Hailing from the resplendent city of Chicago, Rupert Murray aka Local Hero's enthusiasm for electronic music emerged in high school, as drum and bass crept into Chicago's urban landscape, but his musical influences began at birth. Growing up in an artistic family surrounded by electronic music, his parents kept him up all night dancing and listening to the likes of Talking Heads and Jean Luc Ponty. In middle school the sounds of Cajmere's "The Percolator" echoed off hall lockers, grabbing the young hand of soon-to-be Local Hero. It wasn't, however, until the breakbeat, in the form of big beat and early jump up jungle, crossed his path that he knew that music was not only his past but his future. He has a bachelor’s degree in Acoustics, which applies heavily to his control of the dance floor and his understanding of club DJing. In his spare time he designs sound systems and acoustic environments for clubs, performance halls, studios and other entertainment venues. His performances are composed artistic layering, be it old school or new school, tech or disco, to create a poetry of sound and texture interspersed with quick cuts and deviceful mixing. Local Hero's improvisational mixing is tempered by a scientific approach to structuring the sound and stoked by his intuitive connection with the crowd.
Local Hero’s 11 year musical career has been an uphill battle. Pushing through a sea of house music and hip-hop, his unique style of all things fun and eclectic, be it electro, house, breaks, jungle, house, and many other esoteric subgenres, has earned him a regular place at the top of the Chicago music scene. Local Hero’s most recent musical project, War Games, has allied him with Chicago house music legend, Angel Alanis, to create a fresh sound incorporating all of their combined influences and outputting complexly simple, upbeat electro bangers. With releases on Dust Traxx and Angels own Label A-Squared Muzik as well as remixes for Dizzee Rascal, Lauren Flax and Hearts Revolution he has gotten heavy play from of a diverse set of DJs including Dave Clarke, Drop The Lime, Guns N Bombs, and Elite Force. He is also one of the founders of Noise Floor Crew, well known for their hugely popular unsanctioned remix album of Portishead - Third which has been revered by magazines (New York Magazine, Big Shot Magazine, Prefix Magazine), blogs, DJs and even Portishead fans all over the world. Currently, besides hiding in the studio and regularly DJing all over the country, Local Hero is a founder of Trash Menagerie, a highly regarded music blog that focuses on finding and displaying the most innovative, new music, artists and DJs that the world has to offer. Their monthly party series, called Taxidermy, follows in their pattern of breaking new musical ground with their bookings. Beyond Taxidermy, he holds down numerous residencies including Smartbar and Debonair Social Club where he has played along side such acts as DJ Medhi, Diplo, LA Riots, Stanton Warriors, DJ Funk, DJ Falcon and Deekline, to name a few.
Local Hero is currently working on a new album with The Noise Floor Crew, as well as original tracks and remixes from himself, Noise Floor Crew and War Games. He is definitely a name to look out for in the coming as his intense, well-rounded sound continues to spread across the world.
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