Felix Da Housecat - Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco (ARTIST ALBUM) [Different Re

Ask Chicago's disco visionary Felix Da Housecat. Six years after he glammed up dancefloors with Kittenz And Thee Glitz - 20 since he first stepped into a studio - one of modern pop's great outsiders is about to embark on the next phase of his remarkable career.

"To guys like Justice, Digitalism and Boyz Noize, I'm more of an 'old school contemporary' guy," says Felix Stallings. "I leave it up to them to make the noise, 'cos I've done that. Now I'm more into making songs, telling stories and good melodies - sorta like how Prince was."

As you'd expect, Felix believes that his new album, Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco, eclipses all his previous work. Listening to it, hooked, for what must be the fifteenth time this weekend, goosebumps all over, it's hard not to agree. A dab hand at producing killer singles, Felix has finally made a classic album. Even Dallas Austin, in whose studio Virgo Blaktro... was mixed, calls it Felix's Purple Rain because, simply, "Every song is amazing."

Felix's last album, 2004's Devin Dazzle & The Neon Fever, had its fair share of magical moments, but circumstances beyond his control meant he couldn't build on the runaway success of 2001's Kittenz And Thee Glitz. Like Kittenz, Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco is a pleasure-rush from start to finish, but this time the highs are natural and the tone is cooler, more reflective. A masterclass in sugar-frosted vocal pop, soulful synth-funk and pulsing electronic disco, it's comfortably the most satisfying record he's produced. For the first time, Felix has written songs rather than tracks, and sings his own lyrics too. It's also different for another reason.

"This is the first record I've done with black folks," says Felix, "but to me it's not a colour thing, it's more like a roots thing. This record has a black, soulful groove, it's more like Sly & The Family Stone. With this album I wanted to go Parliament, I wanted to go Prince, and at the same time I wanted to go like George Michael and Pet Shop Boys, only them being black. This stuff is all black-influenced."

"I said, it's going to be a sexy, black, electronic disco record and I'm gonna call it Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco. Why? 'Cos I'm a Virgo - August 25th - and back in the 70s they all used starsigns, and I recorded it at Movie Disco studios in Barcelona." Vowing to keep things simple, Felix limited his studio personnel to two: his Belgian producer, BC, and his attractive new vocalist, Zahna, an opera singer from Eastern Europe he met in Barcelona. "This is the first album I've recorded stress-free," he says. "This is the first album I've felt like an artist making it. Everything was flowing because it was just the three of us."

Twenty years ago, this teenage Prince freak was taken under the wing of acid house pioneer DJ Pierre in Chicago. Their studio tinkering resulted in 1987's 'Phantasy Girl', an hefty underground hit, and, with college out of the way, Felix's star-bound course was set. "I used to be like, fuck all the mainstream stuff - I just wanna be underground and do cool stuff!" chuckles Felix. "But now I've got a family. Not only that, I'm evolving. I stopped doing underground when I turned 25 and decided to make songs." Ten years on, under his latest alias, Virgo Blaktro, Felix is in the finest form of his life.