At the Commodore Ballroom on Sunday, May 20

On Gemini Soul, his recent album for Nordic Trax, local producer Jay Tripwire includes a song cheekily called "You Can't Do That on NT", a vaguely trance-scented trifle that makes light of the label's reputation for releasing connoisseur's house music. Whatever trance is, NT's music is not, rejecting the contrived structures and cheap thrills of that candy-flossed form for a subtler sound that aspires not to chart dominance, but longevity. Last Sunday at the Commodore, label head Luke McKeehan celebrated 10 years of releasing durable tunes, throwing one of those great no-bullshit parties he's been hosting in this town for over a decade.

After opening sets from long-time NT operatives Dana D and Gavin Froome, Chicago's Diz filled every corner of the Commodore's large dance floor, calling even wallflowers to account with his jacking Midwest style. If Nordic Trax has long embodied a particularly moody strain of the sunshiny West Coast house sound, that's due in large part to the rainy weather here, and to the influence of gritty Windy City DJs like Diz and Johnny Fiasco, another frequent visitor who was on-hand to pummel dancers with his fiery Latin-tinged selections.

Just about everyone in the crowd of 700 spent the night either at the bar or on the floor, the evening acting as a drink- and drug-fuelled reunion for old-school heads who rarely make it out to the clubs anymore. When Vancouver's electronic scene was at its peak in the late 1990s, NT was the hottest dance label around; these days, the hipsters are banking on Konrad Black and Mathew Jonson's splendid Wagon Repair Records. In truth, veteran status suits Nordic Trax better than its fleeting rave-era hipness ever did, mostly because the music it releases will never go platinum, nor completely out of style. Indeed, among all forms of electronic dance music, deep-house is the closest to disco, and as such, the least susceptible to fads.

That seemed to be the thread running through McKeehan and Tripwire's closing set, which acted as a triumphant overview of NT's estimable history and consistency. With 52 long-playing and 12-inch single releases to NT's name, McKeehan conceivably could have played until sunrise with just his own label's material. Of course, that approach would not have suited this particular DJ. Ten years on from his inaugural release, The Nordic Trax EP, it's his label's modesty, not its glamour, that is worth celebrating.