E-Tones

In a Minneapolis club district yearning to be West Hollywood or South Beach, Jetset is pure Williamsburg: a coolly lit hideout of candles and white brick that's meant to be accidentally discovered, then shared among friends. (You can find the place a few doors down from Jeune Lune, at 115 North First Street.) On a typical Friday, dreamlike house music envelops conversation rather than overwhelming it. The casually chic crowd absorbs strangers and non-GLBT-regulars without batting an eyelash, while accommodating a small circle of dancers. It's the perfect setting for E-Tones, the Minnesota DJ known to friends as Tony Larson, who made underground house a staple at the Gay '90s and remains a fixture at Vital Vinyl record store. Switching off Fridays and Saturdays with kindred spirits Monte Hilleman and Bryan Gerrard, E-Tones plays Jetset twice a month, cycling through a range of deep, soulful, jazzy, and sexy house. A Saturday set may find him going from the latest Starkillers to I Cube's funky remix of Joakim's "Come into My Kitchen"—often moving from vocally grounded tracks to instrumental ether by night's end. While we periodically tout E-Tones skills in the paper, a message-board poster at MNVibe.com may put it best: "Come to think of it...when hasn't Tony killed it?" [City Pages: Best Club DJ 2007]