Associated with the French electro collective Valerie,
Russ Chimes is an electro producer from London, England, who established himself in the late 2000s with a bunch of remixes that proved popular on the blogosphere. Influenced by '80s synth funk (e.g.,
Prince), he was first championed by the taste-making MP3 blog Discodust in July 2007. The blog posted a few of his early productions, "Afterburner," "Mulsanne," and "She's Got the Heat," and later posted a bunch of his remixes. Remixes by
Chimes of
Sam Sparro's "Black & Gold" and
Chromeo's "Fancy Footwork" got
Chimes a lot of attention in 2008. Remixes of
Frankmusik's "Confusion Girl," Marina & the Diamonds' "Mowgli's Road," and
the Outrunners' "These Girls Are Dressed to Kill" followed in 2009. Most popular of all was
Chimes' remix of up-and-coming English singer/songwriter
Ellie Goulding's 2010 smash hit "Starry Eyed." In the meantime,
Chimes joined the French electro collective Valerie and appeared on the various-artists compilation Valerie and Friends (2009) with the production "Daytona." He also began making a name for himself as a DJ, posting electro mixes on the Internet. ~ Jason Birchmeier