The summer months can be pretty slow when it comes to new releases, but thankfully some characters from my youth that are bigtime international superstar DJs today - Mark Farina, if you read the interview in June's issue, and now Johnny Fiasco - are remastering and making available some of their obscure and even not-so-obscure releases available digitally for the first time.

Nobody's been more true to Chicago than Johnny Fiasco, and Digi Wax Vol 2 contains some tracks that were essential at megaclubs and small rooms throughout this city. "Bitchin" (which I first heard on Fiasco's 1999 Chicago-Versailles LP) is one of my all-time favorites - it has that rollercoaster groove, like a machine that's always on the verge of breaking down but never does. Another highlight is "Disco Follies", which closed out another mix CD (2002's Cycles). Other highlights include the big-room boom of "Glitter Palace" and the erector set funk of "Philifunk". All in all, the many styles of the guy that's to me Chicago's greatest unsung hero come shining through in this "klassik" release.