Celebrating 20 Years Of Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels Label

Damian Lazarus is among the most renowned names within the contemporary house and techno scene. The eternal alchemist is known to bring his psychedelic, emotive and forward-thinking music to audiophiles worldwide. The Crosstown Rebels label boss has impressively run his imprint for 20 years, all while keeping in step with the ever-changing dance music landscape.

The influential underground dance music label began when Lazarus wanted a way to put out his own music without any constrictions. “I didn’t feel like I wanted to be answerable to anybody when it comes to selecting music, to release an artist to work with,” he says. “So I created Crosstown Rebels as a way to try to build a community of like-minded artists and individuals with strong personalities from all over the world that were connected musically.”

The imprint almost went bust in the mid-aughts, but Lazarus’ decision to move to Los Angeles, which had a booming rave scene, and the subsequent explosion of dance music in the United States allowed the label to prevail. Then, some of its hottest records of all time were released by the label’s top acts.

The tastemaker celebrated his milestone anniversary with CR20 The Album on Friday, May 12.

The seven-track LP boasts unreleased cuts and fresh remixes, featuring material from the likes of Black Coffee, Maceo Plex, Art Department, Dennis Cruz and more. The record features the past, present and future of Crosstown Rebels. Sounds heard on CR20 The Album include amapiano, tribal tunes, percolating synths, spellbinding vocals, music of the underground and pounding bass.

“It’s been 20 years of creating, discovering and releasing some of the best electronic music over the last 20 years,” Lazarus says. “I wanted to try to find some of the special moments of those 20 years and have some of those tracks remixed by artists that I work with present day. I’ve also been sitting on some unreleased gems and never heard before tracks that I’ve had in the back pocket for 10 or 12 years. It’s a compilation of some of the label’s best past, present and future sounds.”

According to the producer, he chose tunes representing some of the biggest, well-known artists from the label—such as Jamie, Art Department and Maceo Plex— and up-and-comers. For example, “Ever Cow Has A Bird” by Dubshape is one of the most beloved tracks from the label, and Lazarus asked burgeoning artist Tibi Dabo to remix it for the LP. Lazarus says it was a “tall order” because some people don’t like for legendary songs to be touched. However, the remake proves to have been “a match made in heaven.” Conversely, Lazarus had Black Coffee, one of the top names in dance music, remix “Horizon Red” by promising producer Made By Pete.

To accompany the release is a 230-page hardback book dubbed “20 Years of Magic, Madness and Music,” released on May 19. The coffee book table features photographs of the artists and hundreds of parties by Crosstown Rebels over the past 20 years, taking viewers on a discovery through the three promises that the title names, the Get Lost and Day Zero event producer says. In addition, there will be a feature-length documentary for the anniversary. The documentary looks at the label’s growth between 2007 and 2013, previously filmed for another project, to put the imprint into a broader perspective. The label has done an impressive job of celebrating its milestone.

Indeed, Crosstown Rebels is one of the most influential record labels within the underground dance music scene, with head honcho Lazarus continually championing and spotlighting artists from across the globe who share his radiant and experimental vision for house music and beyond.