Local Motion: DJ Mike Gow

The number of mixes I received in the RFT's recent DJ spin-off contest certainly showed me that St. Louis has way more going on in the electronic underground than many might suspect. But it's still surprising that DJ Mike Gow's Residents: Vol. 1is the first-ever mix CD released in stores (and iTunes and Napster, of course) by a St. Louis DJ. Issued by New York's Curvve Recordings, the seven-months-in-the-making Residents — which features N'dea Davenport, Joi Cardwell, Deepsky and others — is a sublime collection, downtempo enough for a mellow night out, but with enough driving beats and variety to incite exuberant booty-shaking as well.