Month: May 2022

This is not my original image and was used with the permission of Dj Eldon

All the pictures to follow are by Sonya Gallegos

Tramway to 98th with DJ Eldon

Two blue haired freaks wandering aimlessly through a broken city is what we appeared to be. But not today. Today we had purpose. We had a plan. Although, at first, I’ll admit we couldn’t decide what to listen to. But do you blame us for this one?

The plan was good. Start on tramway and drive down central all the way to 98th street, viewing the entirety of the city called Albuquerque along the way. This city, like so many others, has many faces, and my plan was to see as many of them as possible in one day. But again. What to listen to?

We considered a few DJs, both local and not, but none of them seemed to fit. We needed a DJ who represented not just the city properly, but also the sound. It was then we decided on one DJ and one mix. Which now that I think of it should have been a no brainer. We decided to listen to DJ Eldon.

To anybody involved in the electronic scene in New Mexico this DJ needs no introduction, and yet I’m going to give him one because that is a major point of these words. I want you to know them and their music, and I want us to see each other for who each of us really are.

Eldon is not just a part of the House Music scene here, he basically helped create it, and that is the first thing you should know as you crank this mix up. When you’re listening to DJ Eldon, you’re not just hearing his mix, you’re being given a lesson on our culture. Rave Culture, and where it came from.

But this music didn’t just start with rave culture, and that is the first lesson I feel DJ Eldon has taught me. So many people have contributed to this sound, and this movement, and yet so many of them have been lost and forgotten by time and death.

It is the nature of the underground to be a secret and yet in doing that, we make it possible for those we’ve loved through this sound to be forgotten, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can remember them. They can be our rainbow in the clouds.

His mix starts with a poem by my all-time favorite poet Maya Angelou, and you can hear in her voice just exactly what she and the DJ mean to say to you. To be a rainbow in the cloud is to be a bright light even if the world is crowded and confused, lost in the madness.

We all have that power to contribute with love and intent, and house music is an extension of that. House music is our love language, and with this mix DJ Eldon knows exactly what to say.

It’s smooth, classic, sophisticated and in the words of DJ Sonya G, “Soulful Tribal Funky Disco.”

As the drive began, we could feel ourselves already falling into the mix perhaps more than the city around us. We dodged knocked over shopping carts, people wandering in the streets, other cars not paying attention, and of course the need to stop and eat everywhere we saw. With us eventually stopping at a local spot called Golden Pride to eat a breakfast burrito in the car while the mix still played.

Food has always been a huge part of our journeys because, well, you need it, and also because we’re always stoned and hungry, so it made sense that we’d integrate that with this drive.

“Live every day like you’re out of town, and you’ll never get bored.” Sonya said from the passenger seat. I had no choice but to agree.

We scarfed and hurried so we could return to the road only to find the broken, shattered part of this unique city. For all the joy and beauty, we have felt from this place, there’s also sorrow and suffering, and you can see it on central as much as anywhere.

I’ve grown with this city even though I am not from it and seeing its change has affected me in a way that I just can’t compare, and yet, as I say that, I see so clearly how that emotion is connected to house music, and therefore, Eldon himself.

As a teenage boy I found the music in the night, and looking back, I realize so many of those late nights hearing the beautiful house music I love so much, were organized, and made possible by Eldon. To say he is just a DJ is selling it short. He has expanded the knowledge of House Music lovers in New Mexico in such a profound way that it’s impossible to measure his impact.

The awareness of what he’s playing and yet the smoothness with which it all blends is at a master level I’ve only seen in House Music Legends. Which is what Eldon is. His influence having a far greater presence with each song that plays.

I realized by the time we reached Nob Hill, and the graffiti art, that this isn’t just a mix, it’s a display of how far house music has come, how much it’s seen, and yet how far it still has to go.

The eternal hope of this music, our music, is that it’s inclusive and always welcoming. It wants you to find it. It wants to save you. It wants to inspire you. But most of all, it wants you to share that with others.

