Jay-J

It's impossible to overstate the influence that Jay-J Hernandez has exercised on the American house community over the past 10 years. When he founded Moulton Street Studios in San Francisco in 1997, he was still just a part-time DJ/producer trying to avoid paying for studio time. Between 1997 and 2000, Hernandez used the fledgling studios to produce a handful of tracks under his own name, as well as to collaborate with other San Fran residents like Julius Papp and Chris Lum, and to engineer recordings for fast-rising soulful house sensation Miguel Miggs.

The results of all this work took the house scene by storm. Jay-J's unique ability for pairing spotless digital production quality with the woozy warmth of analog instrumentation soon set new standards for house production. Several of Naked Records' early releases benefited from the Moulton Street sound, flaunting fathoms-deep digital bass lines and smooth-as-velvet synth swirls that catapulted the imprint to the top of the charts practically overnight.

Of course, Hernandez has championed deep, soulful house sounds as a resident San Fran DJ since 1992, but, as is often the case in the electronic music world, it was his studio success in the late '90s that sent clubs and promoters around the world into a frenzy to book him. Since then, his production career has continued to blossom, thanks to a discography of well over 100 releases, including hits like "(We Fall Down But) We Get Up" and chart-busting remix work for the likes of John Cutler and Jill Scott. Hernandez and Chris Lum were even nominated for a Grammy for their bootleg remix of Scott's "He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)."