Housecat
Real Name:
Felix Stallings Jr.
Profile:
Felix Da Housecat is an electronic artist, producer, and DJ from Chicago, Illinois, USA.
The childhood friend of house legend DJ Pierre, Stallings' youth was spent experimenting with electronic musical equipment. He taught himself keyboards by the age of 14, and a year later stepped into a studio for the first time. An early tape had been passed on to the elder Pierre by a mutual playground acquaintance. Intrigued, he decided to record it properly, and from those sessions "Phantasy Girl" emerged. Based on the original keyboard motif from the demo tape, it became one of house music's biggest early cult smashes.
Felix went on to release a steady stream of dance music vinyl, establishing his name alongside that of Pierre, who remained his mentor. Unfortunately, as school ended so did his parents' tolerance of his extra-curricular pursuits, and he was ordered to attend college in Alabama. Three years later he returned to Chicago, taking up the house mantle once again. Numerous releases followed on all the major imprints: Strictly Rhythm Records, Guerilla Records ("Thee Dawn"), Nervous Records, D-Jax Up, Chicago Underground and Freetown.
He also set up his own Radikal Fear Records imprint, which has released classic cuts by the likes of DJ Sneak, Armando, and Mike Dunn, and provided remixes for mainstream artists such as Diana Ross and Kylie Minogue.
Under the title Thee Madkatt Courtship he also provided a long player for Deep Distraxion, while as Afrohead he proffered "In The Garden", a classic cut, much revered by DJ's such as Darren Emerson. After a lengthy break from the dance scene, Stallings returned in 1999 under his Thee Madkatt Courtship moniker with I Know Electrikboy.
The childhood friend of house legend DJ Pierre, Stallings' youth was spent experimenting with electronic musical equipment. He taught himself keyboards by the age of 14, and a year later stepped into a studio for the first time. An early tape had been passed on to the elder Pierre by a mutual playground acquaintance. Intrigued, he decided to record it properly, and from those sessions "Phantasy Girl" emerged. Based on the original keyboard motif from the demo tape, it became one of house music's biggest early cult smashes.
Felix went on to release a steady stream of dance music vinyl, establishing his name alongside that of Pierre, who remained his mentor. Unfortunately, as school ended so did his parents' tolerance of his extra-curricular pursuits, and he was ordered to attend college in Alabama. Three years later he returned to Chicago, taking up the house mantle once again. Numerous releases followed on all the major imprints: Strictly Rhythm Records, Guerilla Records ("Thee Dawn"), Nervous Records, D-Jax Up, Chicago Underground and Freetown.
He also set up his own Radikal Fear Records imprint, which has released classic cuts by the likes of DJ Sneak, Armando, and Mike Dunn, and provided remixes for mainstream artists such as Diana Ross and Kylie Minogue.
Under the title Thee Madkatt Courtship he also provided a long player for Deep Distraxion, while as Afrohead he proffered "In The Garden", a classic cut, much revered by DJ's such as Darren Emerson. After a lengthy break from the dance scene, Stallings returned in 1999 under his Thee Madkatt Courtship moniker with I Know Electrikboy.
Sites:
Aliases:
Aphrohead, Aphropitch, Aura And Thee Dove, Electrikboy, Felix Stallings Jr., Live IV Life, Outerealm, Radical Men, Rocketmann !, Sharkimaxx, Thee Cat In Da Hat, Thee Dawnsmen, Thee Housecat Experience, Thee Jamie Starr Scenario, Thee Liasons Scenario, Thee Maddkatt Chronicles, Thee Maddkatt Courtship, Timewalkers 1, Venus (3), Wizdom, Wonderboy (4), Yesterday Dreamers
Variations:
All |
Felix Da Housecat
| Da Housecat
| F. Stallings Jr.
| FDH...
| Felix
| Felix "Da" Housecat
| Felix Da House Cat
| Felix Da Housekat
| Felix Da Housekatt
| Felix Da' House Cat
| Felix Da' Housecat
| Felix Dahousecat
| Felix The House Cat
| Felix The Housecat
| Housecat
| Thee Artist Formerly Known As Felix Da Housecat
edit
genres
sort
Discography
| Releases: | ||||
| Those Were The Dayz (12") | Freetown Inc | 1993 | ||
| What's Love About (12") | Freetown Inc | 1993 | ||
| Production: | ||||
| Life's Not The Same (12") | Chicago Underground | 1992 | ||
| Appears On: | ||||
| Life's Not The Same (12") | Chicago Underground | 1992 | ||
| Tracks Appear On: | ||||
| Jan. 1995 (CD) | What's Love About, Thee? | Power Music Records | 1995 | |
▸ show all 1 review
Reviews & Discussion
FELIX DA HOUSECAT is a true example of a success story. He spent ages sending out demos, even turning up in London to personaly visit the label offices. This was during the progressive house scene in the early 90's and eventually he found interest from Guerilla records. His early distinctive sound was similar to the "wild pitch" sound of DJ Pierre, mainly because he did some production with him. Later releases like "in the dark we live" on Bush records brought him into the mainstream techno audience, and attracted a remix work from Dave Clarke who was one of the hottest producers of the mid 90's. His label Clashbackk in the latter part of the 90's brought hard Chicago from sought after Chi-town producers like L.A Williams, but the label remained fairly underground. Towards the late 90's Felix was fairly quiet for a couple of years only to explode back on the scene with the new electro-clash sound. He faced some critisism from hardend fans as this new form of music was seen as fairly commercial and dare I say it "trendy". This may be the case, but still this new scene has brought about a much needed fresh and new strain of dance unlike anything else that has been around, bar some of the nu-wave of the 80's and maybe some of the late 90's releases from labels such as Viewlexx and Clone. It has also made Felix Da Housecat a rich man and he deserves it for his pure dedication and tenacity in the early years.
