Der Journalist, Cartoonist und Schriftsteller Haden-Guest betreibt mit The Last Party eine persönliche Aufarbeitung New Yorker Nightlife-Kultur von der Eröffnung der ersten Disco Clubs Mitte der 70er Jahre bis zu den Großclubs Mitte der 90er Jahre. Schwerpunkt und Fallbeispiel ist dabei der Aufstieg und Niedergang vom Studio 54 bzw. dessen Betreibern Steve Rubell und Ian Schrager. Als eine Art mehr oder weniger beteiligter Chronist Tom Wolfe’scher Prägung und regelmäßiger Gast gelangt er zu detaillierten Eindrücken vor und hinter den Kulissen und schob damit eine Wiederbelebung öffentlichen Interesses an der klassischen Disco-Ära an, die dann auch Hollywood 1998 mit den Filmen Studio 54 und Last Days Of Disco aufgriff. Ein Blick in den Index offenbart augenblicklich, worum es dem Autor geht; musikalische Protagonisten und DJs stehen in einem ausgeprägten Missverhältnis zu all den Celebrities, die den Ruf der Discoclubs als Hort von Glitz und Glamour begründeten. Auf eine Schwadron von Anekdoten über Truman, Bianca, Liza und Andy kommen nur ein paar über Nile, Larry oder Richie Kaczor, immerhin der langjährige Resident DJ des Studio 54. Francis, Nicky, Walter oder Francois finden gar nicht erst statt. Die Musik als Soundtrack des Ganzen gerät sehr arg zur Hintergrundbeschallung. Dennoch gelingt Haden-Guest bei allem Namedropping eine authentische Darstellung des Promi-Faktors und der nächtlichen Exzesse, beides natürlich auch ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Phänomens Disco. Vor allem am Beispiel von Steve Rubell und dem Clubkid-Killer Michael Alig erhält man interessante Einblicke in drogenvernebelte Hybris und dessen Konsequenzen, denn beträchtliche Episoden des Buches befassen sich mit den gerichtlichen Auseinandersetzungen der Nightlords mit den Behörden, welche letztendlich die heutige repressive Situation nach Guiliani vorwegnahmen. Haden-Guests snobistisch-abgeklärter Kolumnenstil transportiert den Hedonismus und die Skandale angemessen und sehr unterhaltsam und auf all die Dramen zwischen Samtkordel und Katakomben des Studios gibt es durchaus auch Einblicke auf die andere Seite der Discokugel, da er seiner Szene-Entourage auch in alternative Läden wie Mudd Club, Mine Shaft oder Hurrah’s folgt. Wenn auch sein Augenmerk eher auf Neil Bogarts Casablanca Records liegt, fällt dann eben auch Michael Zilkhas ZE Records ab. The Last Party ist folglich eine prächtige Sittenchronik, die bei allem Klatsch einen Gutteil an Disco-Wissen abwirft, ich wusste zum Beispiel vorher nicht, dass Kevin Kline bei Cristinas ‚Disco Clone’ den männlichen Part sprechsingt. Plattensammler und Kulturhistoriker mit dem Schwerpunkt DJ-Kultur müssen dennoch weitgehend woanders nachschlagen.
A mix with some early house favorites. I recorded it for a mix tournament initiated in the early anarchic phase of the Discogs message board, where I met some fine people I am still friends with today (ok, and some people who probably still hate me). So it was judged by brutal judges and I had fierce competition. And this mix won, which means at least the playlist and its jack factor was ok. Cheers to DJs Klaus Stockhausen and Boris Dlugosch, who who schooled me in this category. The picture is from a young local photographer who wanted to do a book about DJs. I forgot his name but the book never happened anyway.
Hercules – 7 Ways To Jack Farley Jackmaster Funk – U Ain’t Really House Risque III – More Than Just A Dance Mickey Oliver – In-Ten-Si-T Ralphi Rosario – I Want You Adonis – No Way Back Steve Silk Hurley – Jack Your Body 2 House People – Trax My Body Rocky Jones – Choice Of A New Generation J.M. Silk – I Can’t Turn Around Farley Jackmaster Funk Feat. Darryl Pandy – Love Can’t Turn Around Frankie Hollywood And Ricky D. – Feel The Fire Housemaster Boyz – House Nation Mario Reyes – Whatever Turns You On Raz – Amour Puerto Riqueno The Children – Freedom Christian Alexander – Body & Spirit
I must admit that I am definitely not as knowledgeable with jazz as with other music. I am not proud of it. But I often like jazz samples. The idea behind this mix was to assemble some tunes that do not try to be jazzy in terms of musicianship, but worked with jazz samples in an original way, and they are still properly kicking house tracks. Please try to no judge this as an example of my ignorance, but maybe as an indirect tribute to something I really have to catch up with.
