Chris Fortier: Fade, the Balance Record Pool and the American Progressive Underground

Chris Fortier is the sort of figure a British-centred history of progressive house tends to under-record. No Renaissance residency, no Radio 1 slot, no city-branded Global Underground. What he had instead was a Florida club scene, a label, a record pool that put underground records into North American DJ bags, a famous remix of Delerium's Silence, and two of the better mix albums of the era. Fortier's American label and distribution connections are as important as any famous UK remix credit. You can follow the music through Florida, then into the shared recordings with Jimmy Van M and the international progressive circuit. The result is a more interesting picture than simply saying that the sound travelled across the Atlantic.