Christopher Alker

​Originally from Houston, Christopher grew up in suburbia surrounded by strip malls, used car dealerships, and fast food. He spent his adolescence reading comic books, skateboarding, and studying martial arts. As a teen, he spent as much time as possible riding around the city in his childhood best friend’s smoke-filled Ford Bronco. It is here where his musical education began. The car stereo was overrun by the likes of Dick Dale, The Doors, A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Atari Teenage Riot, The Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, James Brown, & Led Zeppelin. While attending the University of Texas at Austin he apprenticed for and later took up the torch of The 13th hour, an all vinyl underground dance music radio show on 91.7FM, founded by James “Cookie Crook” Craig & Scotty James (now of the LA's The Hush Crew). His nights & weekends were split between bar-backing at a downtown night club and throwing house parties with his lifelong friend, roommate, & DJ partner Steve “Sushi Steve” Hardy. After graduation he worked the graveyard shift of the (former) Metro coffee shop where he gorged himself on new music whenever he could afford it. In 2004 he sold his first vinyl collection to finance his move to New York City. It is here where he quickly rebuilt his collection, started writing seriously, and immersed himself in the nightlife of the city that never sleeps. With a passion for art, architecture, and music, he has tapped into the city's creative pulse in order to share his ideas, his writings, and his damaged-disco ​record collection. He is responsible for raucous dance parties, dozens of DJ residencies, has contributed to several digital and print publications has guest lectured at Yale's American Studies program, is the former record label manager and ambassador for Subtrak Records, is one half of DELUXE, co-hosted an all-vinyl monthly video podcast at Halcyon Record Shop for two years running, and was a regular special event DJ for The Kooples. He continues to write and DJ when it feels right.