Baker's Dozen: To All the Raves I've Loved Before

Baker’s Dozen is usually a weekly thing I do where I share music I’ve been listening to with my paid subscribers. But this week I’m doing a different thing! For starters, it’s free to read this week (I do this every so often, sorry paid subscribers, we’ll be back to normal next week), and also instead I’ve decided to compile some dance music from the last decade associated with good memories I have going out and dancing to dance music. Hope you enjoy it, and hope we can all dance again together at some point in the future too.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0gAnc7flNALwZuam0dw9PX

Todd Terje, “Inspector Norse”

From, like, 2010 to 2012 (my time frame is undoubtedly wrong here), my wife and I went to the Roots Family Picnic at Festival Pier in Philly as a sort of tradition. (For the record, I use “my wife” instead of her real name because she’s not too online, has a public works job, and also there’s a small but nonetheless present contingent of sickos that have at times quite literally and physically followed me over the course of my career, so. May as well be careful. Thanks for nothing, sickos.)

Anyway, the second or third time we went (did we only go twice? Who knows), we found ourselves fairly lit during St. Vincent’s set and feeling anxious for “whatever” reason. Then we went into the tent where James Murphy was DJ’ing and he had just dropped the needle on “Inspector Norse.” It felt glorious. we danced for an hour or so, went back to the hotel, ordered a pizza, and she fell asleep while I watched Wendy Williams reruns until 1 in the morning or so.

Calvin Harris, “Thinking About You” [ft. Ayah Marar]

A perfect song I think. Calvin Harris allegedly sent an illicit picture to my friend’s fiancé’s cousin. I saw the alleged illicit picture. It is explicit! DM for inquiries, I guess?

Daniel Avery, “Knowing We’ll Be Here”

OK, this is a bit of a long story. I incidentally worked with several people in one of my friend circles at the same massive media company, for a while. We got lunch occasionally, hung out at the same social events outside of work. Me and my friend Lindsay went to see Daniel Avery at Good Room and one of those friends, Hannah, one of my not-work-but-also-work friends, came too. I’m waiting in line for the bathroom (remember doing that?) and I receive a flood of texts that are images of me at my job over the past year—different outfits, in and out of the office, etc. Terrifying stuff.

The three of us are plenty messed up, so I’m alone getting all these candid photos from a number I don’t have in my phone. I start freaking out. I go back to Hannah and Lindsay and start rambling about how I have a stalker and I have no idea what to do. It was Hannah. I didn’t have Hannah’s number in my phone. She’d been planning this for a year. Everyone—including my wife—was in on it. Incredible. (Also, this was the second time Lindsay did this to me. Goddamnit.) Anyway, Daniel Avery was good. I remember being in the middle of the dancefloor and seeing another coworker, Tyler, and waving to him. Good Room was a good place. Saw Juju & Jordash there too at some point.

HAIM, “Falling (Duke Dumont Remix)”

I went to Electric Daisy Carnival once, and it was in Las Vegas—2015. It was for work. I tend to take “work” seriously regardless of the setting, at least for a spell, so my first night was miserable. Imagine trying to seriously work at an EDM festival! What was I thinking? Anyway, the second night I linked up with a video producer and her assistant. The three of us got loved up and pretty much just went crazy all night. Lots of generous words of affirmation, lots of hugging, lots of pouring water on each others’ heads. We rode the Ferris wheel at least three times in a row. Felt good.

Around 3 a.m., we found ourselves watching a couple get married at a makeshift chapel as Duke Dumont dropped his remix of HAIM’s “The Wire.” The three of us hugged, had a few more drinks, and it felt special. I got back to my hotel room at Caesar’s Palace around 7:30 a.m. and, upon walking into the lobby, saw someone who was also clearly an EDC attendee fall directly into the fountain in the middle of the lobby. That felt special too.