That’s something I have been taught, but not just by Eldon’s music but also his words. He has been places we haven’t, and he has seen things we never will, and yet with every conversation I have with him there is a reminder that all of these things he saw, he knew he was meant to share with us. Something that inspires me not just in music, but in life.

We have to show each other the way, and the directions are in the music we play for each other. By the time he plays a great mix of a Sade song I love so much, we could feel ourselves transitioning from the East to the West as the city was changing.

We had reached downtown. The tall buildings and the homeless sleeping on the street below them were the backdrop now. A beauty and a sorrow we just could not ignore. And still we had to carry forward.

Not just with life, but also because the light was green. All you can do sometimes is remember. Remember so at least one person doesn’t forget. Does that make sense?

Well downtown we stopped at this new spot on 5th street that was a mini food market much like the ones we see in bigger cities. You had a stand for pizza, and one for burgers. Another for chicken tenders, and even a little bar with a moon in the back.

Albuquerque is growing, and trying to be better, and we’ve got to see that about it. For all we’ve failed at still this city tries for us, I suppose we should try back.

We settled on some cheese curds and a Detroit Style pizza to share as we rushed to eat before the money on our meter ran out. Being downtown again, hearing the cars, and the people, and all the life, was desperately needed, and exactly what I wanted.

As the mix moved into what I call Futuristic Disco, the city changed again. Now we had left downtown and were moving into the westside. A growing part of the city, and still always the same. Colorful, dirty, and real. Such a true way to describe this city and the people in it. We are changed by this world and yet still we shine. Again, like a rainbow in the clouds.

The drums of the mix start kicking in more at the end, a great representation of that New York Tribal sound Danny Tenaglia has championed for so long. Before that, the music was soulful and uplifting like Chicago house, and its at this point I remember Eldon again, is using this music to teach us. We have new school emotional house, soulful Chicago House, tribal New York house, and a little bit of that New Mexico flavor to throw it all together.

Perhaps it’s the many pieces of art I’ve seen along this drive that have inspired me, but this mix is much like a painting being done right in front of you. With every brush stroke the image becomes clearer to those of us around, and yet you realize it was always clear in the painter’s head. We just simply had to wait long enough to see it finished.

By the time the mix comes to an end, and we’ve reached 98th street we are looking down at the city we spent all day covering, but only down one street. Still so much more to see, and hear and feel, and yet it’s amazing to think we actually did that. Seeing one end to the other is an act that I feel is being lost in electronic music.

We want the hits. We want the now. We want the 1,2,3 jump. How am I tell you, that the beauty is in the journey, the moments you had along the way and the people you chose to share them with.

Of all things Eldon has taught me both with his music and with his words, it’s that the people who make this culture are what matter and they are the ones who give this music purpose. I feel grateful to have been able to take this drive, and also to have had such a beautiful soundtrack along the way.

In just under two hours I saw the heights, nob hill, the university, downtown, the Rio Grande, and of course, the entire city itself, looking down from the end of it.

There’s more to be said about this DJ, and about this music, but for now, I’ll leave it at what we’ve said so far, and maybe If I’m lucky you’ll come back and learn more.

And when you’ve learned enough, the only hope is that you’ll know what I do. The point of this music and this culture is to share it with others; to remember the forgotten. To make sure they are not lost to the underground.

My only hope is that you bump this music and let it fill the air that surrounds you, and even if you don’t cruise from Tramway to 98th, you’ll still by the end know what New Mexico and House music stand for. Because DJ Eldon taught you.

If you want to hear him live soon, his upcoming shows are at patio 201 on May 20th for an Architects of Rhythm takeover with Justin Roberts. After that he’s playing with JT Donaldson in Santa Fe on July 3rd, and then with Gene Ferris in Albuquerque on August 5th.

This summer, like many summers before it, will be filled with the beautiful sounds of house music, and I am so happy to say that. Not everybody has made it to this point, though, and as I sit here writing the final words to this one, before I go on to the next, I just wish to say thank you to DJ Eldon.

