The thing I love most about going clubbing is the anticipation that comes before actually putting a single pump in the venue itself. What are you going to wear! What music will you blast while you get ready! Clubs are real-time fantasy lands where music, sound and space come together as one. I always think about the booming, rattling sound a club makes, the anticipatory muffled bass you hear on the outside at the door as you make your way inside, I think of this as a clubs’ heartbeat. (Boots and pants and boots and pants and boots and pants. Say it aloud.) It’s the kind of sound that makes you excited about the weekend.
Here are 7 dance songs — or club heartbeats — that are currently preoccupying my brain space. See if you can make it through these songs without getting your groove on. You know what they say — it’s five o’clock somewhere.
1.”I Got Werk,” Moodyman
Moodyman is an American DJ and producer who is keen on retaining an distinctively black sound on techno and house music. “I Got Werk” is one of those tracks that makes you want to jive instantly.
2. “Kymestry,” Damon Bell
Damon Bell is an California-based producer and DJ whose genre-bending sounds draw from a variety of musical genres, from afro-beat to house and soul.
3. “Life Cycle,” Jeff Mills
Jeff Mills is one of the most iconic DJs on the global techno circuit. Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, where techno was invented by three black youths who wanted to create a type of “high-tech soul,” Mills is particularly known for his minimal sound. “Life Cycle” is one of those tracks you imagine blasting at you in an illegal party basement somewhere.
4. “Multiply,” Terrence Dixon
Like Jeff Mills, Terrence Dixon is also known for his minimal techno palette, with sounds focusing primarily on mood and hypnotic, repetitive melody than on beat. I love this track in particular because it reminds me of minimalist composers like Philip Glass.
5. “Distane,” Psyk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLyYwwmeopg
When people say that techno is hard to listen to it’s because techno can often sound too repetitive, which to some can make the stuff feel like it has no “groove” in it. Those people would probably point to a track like this one by Psyk, a Spanish DJ and producer, where over the entire six-minute long track nothing really happens. The thing is, sometimes to really enjoy techno you have to pry yourself away from the idea that “something is supposed to happen” and instead focus on the beats and how the beats impact your body.
6. “Mind of Mars,” Rødhåd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYeYQzSUSQs
I’ve been completely obsessed with this Rødhåd track since I discovered it a few days ago. Anyone who knows me knows I love minor keys. This track is in D# minor, so check. What does it for me is the way the beat feels slow and relentless with melodic arpeggiations on top of the beat.
7. “Do You Wanna Funk?,” Sylvester
I’ve always got Sylvester on my mind, that beautiful black queer diva who produced some of the most iconic disco tracks. “Do You Wanna Funk” is, of course, a play on words, funk being the type of soulful dance music that makes you want to get on your feet. And then there’s that other F-word, which sometimes goes hand-in-hand with dance music.
MADISON MOORE