Was (Not Was) – The Sky’s Ablaze Whirlpool Feat. Mel Tormé – Fly Hi Pal Joey – So Fine Shades Of Sound – Drunk Horn The Underground Crew – Page Street Fast Eddie Feat. Nesha – The Nite Life Black Orchid – Rockin N Rhythm Phortune – Ramsey’s Jazz House 2 House – Everybody Get Up Endangered Music – Ping Pong R2bling2 – Eskimo X Lazyboy – Believe It Twenty Twelve – The Cool Rebellion 3 Play – Summer Breezz Nature Boy – Tobago The Sindecut – Simple Jealousy Stacy Kidd Pres. The Underground Elements – Jazz Impressions The People Movers – C Lime Woman Mondo Grosso – Souffles H Johnny Walker – The Ghetto I.C.3. – Poverty K OS – Superstarr Pt. Zero Soho – Hot Music Stetsasonic – Talkin’All That Jazz Frank Cunimundo Trio – We’ve Only Just Begun
Recording during a hot August night in Berlin, but no summer vibes in there. I often like electronic music that is a bit dark, melancholic and tripping. The tracks I used here are all over the place in terms of origin, but apparently I was aiming at a certain nocturnal state of mind. I still love all these tracks but the really interesting odd one out: the remix of 4th Measure Men’s The Need by Johnny D and Nicky P aka Johnick, better known for slightly psychedelic disco house. But this tune is really someting else. Nearly psychotic, and pitch black.
Rhythm Workshop – R U Ready Johnny Dangerous – I Can’t Handle It (How Deep) Schatrax – I Hold You Precious Psyche – From Beyond Tronikhouse – Smooth Groove Suburban Knight – The Groove Intercity – Out Of Control Mr. Lee – I Can’t Forget Nature Boy – I’m On Fire Twenty Twelve – The Cool Rebellion 4th Measure Men – The Need Logarhythm – The Jungle Callisto – Breezin’ The Parallax Corporation – Anti-Social Tendencies The Wolfgang Press – Time Xon – Midnight Express Paris Grey – Don’t Lead Me Never On Sunday – Urban Rains Talking Heads – Drugs
Mix with moody Detroit techno sounds, with a few detours to early UK breakbeat techno and 80s electronics. This was most likely not meant for daytime use. The vibe is quite noir. Funky though!
DJ Dozia – Drum Attack Induceve – Papillon Yello – Heavy Whispers Vice – Mindmelt Low Res – Amuck Suburban Knight – Echo Location Blake Baxter – When A Thought Becomes U Black Odyssey – Sweat Outlander – Vamp (Remix) LFO – Probe Human League – Seconds Rhythm Invention – Chronoclasm Shut Up And Dance – Autobiography Of A Crackhead Shut Up And Dance – Derek Went Mad Suburban Knight – The Worlds Schatrax – Strings KGB – Stark Laurie Anderson – O Superman
The sad truth about going out in the 80s in a small coastal town: Even if you read all the right magazines, had knowledgeable and smilarly enthusiastic friends, and kept on digging all the time. It just did not mean that you could actually dance in a club to what you just discovered. That does not mean the DJs were bad, but a lot of them were a bit lazy. If a sequence of songs worked, it was repeated for quite a while. And music was played in topical blocks. You had an italo disco round, then maybe a goth round, new wave, 2 tone, synthpop. If you came in and you just missed your preference you had to wait. Thankfully a lot of music at the time was good and interesting enough to make that bearable. But there was so much incredible music coming out, it was just frustrating that you could only hear a fraction of it in the clubs you had most frequent access to. I must admit I compensated that for many years, playing as much different music on the same occasion as I could, and often it did not make much sense. In any case a lot of mixes I did were some kind of ideal party that rarely happened, for a particular style of music or several at once. This mix is a good example, even if at the time I recorded it my situation in those aspects had already changed quite a bit. But it seems I could still remember…
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance The Flying Lizards – Her Story Hot Gossip – Geisha Boys And Temple Girls Telex – Raised By Snakes The Bollock Brothers – The President And The Showgirl New Order – The Perfect Kiss Strawberry Switchblade – Since Yesterday Holger Czukay/Jah Wobble/Jaki Liebezeit – How Much Are They? The Fun Boy Three – Life In General Visage – Anvil (Night Club School) The Residents – Diskomo The Stickmen – Do Get Down Devo – Freedom Of Choice Yello – Base For Alec Human League – The Sound Of The Crowd Heaven 17 – (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang Matia Bazar – Elettrochoc Cabaret Voltaire – Nag Nag Nag Tuxedomoon – No Tears Suicide – Dream Baby Dream John Cale – I Keep A Close Watch
I really have to ask myself why I recorded so many mixes with old music in this period. Actually I was buying new records all the time. And compared to later phases the early 00s felt less generic and stale. But if I take a look at this playlist a common denominator is funk. I love techno that is funky. Funky basslines, funky grooves, funky ideas. I remember when I started working at Hard Wax a few years later we were hearing the daily news on the store pa, and DJ Pete, with whom I was working with mostly, said about some techno records that there was just not enough music in it. I still think about that regularly. DJ Tools are fine, and needed. But musicality is an important aspect.
