Kiosk Afterparty (26/11/23)
We all know that feeling: you’re at the afterparty, midday has rolled around and, tacitly or explicitly, you’ve made the commitment to continuing into the evening. There’s something special about that second afternoon/evening, when the hallucinatory edge of sleep deprivation begins to express itself subtly (or not so subtly) as an unexpected but highly welcome second wind. Some of the silliest and most profound afterparty moments I’ve had have been at around 7pm on the second night.
This Sunday wasn’t exactly like that, but it wasn’t far off. For starters, this wasn’t quite a second evening, at least not for me. I had gone to bed at a very civilised 10pm the night before, watching a Dark Souls II speedrun to help me fall asleep (never fails). Then we were up before it got light, to shower and breakfast in time to arrive at the afters around 7am. Now this afters hadn’t just started the night before, it had started a full day before, on Saturday morning, which meant that for many of the people in attendance it was now the Second Lunchtime, never mind Evening. So it already had a definite dose of that slightly unhinged vibe of an afters, but also, importantly, a dose of that joyfulness of a really good day party. K-holes in the corner this was not, at least not for the majority.
The gathering was taking place in a large apartment space that more resembled an office building than a home — probably because it used to be a UN embassy of some kind. (This made it the second ex-ambassadorial premises I’ve partied at this year, following Savage back in January.) There was music in two rooms: a proper setup in the main room with what looked like those jet engine-shaped Void speakers (though they were matt black rather than glossy) serving a dancefloor of about 50 people; and then a chillout space in one of the bedrooms, with cushions round the edge of the room for people to lie on. Gwenan and I played in the main room, taking over from Sixsixsixties — a DJ I very much admire (check this lovely recording from May this year) — just before midday. He had put me in an excellent mood, as had judicious amounts of mezcal and drugs. (My rule on not getting high before playing applies to neither afterparties nor, as we will find out, Kiosks.)
I had brought a USB just in case my small bag of records (22, I just counted) wasn’t sufficient, but aside from a minor wobble about halfway through I didn’t feel the need to reach for it. So me and G went one-for-one on vinyl for three fabulous hours, indulging in the Second Lunchtime vibes and coaxing everyone, including ourselves, towards that Second Evening. I did actually have another minor wobble soon after starting, about three records in, when I played the above Mandate tune. It sounded far more banging than I had expected, which was the opposite of what I needed to ease myself into the set. Thankfully when you’re playing b2b with someone you have plenty of time to reflect and gather yourself, so I did just that while dancing and gazing out of the window. I drank some more mezcal, breathed deeply and listened to what Gwenan was doing for guidance. Soon enough, I managed to get into the mood I’d been hoping for, and the rest of the time flew by.
Highlights from my side included wheeling out old favourites like ‘Get Up’ and ‘Midnight Express’ and, after much restraint, finally taking a punt on Forgemasters’ evergreen Sir James mash-up ‘Shall We (Special Mix)’, which went down a storm towards the end of our allocated time. Having not played any vocals all set, it was a genuine moment of release. Gwenan mixed out of its soppy piano finale into Murat Tepeli’s sleazy ‘Work It’ and the lateral thinking and creativity of the moment made me realise that the Second Evening afters phenomenon has an analogue in the Third Hour (Or More) phenomenon of a DJ set. The longer it goes on, the more your brain and body enters this alternate flow state where daring decisions like that one can take place and really work. That’s why it was tough for us to stop at three hours: it felt like we were only just getting started. (Though being fair, any longer and I really would have run out of records.)
Another highlight for me was Reformed Society’s ‘Touch And Go’ from the latest release on Brussels label Basic Moves. It felt appropriate to play a local tune while taking part in a local cultural event (yes, it deserves that title) and the tune’s light touch fit in elegantly with the other late 90s minimal house tunes I had brought with me. “Is he actually Belgian?” I asked Michelle, MVP dancer and all-round legend, while it was playing. “No, he’s from India via London, and he’s lovely,” she replied. The LP’s sleeve notes, which I’ve only just got round to reading, describe the music thus:
Half the tracks have a sound inspired by UK tech house (97-04) with a very “heads down”, serious, and deep vibe for mid-size to semi-large rooms or clubs. It goes even deeper, envisioning people well into their mdma high, feeling full of love and maybe even some introspection.
A better description of the afterparty vibe at around 1pm on Sunday you simply won’t find.
After we’d finished playing, I spent the next few hours alternately enjoying Dana Kuehr’s extended sonic voyage in the chillout room and Boudewijn Ericx’s Chicago/NY acid selections in the main room, the always welcome ‘Straphanger’ among them. I ate some lentil lasagna and took more drugs. I chatted a load of shit and enjoyed myself immensely while doing so. It was the traditional afters fare and it began to feel like a true Second Evening, even though it was really only the First.
But actually something untraditional was about to happen. As the title of this post suggests, I had agreed to go and play at Kiosk on Sunday evening, not knowing whether I’d still be partying or not but suspecting I probably would. And indeed I was, so up I got around 7.15pm, changed into my outdoor clothes, gathered my records and headed out to catch the tram. I had mostly sobered up at this point, having taken it easy for the latter half of the afternoon, but there was a palpable edge of surreality to stepping out of 12 hours of afterparty to go and do a job. (Having now done it myself, I’m definitely going to start looking at other radio streams from DJs playing on Sunday evenings and wonder if they’re doing the same.)
The lovely thing about it was that I felt like I was carrying some of that Second Evening energy with me to the Kiosk, and in my opinion you can hear that in the show. Unlike some other radio shows I’ve done it wasn’t planned beyond the records I’d taken to the afters and some of those back-up USB tracks. I fudged the opening a little while I acclimatised myself again to the space and the setup, but once I got going I managed to conjure some of the afternoon groove with Gwenan. In the end only four of the tracks I played at the afters also made it into the radio show, but the overall vibe was similar. The stretch from ‘Midnight Express’ through ‘Touch And Go’ probably sums it up best, especially the middle two transitions — on the video feed you can see me bopping around in recollection.
So that was that, I hear you say. Time for bed. But NO, don’t you know me? Obviously I went back to the afters. And obviously I got even sillier than I had earlier. Now we were really into the Second Evening vibe and I was going to make the most of it. Mainly this involved rolling around on the cushions in the chillout room, discussing early reggaeton (thanks Raquel for the tip on Ivy Queen’s Tiny Desk Concert) and phalluses (thanks Dana for the psychoanalytical contributions) and watching G carefully construct a house of cards.
The traditional afters fare. Bring on the next one.
Joe Delon @ Kiosk Radio (28/11/23)
Claude Young - Hamburg By Night [Dust Science, 2005]
Spacetime Continuum - Movement#2 (Herbert Mix) [Reflective, 1996]
New-Ro - She's A Nymphomaniac (L.A.'s Dogstyle Dub) [United Sounds Of America, 1989]
DJ Autopay - Trope 2 [T4T Luv Energy, 2023]
J. Dahlbäck & J.L Huhta - Midnight Express B1 [Svek, 1997]
Amookii - Still My Thing [Girlz With Good Taste, 2023]
Evil C & The Hustler - Get Up [Paparazzi, 1999]
Reformed Society - Touch And Go [Basic Moves, 2023]
Midland - Drift Into The Algorithm [Graded, 2023]
Funk D'Void - Way Up High (Alex Smoke's String Mix) [Soma, 2004]
Gwenan - A1 [For Playful Manners, 2023]
rRoxymore - Beyond The Sun [Aus, 2023]
Zero B - Spinning Wheel [Ignition, 1991]