The latest edition of Beatique is online now and features new music from Soft Cell, Hercules and Love Affair, Boy Harsher, ADULT. and more, plus a few old favorites, including a New Order song that is neither “Blue Monday” nor “Bizarre Love Triangle,” a Bauhaus song that isn’t “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and one of my all-time favorite club bangers. Listen here or on Mixcloud. Set list is below.
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I love Slayyyter’s remix/cover of Turnstile’s song “Birds,” which is on Never Enough: Versions. It’s such a unexpected take on the song, clubby and with a dubstep twist. Plus, Slayyyter is really good with aggressive vocals. I included “Birds” on my September mix, but didn’t get the chance to try it out in a club until last night. Set list is below.
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I’m way into “You You You,” from Arab Strap’s new album, Half-Told Tales. Played in my set for the first time on Friday night at Club Underground. It’s a groovy, dance-rock track that’s good for the warm-up portion of the night. Anyhow, it’s been a long-hot weekend so I don’t have much to say, except that the set list from Friday night is below. I’ll be back at Underground on October 16 for the Fontaines D.C. album release party. Get your tickets for that asap.
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There’s a new Hercules and Love Affair album out now. It’s called Danseur and it’s fantastic. If you were upstairs at Underground last night, you might have heard “Heaven,” which features Faris Badwan of The Horrors on vocals and is my favorite song on the album. (Read the review here) Other new releases in the set include the title track from Soft Cell’s final album, Danceteria (review) and “Exploded View” from Actors latest, Our Love Will Live Forever (review).
It was The Cure Nite, but, I was playing in the not-The Cure room upstairs. Got a few Fontaines D.C. songs in for those of you who came to the club after the show, and those of us who didn’t get tickets. As usual, releases from the past two years are highlighted and link back to other mentions on the blog. Thanks for dancing.
(more…)Did you know that there’s a new album from Hercules and Love Affair out now? Neither did I. Hype surrounding Danseur has been scant, which is a shame because it is a fantastic album. It’s also an album that can’t be described with whatever marketing buzzwords are trending this week, so I suppose the lack of buzz is to be expected.
For the uninitiated, Hercules and Love Affair is the project of DJ, musician and producer Andy Butler. Back in 2008, he unleashed a monster club hit, “Blind,” with Anohni on vocals. I’m hesitant to refer to the song as a banger because it’s pretty melancholy, but “Blind” still packs the floor nearly 20 years later. (In fact, I played it the night before writing this, and the night before that, in DJ sets.) In the years that have passed since then, Hercules and Love Affair has become synonymous with smart dance music over the course of five albums. Butler’s productions, which sit at the crossroads of disco, house and synthpop, are steeped in nightlife and LGBTQ+ culture For his sixth album, Danseur, Butler explicitly pays tribute to the queer club history.
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