Adonis – Lost In The Sound Chez Damier – Untitled The Closer – Strong Meets The Weak Vitamin B – You Make Me Feel Seven Grand Housing Authority – Love’s Got Me High Pet Shop Boys – Go West Inner City – Praise Induceve – Monolevel Orlando Voorn – Dream World Sluts ‘N’ Strings & 909 – Past The Gates Trackman – Don’t Stop Hardlife – Hardlife Minimal Man – Treatment Feel Minimal Man – Outside The Window KC Flightt – Voices Chaser – Sides Of Iron Psyance – Motion Octave One – Octivate Octave One – I Believe Black Dog – Erb The New Birth – Don’t Blame The Young Folks (For The Drug Society)
I’ve been to countless clubs in my life, but Front Club in Hamburg, which ran from 1983 to 1997, is still the best club I ever had the privilege to witness. This mix contains some personal faves played there in the late 80s to early 90s, a period I particularly loved. I was young, fresh in love and the music might have been called house, might have been called techno. In fact, nobody really cared.
The photo depicts the sign from the club’s ladies room. Front started out as a gay club, later women were tolerated, but the ladies room was still mostly occupied by men. Again, nobody really cared.
One morning after dancing there all night long, I woke up lying on the floor of a friend’s appartment, and the sign was stuck on the front of my t-shirt. I had no idea whatsoever how it ended up there. I will post some more background on the club at a later point, but this incident sums up the place quite adequately.
101 – Rock To The Beat Foremost Poets – Reasons To Be Dismal? Jam To It Again – Aquarius Kenny Dope – Jam The Mace House Of Venus – Dish And Tell No Way – Sound In The Air Royal House – I Can’t Quite Understand Rhythm Warfare – Two Notches Cybersonik – Technarchy Mental Mayhem – Joey’s Riot The Untouchables – Trippin’ Armando – 100% Of Dissin’ You 33 1/3 Queen – Searchin’ Steve Poindexter –Work That Motherfucker Outlander – Vamp Sound Factory – Cuban Gigolo Bizarre Inc – Playing With Knives Steve Poindexter – Computer Madness N-Joi – Malfunction Bobby Konders – Let There Be House Brian Harris – H2O Earth People – Reach Up To Mars
Another one from the vault that was pretty popular when I first put it online. Then I was still revisiting what I danced to more than a decade earlier, for whatever reason. I was probably just missing a similar vibe. I am still very happy with the intro, a Jack Nicholson monologue lifted from the soundtrack of Five Easy Pieces. “Auspicious beginnings”. Bless soundtracks which contain snippets from the movie. You can do a lot of fine things with such. Also notable, the track that follows. It was from an album compilation of the NYC label Hit-N-Run. I first heard it played at Unit club in Hamburg in 89 or so, and pre-internet it took me quite a while to track it down. It has this mysterious feeling of good Nu Groove Records, but a really original sound. As mentioned, an album track. Once a guy claiming to be behind the label asked me to rip it via Discogs because he had lost all of his masters, but I did not believe him. In any case, this screams reissue with good mastering right in your face. The Rhythm Workshop track is a bit obscure too. The rest are classics. But hey, they are classics for a reason.
New-Ro – Music Trance Rhythm Workshop – Aftershock Aphrodisiac – Song To The Siren The Outerlimit – Dance In A Daze Sandée – Notice Me E.S.P. – It’s You Master C&J – In The City Pal Joey – Partytime A Bitch Called Joanna – I’m a Bitch House 2 House – Hypnotize Me KC Flightt – Planet E Arthur Baker And The Backbeat Disciples – Silly Games Freedom Authority – Expressions The Vision – Shardé Frankie Knuckles – Whistle Song Lil Louis – Do U Luv Me
So there I was in Berlin, surrounded by all these clubs and buzz, and I was adapting quite well actually. But dear me, the minimal hype at that time was difficult for me. I was ready to party, but hours upon hours of reduced subtlety was not what I was really hoping for. This mix was a reaction to that. I recorded it late at night, and it consists mainly of some personal favourites that I used to play at my residency at Tanzdiele in my hometown Kiel. I was not exactly homesick. But I was slowly getting the notion that there was maybe more fiction than fact with the celebrated Berlin scene. Sure, there was a whole lot happening, but I missed the musical variety I experienced in other cities. Strangely enough this mix became quite well loved, so there was hope. Still had no plans to go back into DJing though.
Sensorama – Helgoland DJ Duke – Escape From New York Soylent Green – Untitled Isoleé – Initiate 2 Johnny L – This Time DJ Linus – Pleasure Forever Sweet – Untitled Reset – Robodisco Prescription Underground – Untitled Jon Cutler Feat. E-Man – It’s Yours Johnick – Don’t Stop DJ Sneak – Manos Que Tocan Sensorama – Harzzeit The Untouchables – Something Bugged Orkestra Galaktika Feat. Michael Fewtrell – She Brings The Rain Saint Etienne – How We Used To Live
Recent Comments