Home Town Chicago

The debut album of second-wave Chicago house from a player who’d been part of the scene since before the first wave, Boo Williams’ Home Town Chicago arrived on Cajual Records in 1996. Its eight tracks are all full-length, underground, Chicago House instrumentals, unashamedly tooled primarily for dancers and DJs. Within the rigid kick, clap and hi-hat rhythm boundaries, Williams freewheels around the various shades of Chi-house: “Smokin Acid” is a trippy, sideways acid house excursion where drum machine beats bump into and cross over each other, the title track’s a swirling, welcoming, chiming, shimmering house concoction, “Evil Ways” and “Devil Music” are edgy, niggling, itchy, each musical part precisely trimmed to fit into the greater whole while “Make Some Noise” and “Lazy Mood” are purposeful, driving, restless, non-stop looping house. The whole thing is expertly done, each tune like a sub-genre prototype.