Thanks for showing us House Music, thanks for staying true to those who aren’t here, thanks for that one day you talked to me for like an hour just about the Paradise Garage. And Ron Hardy. And the Music box.

But most of all, thanks for stopping and sharing a word every now and then. Your word. Which isn’t just a voice, but also a part of House Music history.

Enjoy this one, you guys. It was an honor living it, and now it’s an honor writing it. Have fun this summer, and if we’re lucky. I’ll see you on the dancefloor.

Or not.

Monday Morning Mix

Week 1: Girl Wunder

As we loaded up our car, and made our way up into the Sandia Mountains, I started the first mix we wanted to review in the series that for now is called, the Monday Morning Mix, but don’t get used to that title.

The idea is simple. My partner and I will drive around for at least an hour, with no specific destination in mind, we will listen to music, we will get stoned, and we will talk and share what we thought. Which is something we’ve been doing together since we were teenagers, and yet never have we applied that to the music of those around us. Never towards New Mexico. Never until now.

Now, we want to share our thoughts on the DJ’s that populate New Mexico and beyond, and we want to do it solely based on what we hear together in their music. The first DJ we chose was Girl Wunder, and I’ll admit we know very little about this DJ, and yet that’s what we liked. We liked the mystery. We liked the unknown. But what we really wanted to know. Was it techno?

What is techno, though? To me, there is no one sound that represents Techno, although many people these days will make you think otherwise. Over the course of my travels, I have come across multiple groups that have had this discussion, and although many of them have an answer, it’s usually based around what they already believe.

Some think its hard and industrial. Some think it’s soulful and deep. Others think its minimal and scientific. I’ve really heard every point of view on this topic, and yet at every step I know for a fact, they are all wrong. Well, sort of. They’re only half wrong.

They are each also half right, though. Techno is hard and industrial, and it is soulful and deep, and it is minimal and very scientific. Sort of like a concoction made up in a lab or maybe a magic potion made by some magical wizard. There’s really no limit to it, which is truly the answer to what is real techno.

What is real techno? Everything.

That’s the first thought I had when listening to the start of Girl Wunder’s new weekly mix on halfmoonbk.com named Glitch Mode. Over the course of one hour, I heard at least four different styles of techno and yet every single one flows smoothly and with intent towards the overall story meant to be told.

Which I suppose is another point that must be made about this mix. Some DJ’s mix just to play tracks, and I have no intention of saying that style is wrong, but I will admit, it’s not the one I prefer. I prefer the DJ’s who want to tell you something every time. The ones who want to take you on a journey with their music.

It starts with these glitchy breaks, staying true to the name of the radio show, and yet setting a tone that reprograms your rhythm immediately.

My partner and co-reviewer, DJ Sonya G, made the amazing point of stating that New Mexico Electronic music was always based around three genres when we first discovered it. Breaks, Jungle and House Music.

The other genres like Trance and, in this case, Techno, eventually sprung and evolved here, just like everywhere else, but for us, a rave wasn’t considered a rave unless they had one of those three. Breaks, Jungle, or House music. This mix has all of those and then some.

Starting a mix with breaks is a way of catching the attention of the listener, while still showing there is more to go, and that is what happens as the mix progresses from where we started to where we are evolving. This time to what feels like a mix of bass, jungle, hip hop, and again, those breaks we noticed right away.

Evolution, itself, is an important part of techno, as every student of it will one day eventually learn. There is no one style to represent it because it is the one genre in the world that has no limitations or boundaries.

Techno is expression through industrial, and even digital frequencies, and through that we must embrace all sounds. No one thing represents techno because all things represent techno, and as house represents the home we come from home, Techno represents the world that will change us.

This mix caused us to discuss these concepts, and yet, what I also like about it is that you can hear that Girl Wunder has different influences, and not just in sounds, but also in places.

There is this moment, at around twenty minutes, that I can only describe as some kind of Brooklyn Bounce. It has funk, and soul, and yet it still has that upbeat tempo we know so well. I’m not sure what to call it, but it represents a sound so unique that I know she earned it by living it. A lesson about music we all learn sooner or later.

