22 years old Surkin (born Benoit Heitz) comes from southern France but lives and works in Paris. He dropped out of art school four years ago and never looked back. A former four-to-the-floor hater (rap was all he cared for until 2003), Surkin got into dance music through Detroit ghettotech and—thanks God for P2P—started to dig deeper into club music history, focusing on Miami Bass, Chicago ghetto-(and non) house music. Add a thick layer of glammed-up filtered house courtesy of French dons Daft Punk and local originators Jess & Crabbe and you’ve got the full Surkin mille-feuilles.

Radio Fireworks” emerges as a genuine club hit, topping Justice’s “Best tracks of 2006” list. Remix offers come in droves, from Boys Noize, DJ Mehdi, Goose, Justine Electra, Kate Wax, Klaxons, Paul Johnson, Para One, Spencer Parker… A third single is in the works, soon followed by an album. Surkin is also in the band The Highpowered Boys with label-mate Bobmo.

Remixes on the record straddle a couple of boundaries between dance scenes. Surkin delivers a new and improved version of future house classic “Radio Fireworks”—punchier, fattened with generous helpings of white noise—and a new-ish track, “Kiss ‘n’ Horns”, which turns lover’s lane anthem “Kiss And Fly” into a jacking house monster, complete with horn breakdown. Institubes O.G. Tacteel beams us back to the golden age of filtered house with sun-kissed vocals and plane sound effects, while Dance Mania Don DJ Slugo (himself!) turns “And You Too” into a ghetto house party starter which launches into full Juke mode after the breakdown. AND: Aussies Riot In Belgium (of “The Acid Never Lies” and “La Musique” fame) deliver a MASSIVE, shockingly effective, big room remix of “Radio Fireworks”, with the build-up to end all build-ups. Melbourne, Chicago, Paris. Vocal tracks included as locked grooves.