Damian Lazarus

An Englishman is a rare enough sight in Los Angeles. Even more uncharacteristic is the figure of Damian Lazarus, a dapper Brit whose move to SoCal is helping shore up the city's underappreciated underground techno scene. The former music journalist and City Rockers A&R man is best known as a DJ, both for his numerous mix CDs and his incendiary, hedonistic club sessions. His preference for deep, dark, dirty house and techno -- always a bit wrong-sounding in just the right ways -- also provides the focus for his label, Crosstown Rebels, home to favorites of the minimal scene like Dinky, Pier Bucci and Jamie Jones. In 2009, he finally made the move to production, releasing an odd, ambitious album of house-infused electronic pop, Smoke the Monster Out, for Berlin's Get Physical Label.