The Field, “Over the Ice”

My friends and I had a very small but cherished DJ night that we did at whatever venue our friend Ashley could secure at any given time. (I miss you so much, Ashley. COME BACK TO NYC!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I was a shit DJ overall, but my One Weird Trick That Doctors Hated was mixing some crappy tech-house track I’d found into “Over the Ice” at just the right second. A friend from home came to a set and his mind was blown by the transition, and I found that immensely satisfying.

deadmau5 and Kaskade, “I Remember”

God-level tune. “I remember” (get it?) being at the Made in America festival in 2013 with my wife, my sister-in-law Nadia, and my friends Kelly, Chelsea, and Ramya as Chelsea was passing us drinks from the VIP section. We’d just seen Queens of the Stone Age, which was a bit of a letdown, and we heard deadmau5 wafting from the other stage while Nine Inch Nails were getting ready. “I Remember” sounded amazing. So did Nine Inch Nails. Good times.

Frankie Knuckles, “The Whistle Song”

I was immeasurably lucky to see Frankie Knuckles spin with Ashley at Cameo Gallery before he died and the venue closed. So many things we miss these days, but also, so many things we were missing before “these days” too.

Actress, “Purple Splazsh”

Another good night with Ashley and my wife, must’ve been after Ghettoville came out. 285 Kent, was a reliably good place to wander in and see a legend playing music. (I got to see Anthony “Shake” Shakir there even though it was almost empty. Where was everyone? How the fuck do you not see Anthony “Shake” Shakir when he’s playing in NYC?) I tell this story all the time, including to Ashley, but while we were dancing—was definitely in the 1 a.m.-2 a.m. range—a guy bumped into her by accident and I watched her plant both feet immediately, spin around, and shove him straight to the ground. He meant nothing by it! But Ashley means business. I refuse to judge whatever any woman does to protect herself on the dancefloor, men are disgusting and always worse.

Sepalcure, “Hold On”

These guys were good. My wife and I saw them a ton of times. One time was with my sister-in-law Nadia, the night before New Years’ Eve (strange night to go out dancing, perhaps), Le Poisson Rouge. Kind of half-empty but we made the most of it. The music sounded great, we hogged the photo booth for a bit too. Remember photo booths?

Ramadanman, “Don’t Change For Me”

This guy (David Kennedy) changed his name to Pearson Sound shortly after this track came out. I went to see a Hessle Audio showcase in Sweden in 2014, found myself walking to the venue after the festival it was attached to, and realized a woman was following me for a while. She asked me if I wanted a date and upon realizing what the deal was, I politely declined and went inside the venue. Sweden is notoriously expensive and the place I was working at the time was notoriously cheap in paying its workers, so I was notoriously skint in terms of funds. I drank whatever beers I could afford, I bothered David after his set for a bit (sorry, David), and when I left the venue it turned out that the sex worker was still waiting for me to see if I changed my mind. Very polite! I hadn’t. I did get McDonald’s on the way back to the hotel, though.

Girl Unit, “Wut”

VICE, as they often did, put on a stupid-as-hell event anchored to Intel and probably Raytheon or whatever, where it was a bunch of concerts in DUMBO (lol) during the course of one day. Girl Unit played at one point. I got in trouble for hopping in the booth and annoying him. He wasn’t annoyed though. I’m sure. Anyway. Here’s a picture of me and my friend Josh at the show. I am not the guy wearing the hat:

Caribou, “Sun”

First time at Primavera Festival in Barcelona, I’m in the mix during Caribou’s set, bashing around during “Sun”—and I knock right into Dan Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never. We embraced in the pit (lol) and kept knocking around. Later on in the night, someone took a picture of me, him, and Joel Ford during the late-night Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas set, but I ran across the photo too early so the resulting snap was Dan and Joel grinning above my physically blurred state. Who says you can’t remember everything?

John Talabot, “So Will Be Now” [ft. Pional]

About Primavera: I went twice on Pitchfork’s dollar and got their fucking money’s worth both times. Every night I stayed until sunrise, when the nearby sewage plant emptied out and all you could smell alongside the beach was shit. (If you know, you know.) The first time I did this alone, the second time it was with my friend Corban. Both times, fellow audience members invited me to join in some sort of group sex session after the set. Uh, I’m flattered, but no! Not exactly what you expect to hear from two British people while you’re vibing to John Talabot at 5:30 a.m. We also saw a guy who was too wasted and wearing a rubber chicken hat. I took a photo of him with the flash on and it obviously blinded him for a second. Wish I had the photo still, but some things are meant to be lost.