10 lockdown anthems we can’t wait to hear in a club
Words: Dylan Murphy
March is dedicated to Triumph Over Adversity on District. We’re celebrating the people continuing to exceed expectations despite enduring the most difficult year of our lives. Having been largely out of work in that time, we asked Ireland’s leading DJs and producers to tell us the tracks released in lockdown they plan to christen when clubs reopen.
When it comes to thinking about the return of clubs and live music, it’s safe to say we’ve all flirted with the five stages of grief at some point over the last year.
Whether we were in denial initially about how long we’d have to wait to dance with our friends again or feeling glum about our prospect for sweaty hugs by the booth, we can all agree that it’s been tough.
Even just reminiscing about the better times can be difficult. Everyone remembers the time that song dropped changed everything – the track that sparked a lifelong interest in a sound and introduced you to a previously unfamiliar world. Or maybe it was simply losing yourself for a night with like-minded people. Whatever attachment you have to dancing with strangers in a dark room whilst the speakers hammer your eardrums, It’s hard to underestimate the power these moments of shared experience have.
However, one thing that has kept people going is hope. Hope, that one day it will all return and we’ll make new memories with fresh faces and the first snare will pinch us and wake us up out of this nightmare we’ve all been living.
Additionally, the perseverance of producers and artists has brought a renewed sense of trust in the idea that things will return to normal. We’ve all daydreamed about the night our favourite haunts reopen and the first song we’ll hear. Moreover, there have been countless anthems that have dropped in the past year that never got the debut they deserved. The records that soundtracked your living room raves, the summer anthems that played during socially distanced cans and the edits that just didn’t sound right listening to them solo.
With that in mind, we asked some of our favourite acts what tracks they’ll christen when clubs open their doors once again.
Plain Sailing
DJ Chupacabra – ‘Turbo‘
“The track I have chosen is Turbo by DJ Chupacabra on the excellent Haŵs label. I’ve found myself listening to more and more club music as things become quietly more optimistic and this is one I come back to time and time again.”
“It’s the perfect blend of house and garage – the skippy 2-step evolves into a more solid 4×4 rhythm that gives off a bouncy UK microhouse vibe. I can hear the yeos already.”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Roo Honeychild
BIG DOPE P – ‘Bounce 94’
“When ‘Bounce ‘94′ dropped last Autumn I could really feel how long it had been since I’d been dancing in a circle with my pals. After some months of largely ignoring dance music, it’s bright arps and playful vocals lit a real fire under my ass. With this track, Movelltraxx don Big Dope P pays tribute to the legacy of 90s Eurodance while staying true to his Juke and Booty House roots, creating a captivating and anthemic fusion in the process.”
“DMP’s contemporary hip hop vocal stylings glide whimsically over the beat, glistening with autotune, cheeky lyrics landing at the perfect intersection of raunchiness, cheeky fun and cheese.”
“It’s a serious banger if ever I heard one. It’ll be in the peak time section of my playlist as soon as the rave is back. The lockdown won’t be truly over for me until I can point at a friend and scream/sing-along ‘Make that ass bounce!’ to that hook right next to a speaker stack.”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Mark Blair
My Nu Leng – ‘1 More Tune’
“The excitement I have to hear this track through a massive sound system in a dark, dingy, sweaty little club is indescribable.”
“I can already hear the yeo’s and cheers as the bass drops in. There’s been so many quality club-focused tracks released over the past year, we’re all in for a treat once the clubs & raves open again.”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Carlton Doom
Special Request – ‘Spectral Frequency‘
“This song gives me an adrenaline rush just listening in the house, on my own. I feel my heart racing as it constantly warps and changes and builds and screams. Then that final WHALLOP when those breaks hammer in.”
“I cannot wait to share that feeling with hundreds of others, all feeling the same rush. No one does it like Woolford at all, and when I finally get to hear that out – you just know the crowd is going to erupt when it all slams together and the energy releases. Honestly might shit my trunks.”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Selky
India Jordan – ‘For You’
“Jordan’s 2020 mammoth release, with the title track of the same name, ‘For You’ echoes with the makings of THE summer anthem of 2020. Their Hi-NRG / vocal driven sound is both uplifting and dance floor inspired, raising many dampened souls over lockdown. Looking to the future, their forthcoming release ‘Watch Out!’ on Ninjatune records promises to be a big one for May 2021!”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Doubt – ‘Soilse’
“Late 2019 saw the release of Cork natives Doubt & Tensions club killer ‘Steam Cycle’. The track was embraced in the club for a few short weeks before Lockdown. His latest instalment to the Flood label ’Soilse’ (Meaning light or brightness in Gaelic) and for good reason, the track emphasises that dance music can be both evocative and club driven. Proving ‘Tá saol níos fearr i ndán dúinn’ (There are brighter days ahead).”
– @selkydj
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
SohotSoSpicy
UNIIQU3 – ‘DIGITAL DIVA 2.0’
“I remember hearing the first version of Digital Divas back in 2013 and I thought it was the coolest shit; it definitely shaped my music taste into what it is now.”
“When UNIIQU3 rereleased it in summer 2020 she updated the sound in my similar ways that my tastes have shifted over the years so it was cool to have such a personal connection with a track! It’s a stomping banger that mixes jersey club and EDM elements in a way that’s accessible to everyone and I can’t wait to play it out in the club ASAP!”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Shampain
Tommy 2000 – ‘Thunderbird’ [VSN World]
“Tommy is a young prodigy from Durham in the UK and I haven’t been fortunate enough to play any of his tracks in the club prior to COVID – he sent me this one for the latest VSN WORLD compilation in aid of ICHH and it’s quite possibly my favourite tune of the past 12 months, and I doubt I’d be alone in that opinion either.”
“His production is so unique and fresh all the while losing little in the effectiveness department. He takes the poignancy of Sylvia Plath’s work and breathes new, yet still melancholic life into it; wrapping it around elusive bass and complex percussion from the off.”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Holly Lester
Alex Kassian – ‘Oolong Trance’
‘This is the kind of track I want to be hearing towards the end of the night when we can eventually get back to clubbing – an uplifting, piano laden euphoric chugger.”
“I can just imagine that oldskool piano riff coming in and everyone erupting into a happy mess on the dance floor; telling strangers how much they have missed this feeling, hugging their best mates, maybe shedding a tear or two out of pure joy. This will definitely be in the bag for any closing sets I have post-pandemic.”
Click here to purchase the release on Bandcamp.
Obskur
Obskür – ‘Bayside’
“We initially made Bayside heading into the Summer so the track does have that feeling of everything good from that time of year as well as the bassline and drums keeping everything club-ready. We’d be lying if we didn’t say we had the club in mind when building the track.”
Click here for Obskür’s Bandcamp.
