Second appearance at Betalounge in Hamburg. At that time I was still celebrating by rekindled love for disco, mostly with Hunee, whom I got to know in a record store, of all places. We were some kind of go-to tag team when a floor required some vintage gems and we had tons of fun. Playing a set of that kind in Hamburg was a bit like carrying owls to Athens, though. After all I learnt most of what I knew about disco in that city and its clubs, and there were really many DJs and collectors there who were hard to impress with this playlist. Anyway, I had to try, and paying dues and so on.
My first appearance at the seminal Betalounge, live at its premises in Hamburg. I was scheduled to play an old school house/disco night in town so I played what I prepared for that. The location was a place were people were usually hanging out in the afternoon before they hit the nightlife, but I had the whole place dancing at some point. I was particularly honoured that many friends and other DJs showed up, including Vienna’s hip hop legend DSL, whom I always really admired.
You really cannot underestimate the impact of the Betalounge. Operating from San Francisco and Hamburg they were the Boiler Room of those days. Just check their vast archive and you will know what I mean.
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
I had just moved to Berlin. I was 35 already and I had already experienced a lot (and had a lot of fun along the way) and thus did not fall for all the hype surrounding my new environment so easily. I was basically through with DJing then, as I had been playing out since the 80s and it kind of felt as it was a good time to let it go. I spent most of my time pondering what to do next and exploring the city. I went out quite a lot and made some new and met some old friends, but a lot of the music played at the clubs was not really my thing. So I did a few mixes to pass the time that kind of revisited favourite tunes I purchased and danced to during my youthful formative days in Kiel and Hamburg. I was still in love with music, but I was wondering if I might just turn into an enthusiast and make a living with something else.
Amnésie – Turas Bobby O – Pump It Up Hipnosis – Droid Casco – Cybernetic Love One Two Three – Runaway Eberhard Schoener – Why Don’t You Answer Visage – In The Year 2525 Sparks – Beat The Clock Klein & M.B.O. – Wonderful Tapps – My Wonderful Lover Klapto – Mister Game Max Him – Japanese Girl Man Two Man – Energy Is Eurobeat Divine – Shake It Up Magnifique – Magnifique Man Two Man – Who Knows What Evil? Bobby Davenport – Time (Has Come Today) Trans X – Living On Video
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