Kerri Chandler

Kerri Chandler emerged in the early 1990s as one of house music’s most respected figures, quickly earning recognition as the architect of the New Jersey sound—a distinctive blend of garage and deep house laced with disco and gospel elements. His first release arrived in 1990 via the independent EP Super Lover, whose title track soon found a home on Atlantic after Express Records issued a limited run; since then he has issued more than 100 singles alongside multiple albums, DJ mixes, and compilations while founding the Madhouse, Madtech, and Kaoz Theory imprints. Frequent studio partners have included Jerome Sydenham, Joe Claussell, and Dennis Ferrer, and he joined forces with jazz/funk veteran Roy Ayers for the 2003 single “Good Vibrations.” Highlights from the Madhouse catalog were gathered on the two volumes of A Basement, A Red Light, & A Feelin’, while his commercially released mix projects encompass Watergate 15 (2014) and DJ-Kicks (2017). In 2022 he unveiled the ambitious three-hour album Spaces and Places, captured live at clubs across the globe.

A lifelong immersion in music began under the guidance of his DJ father and several jazz-playing relatives. Growing up in New Jersey—the epicenter of the garage scene—he started spinning records in clubs at age 13 and held an extended residency at Newark’s Club Zanzibar. Production work soon followed, aided by fellow Jersey artists Tony Humphries and Michael Watford. After Express Records pressed Super Lover in small quantities, Atlantic licensed the title track and issued it under the name Three Generations featuring Chevell. In the early 1990s he formed the short-lived hip-hop duo Art of Origin with rapper Chino XL, releasing two EPs before the project ended. By the mid-1990s his output on King St., Strictly Rhythm, Large, Nervous, and his own Madhouse label had established him among the scene’s elite, yielding club staples such as “(You’re My) Inspiration,” “Hallelujah,” and “Stompin’ Grounds” alongside the more reflective 1993 Atmosphere EP. The vinyl-only Hemisphere appeared in 1996, and around the turn of the century he issued full-length projects alongside regular collaborators Dennis Ferrer and Jerome Sydenham.

The second installment of A Basement, A Red Light, & A Feelin’—containing both mixed and unmixed discs—surfaced in 2002. Trionisphere arrived the following year, preceded by the mixes Soul Heaven Presents Kerri Chandler & Dennis Ferrer and Southport Weekender, Vol. 6. His next studio album, Computer Games, landed in 2008. Alongside fresh material he has continued to compile and rework earlier cuts such as “Rain” and “Bar a Thym,” maintaining a busy international DJ schedule. Further entries in prominent mix series arrived with Watergate 15 in 2004 and DJ-Kicks in 2017, while 25 Years of Madhouse appeared in 2018 to document his flagship label’s history. Kaoz Theory, launched in 2015, has released music by artists including Jamie Jones and DJ Deep. The 24-track Spaces and Places, issued by Kaoz Theory in 2022, features extended, largely vocal-driven recordings made at favored venues such as Ministry of Sound, Output, and DC10.