Forget the club, forget the hype and the supposed scene. A podcast of quality made by a label boss seeking out quality.
I was on a flight to Denmark recently. The inflight magazine featured a small article on a set of prints that a Spanish visual artist produced. The content: famous nightclubs of the world. I take issue with any focus on “the club.” True, the building has an importance, as does the space and soundsystem. But it’s the bookings, the DJs, the night, the atmosphere and the crowd that make a place special, not the bricks and mortar. Moog in Barcelona features in this series of “famous clubs.” Some may know the club, but do people know any of the residents? I was lucky enough to catch one Djing in Madrid recently, David Lost, and he delivered one of the best sets of heard in years. Intricate, diverse, historic, modern and cracking.
I’ve been living in Spain for almost three years now and I’ve never known such music activity. With gigs I’m specifically talking about Madrid but new labels are popping up and production levels, in spite of la crisis, seem to be on the rise. One new imprint that has grown out of this creative period is Clasicos Del Ruido. Born in Barcelona, and with two releases to date, the focus is on dark wave, synthpop, EBM, new beat, dark electro, dark disco, technopop and “whatever we like.”
Now forgive me before I get started. I spoke with the podcast producer and label co-owner, Gus Van Sound, in Spanish so some of my translation might miss out on certain nuances, but the drift will undoubtedly be got. Gus, who runs the imprint with Kapi, adds that it’s a “cold” and “dark” style that captivates the Mediterranean men, but “no one style in particular” is at the heart of Clasicos Del Ruido. “There are a lot of Djs, a few labels and not too many artists” but it’s “healthy and growing.” Gus tells me that the mix “shines a light on the variety” that the label is looking for, and does it ever. A huge range of styles are enviably brought together and enviably blended. The podcast brings together past masters and modern virtuosos, cruising through genres like “synthpop, nu disco, electro, a touch of darkacid and techno narcotic.” A sprinkling of upcoming imprint additions have featured, the likes of “Drvg Cvltvre, In Aeternam Vale, Snuffo y Hesperius Draco (Alesandro Parissi)” who will be debuting soon on Clasicos Del Ruido.
Forget the club, forget the hype and the supposed scene. A podcast of quality made by a label boss seeking out quality.
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01 SURVIVE :: Short Hour (MF064)
02 ARMY OF GOD :: Salvation (AOG1)
03 POSITIVE CENTRE :: Become The Surface (OCS001LP)
04 FRANCK THE WOLF :: El Rio Negro
05 BROKEN ENGLISH CLUB :: (Cititrax 014)
06 GOLD ZEBRA :: Dark Musique
07 FISHERMEN :: Psyko Bath :: Club Mix (SELF001)
08 SHE LIES :: Needed You :: THE ASPHODELLS Remix (ALR021)
09 TIMOTHY J. FAIRPLAY :: Dr. Lazarus (Charlois 002)
10 SIMONCINO :: Pyramids (Créme Organization 077)
11 MOLLY NILSSON :: Summer Cats (DSA017)
12 SIMONCINO :: Space Is The Place (Créme Organization 077)
13 ASS :: Male Nurses (HAR001)
14 DRVG CVLTVRE :: Horned Be The Hunter (Rave Or Die 003)
15 WITCH :: Vent :: TRUSS Remix (PT5001)
16 HESPERIUS DRACO :: Moments Of Extremis (Frigio 016)
17 IN AETERNAM VALE :: Monologues (Clasicos Del Ruido 006)
18 CLOCK DVA :: Re-Kabaret 13 (ARMV01)
19 THE EXALTICS :: Never Be Enough (CWCS008.3)
20 SNUFFO :: Its Killing Me (Polybius Trax 003)
21 HELENA HAUFF :: Hiemal Quietus (LXRC21)
