The hottest DJ to come out of Texas is a ten-gallon-hat-wearin', beat-thumpin' wunderkind with a penchant for progressive beats. Though he was not always an electronica specialist, his background in industrial music made it easy to segue into the underground club scene. The Austin native left behind his former identity as part of the band Culture Industry, trading it for a place behind the turntables and a new name: D:Fuse. After just a few years on the scene, he quickly discovered his niche within the subgenre of progressive trance and that is where he has remained since the mid-'90s. He sidelines in house music, but trance is where this DJ really shines, and always has. He quickly rose from playing Austin clubs to organizing his own massive shows to snagging a residency at San Francisco's Release party to opening for Paul Oakenfold on the 2000-2001 national tour, a gig coveted by just about every DJ in the world. D:Fuse's talent has not gone unnoticed by record labels, either. After independently releasing two singles, he got signed to Moonshine, arguably the biggest and best electronic label in the U.S. Moonshine's artist roster includes Keoki, Carl Cox, and Goldie, among others. D:Fuse's signing showed the world that he had made it to the top of the heap. He started out by releasing two DJ compilations as part of a series: Psychotrance 2000 and Psychotrance 2001 and the momentum continued to build. The soon-to-be-superstar DJ recorded Progressive Mix Session 1.0 during one of his resident slots at Release, held in 1015 Folsom. It hit the streets while D:Fuse was halfway through the Oakenfold tour. "Bodyshock," his first 12" single on the Moonshine label, was released in July of 2001. Subsequent mix albums included 2002's People, 2003's People_2 and 2005's People_3. He also issued an album of his own productions, Begin, in late 2004. ~ L. Katz