “I Don’t Care” and Hugh Bullen’s “Alisand” that’s what Rex sounds like. My friend Mark Slandersosimo turned me onto “Circulate”/”Italian Blond” on Kitsune and “Maximize” on Kompakt (the German minimalists like a bit a kicky shit and fair play to them) back in early 2007 and I’ve been hooked since.

His music has a melodic and uplifting feel that is missing from a lot of modern dance floor music and he makes tracks that you can use to peak out a set and get the kids rockin,’ without resorting to the predictable approach of most electro bangers. Also, his beats can at times be banging and hard or very syncopated and funky, like on “Circulate” where the percussion intro sounds like Latin Rascals on steroids, heralding a muscular form of electro inflected freestyle for a fast moving world. His new single “I Can See You, Can You See Me?” is a deft exercise in forward looking dance music that hints at some of the triumphs of classic floor scorchers. It drops on August 25th and will be followed by his debut album, The Rex The Dog Show. Both will be released on the Co-operative Music label. Check him out, if you haven’t already, his music makes the party rock hard!!!

Orr