Spencer Kincy was giant in Chicago's House Music revival - part of the second wave of younger DJs and producers that took the music of the early 1980s, rubbed it up and dropped it in places like 500 West Cermak, Medusa's and the Vault. A lot of people who are now superstars of the scene - Mark Farina, Sneak, Derrick Carter, and dozens of others - were a part of that movement, too. Spencer released a number of tracks on Relief, Planet E, Cajual, Peace Frog - labels representing the classics of that era - and he usually recorded under the name Gemini.

And as gritty, as grimy, as jarring and noisy as his productions could be, he could also make them sing. His collaboration with JT Donaldson, the Duality EP, wasn't just a play on his DJ name. A track like "Changing Times" was deep, controlled, almost gentle, presaging some Deep House currents by nearly a decade. And he could follow it up with a jarring track of completely abstract sounds - a thunder that would shake the 16 inch reinforced concrete walls of a warehouse. He could work with live musicians or filter a disco loop, pound it into the ground and make it more inspirational than any gospel choir, as he did on "Stand Up" (Relief). The output was eclectic, and sometimes it missed its mark, but he always pushed the envelope forward. ... read more...