# The Waxonia Desk: Looped and Filtered

Three Chicago records built on a single idea held far past comfort — a loop, a filter sweep, a piano figure. The architecture French house took wholesale a decade later was already finished here.

- **Picks:** 3
- **Genre:** Chicago House
- **Years:** 1986–1989
- **Curator:** The Waxonia Desk
- **Updated:** 2026-08-29
- **Curator's page:** https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/

## The picks

Selected, not ranked — the order is the curator’s, and carries no claim about which is best.

### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Can You Feel It](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/)

*1986 · Trax*

House at its most elemental — a bassline, a hi-hat and an enormous amount of patience. The patience is the part that carried: almost nothing happens here, and it happens for a very long time.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog)

### [Lil Louis](https://waxonia.com/artist/lil-louis/) — [French Kiss](https://waxonia.com/track/lil-louis--french-kiss/)

*1989 · Diamond / Epic*

A record whose entire architecture is one filter sweep held past the point of comfort, and then held longer. Every filtered house record of the next decade is downstream of it.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lil%20Louis%20French%20Kiss) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rmOAVfEDyhA)

### [Marshall Jefferson](https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/) — [Move Your Body](https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/)

*1986 · Trax*

The piano house template, and the thing every producer who came after had to decide whether to inherit or refuse. Most of them inherited it and few of them admitted as much.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8)

## About the curator

The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers.

Elsewhere: https://waxonia.com/

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Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.