Halo

Brian Varga grew up in Chicago and took the name Halo from the graffiti tag he was writing by sixteen. In his second year of high school a record store called Hip House opened on his walk home. DJ Sneak, one of its buyers, gave him a part-time job, and Halo made his first record during those years with his friend Andy Adams, DJ Attack. Gemini, Ron Hardy, Mr Fingers, Derrick Carter and Boo Williams shaped how he plays and produces.

He spent three years in A&R at Moody Records and then went west. With Eric Galaviz, Hipp-E, he formed H-Foundation in 1999, and in 2000 he moved to San Diego, where Hipp-E already lived, to stop commuting between the two cities. H-Foundation became one of the few American teams to break into UK tech house. They held a residency at fabric in London, remixed the Chemical Brothers' "Come With Us," mixed Nite:Life 02 for NRK and released the album Environments on Astralwerks in 2003. "Future," one of the last things Halo made before leaving Chicago, was later nominated for Resident Advisor's top 100 tracks of the decade. He was part of the 6400 Crew circle with Tony Hewitt, Onionz and Joeski, and made Ethnic Souls with Tony for Tango. His own labels followed: Surface Recordings, and the Muted Noise vinyl imprint.

On Red Melon, Halo and Dano formed Cloud City for the Cloud City EP in 2001, with Niara singing. Show you Love carries her soulful lead over a warm syncopated sub. Divebomb goes raw and analog, marked by a pitch-descending bend. The spacious Show U Dub completes the set, and Sen-Sei is credited on keys. The same year Halo joined David Penn and DJ Chus on "Music for Playgrounds."