No Tears have just launched a new website, NoTears.nyc and have upped their semi-regular party to a monthly, (2nd Thursdays at Friends and Lovers). To celebrate, here’s a mixtape of EBM, italo, minimal wave and other synth treats. And don’t forget, the next No Tears is April 9th with special guests Showroom Dummies!
No Tears is back. This time we present special guest Void Republic from Montreal performing a live set of electronic minimal synth dance music. http://voidrepublic.com/
Ed and Brett play New Wave, Cold Wave, Dark Disco.
10pm/Free
Keep Brooklyn Cold
“It’s cold outside
And the paint’s peeling off of my walls
There’s a man outside
In a long coat, gray hat, smoking a cigarette…”
Stop watching the paint peel off your walls! Come in from the cold! You too, man in the long coat (at least you’re dressed weather appropriate). Come join your Friends Electric, Ed and Brett as they play your cold wave, new wave and dark disco favorites —At Friends and Lovers in Crown Heights. It’s Free!!
An old Cure fave amped up for maximum bounce on the dance floor? Works for me. A charitable DJ donating this remix for free to any pair of ears that cares to listen? Even better. Greek DJ/producer Leonidas Deejay posted this track to his Soundcloud almost a year ago, but just recently decided to share it with the world via that magic download button. It’s got all the funky-pale-goth-boy charm of the original, just bigger, faster and more energized. Head over to his page and grab it while you can…offers like this don’t stick around for long.
– Spoolwork
It’s Get Strange week at YDH2S. The bar is set high because every DJ likes to think they have the craziest stuff and well, some of my fellow YDH2S DJs have turned in some killer oddness. But I think I have something to out freak their freakiest beats.
Coming from the fashion world of late 70s Germany, Patrick D. Martin embarked on a music career, birthing one oddball EP and a few 7”s of eccentric new wave, punk and disco, before moving on to video art. He perfectly encapsulates everything that I love about that time period — musical mongrelism, international cross-pollination, a bit of robo-futurism, and implied sexual and cultural deviance. It’s Devo and Nina Hagen with a bit of Moroder and Bowie and whatever else was lying around.
It’s hard for me to pick a favorite, and that doesn’t imply that all Martin’s songs were good. They’re just all… interesting. Most of them aren’t likely to set off a dance floor, but all will get you some strange looks. These are the songs DJs play for other DJs — the ones you put on a mix tape to test how cool someone is.
Luci ‘Lectric might be the go to jam for most people. It has a slapped baseline and other obvious disco-isms under an ode to the dark prince himself, Lucifer. It’s not quite wild enough for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s probably still too weird for most sets and the bridge has an awesome springy robot laser battle.
However, compared to Martin’s other offerings it kind of pails. ?, (Question Mark), is an all-out space war with a bass burble that may have inspired Cosmic Cars. If that’s true, then this track may be the blue print for techno. As cool as that is, the song gets smothered in ridiculous saxophone that hasn’t stood the test of time. If that weren’t bad enough, it goes sort of piano house at the end. I mean doing techno and piano house on a record in 1979 is sort of incredible, but I can’t say that it sounds good.
Luci ‘Lectric’s B-side, Mutant sounds like the B-52s on PCP. It’s all slinky cowboy guitar, discordant riffiage, sound effects and Martin ranting in his best Bela Lugosi impression. Three minutes in, the bridge happens and the entire song dissolves only to rise again zombie like. It’s astounding how many ideas this guy can pack into four minutes.
Martin has a few more “hits” in his arsenal, but for my taste, the one to go with is “I Like ‘Lectric Motors”. It’s basically screaming guitar, Martin rapping in his english accent over a pulsing arpeggiator. At times the frequency opens up and the synth gets a bit acidy. This one is actually pretty danceable and even had a video. Drop it if you’re feeling brave!
-Dope Werewolf
Clear (Tony Johns edit) – Cybotron
Englishman Tony Johns has been putting out some killer edits lately, and this is one of my faves. He takes Cybotron’s Detroit anthem “Clear,” and throws some rumbling latin percussion under it. It might sound kind of crazy but it sounds like a perfect match for mid 80s early electronic music. Can’t wait to unleash this one on the floor.
While we’re at it, here’s another Tony Johns edit, this one of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Rage Hard,” a fun little late 80s romp hovering somewhere between new wave and early house. Johns has a lot of fun looping pieces of the track in silly ways, it’s a lot of nerdy fun.
Check out Tony Johns’ Soundcloud for more tasty edits
Last Song Of The Night is a special category for the working DJ. By 4 AM, everyone’s well buzzed and bleary-eyed, seeing things in a bit of a haze, ears burnt from dancing by the speakers too long, throats all frazzled from yelling at the bar. No need to wallop the masses with another banger. The vibe should be a little sweet, even familiar, so Couple Making Out By The Photo Booth don’t get their mojo wrecked and Last Stragglers From Amy’s Birthday can stumble out singing, arms a-twirl, happy and exhausted. But you also need a track with enough oomph to get Sleeping Dude On The Sofa up and out the door, wiping the drool from his cheek as he makes his way to the corner diner to soak up whiskey with some chili fries. This pick should do just fine, a rework of Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Bring on the Dancing Horses” by Aussie lad Luke Foskey, aka Young Edits. It’s a bit nostalgic (wasn’t the original on the Pretty In Pink soundtrack?), with enough thump to get us headed to our next destination- all night diner, bed (our own or someone else’s), or maybe just a walk through the empty, sleeping streets, humming a familiar tune til the sun comes up.
– Spoolwork