The music we play isn’t just what we love. It’s who we are. It’s refreshing to hear a DJ aware of that fact again.

At the halfway point the mix transitions into dark experimental techno that sets the tone for the rest of this mix. The techno picks up and its now a race instead of a walk. I’ve often said that many times I put techno through the test on whether it can be played over a movie about a dystopian future where there’s a chase scene. Can you picture that chase to this soundtrack?

Yes. Yes, you can.

Then the mix plays perhaps my favorite type of Techno. Acid Techno. I love acid techno and I will seek it out at every place I go, and yet what I like so much about how this DJ is playing it is that the bpm is at such a mellow tempo that it allows you to absorb and embrace the music in a much different way than when heard in the warehouse or even at the festival.

It returns me back to the discussion I’ve heard about what real techno is. Acid techno is a sound that I hear more and more as time goes on, which I love, because it’s a signal to where we began, but often times its played at faster rates with a quickened pace.

This is a final reminder that this DJ is trying to take you on a unique path with this and every mix. In a digital world where music and DJ mixes are released every single week the focus must always be on the evolution of sound through each track played.

By the end that is exactly the way you feel with this DJ and with this mix. Where you started is not where you finished and yet it ends with such finality that all you are left to do is wonder when the journey can be taken again, and more importantly, what will be played on that one?

I look forward to hearing what sounds Girl Wunder plays next as she has dates coming up in both Brooklyn, Denver, and of course New Mexico. For those of us here in New Mexico she will be playing alongside Chicago House Legend DJ Colette on June 11th, at the original Meow Wolf, and then at Sol Sunday’s Free Music and Wellness Festival named Get Free on July 3rd at the Railyard Water Tower, both in Santa Fe. And you can catch her Glitch Mode radio show every second Tuesday of the month at halfmoonbk.com.

It was a pleasure taking a drive and listening to this mix, and I appreciate Girl Wunder for giving us the chance to share with the world how we feel about her music. The ideas shared were a combination of points discussed between both Sonya and Mando during a drive into the Sandias we took together.

A beautiful landscape set to a unique sound in a magical place is what we have been experiencing our entire lives, and the only thing I can say in closing, is that I look forward to the next drive, the next mix, and of course, the next conversation. Please, bump this mix, show the DJ some love, and as always, support the culture.

See you on the dancefloor.

Colette @ Meow Wolf Event Page

Girl Wunder’s SoundCloud

There are a few common things you can expect to happen the longer you are a part of rave culture, and yet, even if somebody told you that, you wouldn’t believe it until it happened to you. That’s the case when it comes to a Kaskade song. We all have one. No matter what era we are in, or what section of the scene we belong to, we all seem to agree on a few things, and Kaskade is one of them. Well, everybody except the Jungle Crews. I don’t think they like Kaskade too much, do they?

Or maybe they do? Maybe deep down they, like the rest of us, had one moment, where a song and that DJ, and all the things they wished would happen, finally happened. Maybe they can remember that magic and know what it really meant to find a song that would always be theirs and only theirs? I suppose we should ask them sooner or later. Cause I know that’s what happened to me.

But the craziest thing happens the longer you are a part of this culture in that history starts to repeat itself, although, when it happens again it’s not exactly the same. And that’s why Kaskade is such a perfect example of that occurrence and how it continues to happen over and over again in time. For me, at least.

For me, there are three different Kaskade songs that I have, and each one represents a different moment in time, and I suppose a different feeling. But I guess that’s how it goes for everybody and music. One song isn’t better or worse than others, it’s just simply that it means more to you than the rest. So, although these are my Kaskade songs, that doesn’t mean I think they’re better than your Kaskade song, it’s just that they happened during moments for me when I needed them to, and I hope that’s what your Kaskade song did for you.

First, ‘It’s you it’s me.’ Which was released in 2003, when I was nineteen years old and officially an adult, although I didn’t feel much like one. I was in college and feeling completely disconnected from the rave scene even though I still attended every single weekend just like everybody else.

