Ron Trent

Probably the only Chicago house producer behind one of the all-time best techno singles, Ron Trent released his 14-minute workout "Altered States" in 1990 but moved away from mechanistic trance-state dance to embrace a comparatively musical and atmospheric deep house sound. A high-schooler when he debuted, Trent quickly became a force in his city, then left an indelible mark in New York. By the time he returned to his hometown during the 2000s, Trent's work as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, remixer, DJ, and label operator had permeated underground dance music on a global scale, and his active presence has remained well into the 2020s. In addition to collaborative ventures like the Afrobeat-inspired Urban Sound Gallery and the Latin house project Batidos, Trent has released albums such as 1999's Primitive Arts and 2022's What Do the Stars Say to You. The intervening Word, Sound & Power anthologized his praised Prescription label.