I like my house music to creep up on me a little bit. A muffled instrument, a sample floating on a breeze, all somehow nostalgic whilst being completely original. That is Lee Foss.

Like a metaphorical milk tray man, Lee Foss beguiles you with melody until he drops a bassline that stabs you in the heart. He’s never let me down, first with The Edge EP on Culprit in November 2009, U Got Me on Hot Creations in 2010, and Your Turn Girl in February this year back with Culprit (which he helped launch alongside friends Droog).

Foss’s rise through the ranks to production king started with promotion and Djing local Chicago parties, through residencies at Avalon and the Culprit Rooftop parties at The Standard to playing the infamous Wolf + Lamb Marcy Hotel parties in New York, and Miami WMC 2009, which has the tendency to throw people to stardom, especially after a legendary performance at the Crosstown Rebels party (God I wish we were going this year). Alongside this, he contributed regular podcasts to Ibiza Voice, which became known globally.

He’s an island-hopping international, having grown up in Chicago, then moving to L.A., and via a three year extended visit to Ibiza, now spends half his time in London, working with good friend Jamie Jones. This collaboration as Hot Natured has given birth to the h.e.a.d.s. EP on Culprit in June 2009, the fantastic re-rub Hot Natured Edits (their takes on MGMT‘s Electric Feel: Jones’s contribution Electric Jones and Foss’s Leectric Feel) on Wolf + Lamb Black and the Equilibrium EP in June 2010. They’ve also made themselves a record label: Hot Creations, releasing Lee and Jamie’s productions, alongside signings Robert James and Clockwork, whose It’s You Again EP was described by Resident Advisor as ‘sex music.’ Another hugely fantastic collaboration is the teaming up of Jamie Jones, Lee Foss, Robert James and FB Julian as Pteradactil Disco, releasing the Big Ass Biscuit/Clive’s Alright EP on Hot Creations in January 2011, and there’s yet another moniker: Modern Amusement, a name he’s used this month to release the Cold As Ice EP on Jonny White from Art Department‘s No.19 music. April will see the release of the next Hot Natured EP Forward Motion Feat Ali Love, and there’s also another label in the pipeline, Hot Waves, which will launch quarterly compilations.

If any of you lucky bods are in Miami this year catch Lee playing at our favourite the Electric Pickle (chilled vibes in the garden, sweaty disco upstairs) on 26th and 27th March, and he’s playing his first London gig of 2011 on Sunday (!) 3 April for Creche at Queen of Hoxton.

He’s working on a solo album for release later this year, and there are a number of podcasts to keep you going until then, including the most recent from Hot Natured:

Lee Foss – Hot Natured Podcast 01 by Hot Natured Music

Or try a classic: Lee Foss live at The Marcy, September 2009, Wolf + Lamb Radio

Worth a note: the beautiful Warriors from the Your Turn Girl EP has a familiar sample, which I’m ashamed to say I remember from Jean Jacques Smoothie‘s 2001 Two People, but which originally comes from the 1975 Minnie Ripperton’s Inside My Love. See how pretty?