TRENT TIPS The DJ says keep it somewhat natural.

Photo: Courtesy of Need2Soul

Trendy electro music, software synths and sloppy faux-hawks might be all the rage—but Ron Trent won’t bite.

Trent’s name is synonymous with both Chicago dance music and the boom years of New York clubbing. The producer-DJ worked with New York promoter-label Giant Step during the ’90s and counts heavy hitters such as Francois K as his chums. Since returning to Chicago, Trent took the resident DJ slot at Africa Hi-Fi, now a quarterly. But we’ve had our eye out for Trent’s next move—and when a fantastic mix-CD compilation crossed our desk with his name on it, we thought it proper to check in.

Time Out Chicago: You’ve got one mix-disc on the first compilation from the London label Need2Soul. How did that happen?
Ron Trent: I was disenchanted with playing in the U.K. for a long time because of the downscaling of music and the type of music that was being played. This was one of the more soulful parties that I had come into contact with. It happened out of a gig, in other words.

TOC: What’s the concept?
Ron Trent: It’s not so much the music that is being played at the party as it is the soul or the vibe of the party, which is the energy that the DJs that play bring. It’s almost like a little movement.

TOC: What is the style? An update on deep house?
Ron Trent: I’ve got new and old jams on it. It’s not so much redefining anything as more or less defining what it is that we stand for in terms of uptempo, soulful R&B-dance music, okay? I even hate to say “dance music” or “house music” today because of what [they’ve] become. Those genres aren’t anything that I stand behind. It’s more like, “This is where we are, what we stand for.” It’s more the roots and origins of where this music started and really where it still is.

TOC: What else have you been doing?
Ron Trent: I’ve been producing underground hip-hop, doing some management. I’ve been quietly doing it for a while, but now I’m hitting the streets with that. I just started the labels back up, Prescription and Future Vision.

TOC: Which Ron Trent classics do people ask you to deejay?
Ron Trent: Of course, they always ask about “Altered States,” man; that’s forever. But it depends on where I am. If I’m in New York, they want to hear Carl Hancock Rux, which I produced on Giant Step. When I’m playing Africa Hi-Fi, I don’t really get requests like that—people are just coming to hear great music. “Altered States” is being re-released by the way, authentically, by me.

TOC: Is there anything new you like?
Ron Trent: In the dance-music community, [the essential music] is very few and far between. I’ve got my squad of guys and there are some people I respect. On the whole, I don’t really check for it. The innovation is not there. People nowadays are delving into technology, instead of dealing with their soul or their take on things, digging into themselves. They’re just manipulating electronics. When I hear the music, it sounds like robots. I can’t fuck with that; I’m not a machine. I use machines to articulate my ideas, but I don’t use machines to articulate me. But I’m not sitting here bellyaching; I’m just doing what I do. On the CD, I’m saying these are the dope jams; these are classics, old and new.

Need2Soul 01 is out this week. Trent spins the Silver Room Sound System Block Party Saturday 19.