DMX Krew

Edward Upton has issued countless DMX Krew recordings that span a wide array of styles, almost every one tracing back to the electro breakthroughs of the 1980s. Several albums appeared on Rephlex during the latter half of the 1990s, starting with Sound of the Street in 1996, and these works closely mirrored his old-school hip-hop together with new romantic inspirations before reaching their peak in the catchy, freestyle-inspired pop songs of We Are DMX from 1999. Although the releases could register as cheeky, playful, or ironic, they stemmed from genuine admiration for those influences and positioned Upton among the leaders of the 1990s electro revival. In the 2000s he moved away from vocal-centered material toward a more cerebral approach that aligned with Detroit electro acts such as Dopplereffekt, evident on The Collapse of the Wave Function from 2004 and Wave Funk from 2009. During the 2010s his already extensive catalog expanded across further avenues, including the more experimental electro heard on 2014's Standing Stones, the braindance of Strange Directions in 2017, and numerous additional singles and EPs that ventured into acid house, bleep techno, electro-funk, and related forms. Party Life from 2022 marked a return to vocal-driven dance-pop, while Warp Zone in 2024 evoked the feel of a previously unreleased Drexciya album. At least a dozen further pseudonyms have also been employed, among them Computor Rockers, David Michael Cross, and Asylum Seekers.

DMX Krew's initial outing, the electro-techno EP Got You on My Mind, came out on the Dutch imprint Dance Arena Productions in 1995. Signing next with Aphex Twin's Rephlex brought the debut full-length Sound of the Street in 1996, its straightforward, functional tracks aimed squarely at energizing dancers and bearing direct titles such as "Rock to the Beat" and "Move My Body." After the Cold Rockin' with the Krew EP on Octopus, Upton launched Breakin' Records, which put out electro material by himself along with kindred artists including Mandroid, Bass Junkie, and Ceephax Acid Crew, Squarepusher's brother. Beyond the label's opening release, the 1997 12" DMX Bass/Rock Your Body by DMX Krew, most early Breakin' output appeared under pseudonyms, with the majority of DMX Krew items reserved for Rephlex and select other outlets. Later Rephlex albums (Ffressshh! in 1997, Nu Romantix in 1998, We Are DMX in 1999) and EPs (among them You Can't Hide Your Love from 1997 and 17 Ways to Break My Heart from 1998) foregrounded vocals and feeling, deliberately amplifying the cheese factor on tracks like "Street Boys." A tribute to Kraftwerk arrived via a cover of "Showroom Dummies" on a 1998 12" for International Deejay Gigolo, while Party Beats, an EP on Zulutronic's Pharma label, surfaced the same year and a split double 7" with Chicks on Speed followed in 1999. Ties to the Detroit-area electro community strengthened in the early 2000s through EPs on ADULT.'s Ersatz Audio, notably Touch Me! in 2002, and a 2002 split 12" with Osborne on Spectral Sound, the Ghostly International sublabel.

Following a five-year absence from Rephlex, DMX Krew resumed activity there in 2004 with a run of more experimental LPs and 7"s under the title The Collapse of the Wave Function. The opening two volumes emerged as 7"s in 2004, and the remaining three appeared as LPs across 2004 and 2005. Rephlex additionally released Wave:CD, a double CD that paired a new full-length with a selection of earlier tracks. Japanese label Poplot issued Kiss Goodbye, a full-length collection of 1980s-style electro-funk pop songs. After these projects Upton began issuing substantially more material elsewhere, including EPs on Sonic Groove, Turbo, and Permanent Vacation. The final Rephlex items were the Wave Funk, Vol. 1 EP in 2009 and the Wave Funk double CD in 2010, the latter encompassing the complete EP plus selections from the prior Collapse of the Wave Function series. Also in 2010, Fresh Up Records was established to focus on new 7" releases in old-school funk, disco, and electro styles.

With Rephlex gradually reducing and then halting its release schedule, DMX Krew's post-2010 output received less visibility than the work of the 1990s and 2000s, yet productivity remained undiminished. The full-length The March to the Stars appeared on Dutch label Strange Life Records in 2010, succeeded by EPs on Shipwrec, Wavey Tones, WéMè Records, and further imprints. In 2013 the mini-albums Reith Trax on Rush Hour imprint No 'Label' and Micro Life on Abstract Forms were released. A cluster of full-lengths followed in 2014: Standing Stones on Mystic & Quantum Records, 100 Tears on Fundamental Records, Shape Shifting Shaman on Shipwrec, and Mini LP on Swedish label Stilleben Records. Additional limited vinyl EPs arrived, among them three further Abstract Forms releases plus 5 Ways 2 Jack on Super Rhythm Trax, ZSAGI on Zodiac 44, RAM Expansion on Last Known Trajectory, and the LP There Is No Enduring Self on Mystic & Quantum.

In 2016 DMX Krew joined Hypercolour, the same label that had released albums by former Rephlex labelmate and occasional collaborator Luke Vibert, for You Exist, the first DMX Krew album issued on CD since 2010. Other 2016 releases included the ambient/downtempo LP The New Age Travellers on Ekster and the spacy electro of Escape-MCP on Abstract Forms. Strange Directions, issued by Hypercolour in 2017, aligned more closely with the 1990s braindance sound than the predominantly club-oriented material of the preceding decade.

The slightly melancholy Glad to Be Sad and the peppy, disco-influenced Libertine 12" both appeared in 2019. The following year brought the eclectic Ghost Bubbles together with the archival release Wave Funk Volume 3. The Overseer and Peripheral Visions EP, the full-length Loose Gears, and an expanded reissue of We Are DMX all arrived in 2021. A return to vocal-driven material came with Party Life in 2022, a Permanent Vacation set shaped by disco and new jack swing influences. Further acid and electro EPs such as Second Moon and Serious continued to appear, followed by Time Holes and Return to Jupiter in 2023. The slightly darker full-length Spiral Dance was released by Hypercolour in 2024, while the funkier, more Prince-influenced Unlikely Seeming appeared on Byrd Out. Additional releases included the more bizarre Mutated Brains EP, the ambient-leaning Whispers of an Ancient World III, and the Drexciyan Warp Zone.