DJs tend to fall into two irreconcilable categories: those who garner glowing accolades from faux intellectuals who don't dance -- and those who pack dance floors with throbbing, heated bodies.
Few DJs bridge this body/mind dichotomy as well as the London-based Scottish DJ and producer Howie B. Many of his albums share an intimacy lacking in much electronica: Take "Music for Babies" (1996), his ambient meditation on fatherhood, or "Folk," released earlier this year, which saw him playing with more traditionally structured songs, including a collaboration with The Band's Robbie Robertson.
More recently, Howie B. has delved into improvisation (he played an improvisational gig with African singer Baaba Maal and trumpeter John Haskell last month) and the challenge of creating beat-driven music without loads of studio gadgets. And that is on top of producing and remixing the likes of U2 and Bjork.