IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS JACK, AND JACK HAD A GROOVE...

The original concept of Casa Del Soul started in the early nineties when DJ Sensé converted his parents garage into a makeshift clubhouse of sorts. Back then he was going to college at Syracuse University and caught the electronic music bug by way of Colorado's early rave scene as well as getting huge influences from his frequent trips to NYC. There DJ Sensé gained much of his dance music roots and sensibilities while going to the original Disco 2000 at the Limelight, going to Danny Tenaglia's seminal D-Tour nights at the Tunnel and of course taking note from the magical nights on the dancefloor at Twilo. All of which contributed greatly to the sound and influences of Casa Del Soul on so many levels.

Eventually the turntables, mixer and a home stereo system came to be the centerpiece of this makeshift clubhouse and DJ Sensé and a small group of his friends began collecting records in '91. Through the years DJ Sensé created tight bonds and relationships with a very tight knit crew driven by house music. This creative space became the original Casa Del Soul. This clubhouse was the starting point for friends to get together and more times than than not, it was the place to come to after the raves. There DJ Sensé and many of his friends shared memories, music, art, and more that would go on to last to this day.

Years down the road as the crew began to build their collections of dance music and really learn the craft of DJing, Casa Del Soul also came to be a collective DJ crew. It eventually came to be a crew of DJ's who shared the same ideals and love for dance music. For this crew, music always came first. Fuck trying to be a superstar, fuck trying to be cool because we were DJ's, it was always about the music and it has continued to be about the music even now.

After graduating from Syracuse with a degree in Advertising design, DJ Sensé worked the odd job out of school and eventually started doing graphic design with an upstart design firm called Factory Design Labs started by fellow DJ and dance music lover Jonas Tempel. Factory Design Labs has become one of the nations hottest creative agencies and is responsible for the hugely successful online dance music site, Beatport www.beatport.com.

While working at Factory Design Labs DJ Sensé had always dreamed of opening a record shop, which eventually came to fruition in '98. On a shoestring budget and a dream Casa Del Soul Records was born and eventually became Denver's premier record shop for all genres of electronic dance music from downtempo to drum and bass, to house and techno, to progressive and trance and beyond.

Scraping together some money to start a record label to coincide with the store, DJ Sensé released Casa Del Soul's first record in late '99. The record was DJ Foxx "The Collective EP" which went on to appear on the very first Tyrant mix CD mixed by none other than Lee Burridge and Craig Richards. From that point on DJ Sensé truly realized he had more to contribute to the world of dance music than just a record shop. Casa Del Soul Records continues to put out underground house records and will continue to release music as long as it can.

Casa Del Soul Records originally set out to be the musical line that ran through the entire DJ crew. Each individual DJ had something fresh to bring to the table from their influences and personal tastes behind the decks. These individual musical tastes covered a very broad spectrum of dance music and the result, a hybrid record label was born that many have categorized as “tech-house”. Though somewhat accurate in its description, DJ Sensé describes the music that he has released on Casa Del Soul as "Music that rides the line between genres and give DJ’s those crucial records to get from one place to another."

Coming from a collective of 6 core DJ's, Casa Del Soul had become a hybrid label that sounded fresh and new, but best of all it came from a unique perspective that was distinctly Denver. Denver, being situated in the center of the country has always had a lot of different influences when it came to dance music. Denver would get breaks from the South, techno, disco house and booty house from the midwest, that laidback house sound of the West Coast, tribal and garage sounds that DJ Sensé brought back with him from NYC and of course the many different sounds that came in from Europe.

In March of 2003 when the crew was packed and ready to go to WMC in Miami, disaster struck as Denver experienced one of its largest snowstorms in years dropping over 3 feet of wet snow overnight. The rooftop of a 3 story nightclub next door to Casa Del Soul collapsed on top of the record shop and was deemed unsafe for anyone to enter by Denver's civil engineer. The entire contents of the store and everything in it was destroyed and the remains were demolished and taken away. It can be described none other than devastating to the whole crew and to Denver's dance community as a whole.

After months of dusting off the rubble so to speak, DJ Sensé eventually got back on his feet, moved to New Jersey/New York City and began rebuilding the label with the help of a newly inked P&D deal with Syntax Distribution in Long Island City. There the label got back on it's feet and began releasing records once again.

After two years in the Big Apple DJ Sensé moved himself and the label operations back to Denver to produce music and DJ with longtime friend and colleague DJ Dealer (Look At You Records, formerly of The Pound Boys). There he began to take the label in a more US House direction with the newly formed partnership and newly found spark for all things house music once again.

Presently DJ Sensé now resides in Las Vegas and continues to own and operate Casa Del Soul Records with the same ideals and ethos that he started with from the beginning. He has also brought Vegas house DJ Carlos Sanchez on board to help run label operations. Carlos is one of the partners of House Society and has been an integral part of bringing REAL dance music back to Vegas through events and his numerous DJ residencies throughout the city.

As you can see, Casa Del Soul has weathered quite a storm already but one thing is for certain. House music saved it's life in more ways that you can imagine. Peace, love and beats...viva Casa Del Soul...and the saga continues.

Record Label Discography:
www.discogs.com/label/Casa+Del+Soul

DJ Sensé (AKA Juke Joint, Rhythmcentric, Slade Stiles) Discography:
www.discogs.com/artist/DJ+Sens%C3%A9
www.discogs.com/artist/Juke+Joint
www.discogs.com/artist/Rhythmcentric