Damian Lazarus

A multifaceted figure operating as DJ, producer, A&R executive, and label head, Damian Lazarus occupies a leading position within today’s house, techno, and downtempo electronic scenes. Most conspicuously he launched and continues to run Crosstown Rebels, the London imprint that issued lasting 12-inch singles from Deniz Kurtel, Jamie Jones, and Art Department despite significant distribution setbacks. His ear for talent has also fueled a DJ path marked by extensive residencies, independently organized events including the Get Lost parties and festivals plus Day Zero, and more than a dozen commercially issued mixes. Alongside numerous 12-inch releases of his own, Lazarus has issued several full-length works intended chiefly for home listening yet still upending expectations. Smoke the Monster Out appeared in 2009, followed by Message from the Other Side in 2015 and Heart of Sky in 2018; the 2020s brought Flourish in 2020, Beijing Spring in 2022, and the concise yet expansive Magickal in 2025, the latter featuring contributions from Mathew Jonson, A-Trak, and MËSTIZA.

During the early 2000s Damian Lazarus served as head of A&R at City Rockers, overseeing U.K. releases of notable singles such as Felix da Housecat and Miss Kittin’s “Silver Screen Shower Scene” and Tiga & Zyntherius’ “Sunglasses at Night.” He curated and mixed both volumes of the label’s Futurism compilations, released in 2002 and emblematic of the period’s electro-tinged house and techno. In 2004 he founded Crosstown Rebels, a kindred outlet that quickly put out dozens of 12-inch singles while establishing the long-running Get Lost event, initially staged in Miami as a party that later evolved into a festival. Through 2006 Lazarus assembled CR mixes including Rebel Futurism Session One and Session Two as well as Crosstown Rebels, Vol. 1. He also delivered mixes for other imprints, among them Soma’s second installment in the Sci-Fi-Lo-Fi series—one of his broadest selections, blending vintage techno, classic house, dubstep, and 1980s synth funk. Not long afterward he began releasing his own productions on Get Physical, culminating in the 2009 debut album Smoke the Monster Out.

Lazarus maintained a steady focus on both DJing and event creation. The 2010s opened with his contribution to the 54th volume of the Fabric mix series and a fourth installment tied to Get Lost. In 2012 he inaugurated the Day Zero party series, first presented amid the jungles of Tulum, Mexico. Mid-decade he resumed studio work through a worldwide and stylistically wide-ranging collective called the Ancient Moons. Teaming with Simian’s James Ford as co-producer, Lazarus and the Ancient Moons delivered their first full-length, the cosmic Message from the Other Side, in 2015. Three years later he guided a second Ancient Moons album, Heart of Sky, which shifted direction by drawing on the rare-groove jazz and R&B he had absorbed via pirate radio and all-dayers three decades prior. Late in the decade he reissued Smoke the Monster Out and relocated Day Zero from Mexico to Israel.

Entering the subsequent decade, Lazarus pursued a series of studio projects. Deep into 2020 he released the album Flourish, colored by a pervasive sense of unease prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic; save for the reassuring Jem Cooke collaboration “Into the Sun,” the record remained entirely instrumental. He next provided music for the documentary Beijing Spring, issued on his newly established Secret Teachings label in 2022 as Beijing Spring [Music Inspired by the Film]. The collaborative Magickal arrived in 2025, hosting guests that ranged from longtime Crosstown Rebels affiliate Mathew Jonson on “R U Dreaming?” to the Spanish duo MËSTIZA on “La Hija de Juan Simon.”