While Damian Lazarus is a man of many accomplishments, his monthly Lazpod podcasts may be his most personal. They’re tightly produced, feature a huge range in song selection — from ’60s soul to The Cure and the latest in underground electronic music — and show the British DJ to be a friendly, knowledgeable and slightly self-effacing host.

“I started doing Lazpod about a year ago, because I felt a little bit frustrated with the limitations that we, as DJs, put on ourselves in nightclubs,” says Lazarus from his new home of Los Angeles.

“I guess there’s nothing to stop me from playing a Crosby, Stills & Nash or a PJ Harvey record in the middle of my set for a big, sweaty dancefloor, but it’s not going to be to everyone’s liking.”

This open approach and keen interest in music has long been evident in Lazarus’ career. He started as a drum ’n’ bass DJ in the early ’90s; as he developed through the decade, Lazarus also worked as the Music Editor at Dazed and Confused magazine and was hired to do A&R for London Records and, soon after, City Rockers. He started his own Crosstown Rebels label in 2004, and has parlayed his imaginative take on tech and house into numerous mix-CDs, among them the Futurism and Rebel Futurism series and 2005’s stellar Suck My Deck. His most recent, Sci-Fi Lo-Fi Vol. 2, for Soma Records is an absolute knockout.

“Soma had asked me to do a Sci-Fi Hi-Fi mix, but I wasn’t really up for doing a club mix ‘cause they’re pretty much 10 to a penny these days,” he explains. “I wanted to do something with a bit more focus and heart, so I opted to do the Lo-Fi mix. My thinking was to portray this weird, late-night scene where your bedroom and your dreams are being taken over by the dark machines.”

Featuring tracks by artists including Burial, Pulp and Toronto expat Adam Marshall, the collection does play like a beautiful nightmare. It also serves further notice that Lazarus’ tastes and ideas run deep and unbridled, qualities that we can also expect in his own original music. After spending a great deal of time in studios for other people’s projects, Lazarus has quietly begun developing his own production concepts.

“I was happy to stay in the background until more recently, when I started to write some songs that I felt were strong and interesting enough to spend more time on. That’s snowballed into my first album project, which will be out in April. I’m very happy and proud and excited, but also a little nervous and, every now and then, a little terrified.”

Lazarus continues to DJ and run Crosstown Rebels. The label may have been quiet for a while, but with brilliant new releases by artists including Jamie Jones and Riz MC, Crosstown sounds better than ever.

“I could have been dismayed with the scene generally and the business specifically because it’s not pretty out there, but I love doing this.”