It was the same story we all felt at one moment or another. I lost interest. I wasn’t having fun. And the drugs weren’t helping anymore. It all just became a show for me, and I felt embarrassed and ashamed that I couldn’t admit that to my friends, who were all just as in love with the Rave as ever.

And I still loved it, it’s just simply, I needed a change. So, I decided to move away. Not too far, but far enough to know I had left, and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be back again. It felt like I was saying goodbye. Looking back, I know it was just that I simply was young and went to college, which happens to so many of us. And I was only going to Las Cruces, just three hours away, so it wasn’t as dramatic as most youngsters leaving home, but still enough to know that when I’d return, I’d be different. And so would raving. And so would Kaskade.

But before I moved away, we had ‘It’s you It’s me.’ An amazing example of how truly good house music could make you feel. I heard it and I knew house music would get me through. And I don’t mean that metaphorically, I mean that I knew without a doubt, that house music would be all I needed. If I believed in it, and what it showed me, I could endure, and it sounds like I was in some crazy cult or something, when it was just a moment where we knew our kind was right.

We were right about House music, and peace, and love, and we’re still working on the unity and respect part, but most of all, we were right about Kaskade. Right now, he’s a mega star playing massive stages all around the world, but back then he was just some guy who played his own music and wanted us to hear. His sound and the label he belonged to, OM Records, will always be a beautiful representation of that moment for us. The moment we knew House Music was going to change the world.

My second Kaskade song is one I heard him play at EDC when I was in my twenties. I had moved back to Albuquerque after graduation and had started my life as an adult, or so I thought. I tried being a regular person, and leaving the rave life behind, but it just never worked for me. The more I tried to act normal the crazier it made me, and the crazier I got the more I longed to go back to the lifestyle where it was okay to be myself again.

Sure, it wasn’t easy for me now after the world had changed me, and yet still, there were chances to fall back in. Moments to go back over the edge and experience a life and world that normal everyday people don’t even notice is there. A second realm. A magic one. One that only belongs to those brave enough to find it. That’s how it felt the first time, and again when we decided to go back. And eventually when it finally lead us to EDC.

We weren’t the biggest fans of Insomniac as younger ravers. Massives weren’t our thing, and after a while we started to see them as the opposite of Raves. Taking our idea and making it bigger and brighter, and for profit. We resented what they did for a while. And because of that we stayed away. For a while.

But when we returned things were different. Raves had disappeared. Replaced by Club culture and Bars. Not exactly something I complained about at first, since it always guaranteed the DJ would play, and the drinks are usually pretty good. My favorite has always been Red Bull and Vodka cause it gives me energy too.

Anyways, we tried the clubs and the bars for a bit, and they were fun, but we got tired fast, and we wanted something big. We wanted a real experience. So naturally, we turned to EDC. It just made more sense for us. Why continue to force so many trips just to see one or two DJ’s when we could see a bunch at once? Why not?

So, we went. Even still acting as snobs we went, and we had no plans of seeing Kaskade. In fact, I don’t know if he was even on the lineup. That year, just like with every year, we went for the Techno, and we went for the Neon Garden.

But something happened to us that changed us so completely that we were never the same again. I suppose it was probably heat stroke from the 100+ degree weather, but either way we went up and down that speedway like two stoned kids, and we ended up wandering across the Kaliope Art Car on Monday morning, as the last DJ was preparing to do a surprise set for the sunrise.

We didn’t know it was Kaskade. We were just trying to get back to the garden, and still, there we were, front and center, and that’s when he played the second Kaskade song for me.

I can remember looking into my love’s eyes and feeling the chill of the night for that one brief instant we were allowed to have it before the sunrise. There were bubbles everywhere, and people hugging, and celebrating, and dancing, of course. And as time went on, the crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger, and the sun kept rising just a little bit more.

We knew when he was over this would mean the end of whatever that crazy weekend was for us, and we’d always have that one moment, and our own song to remember it by. I know this song represents the moment I knew things had changed for raves, and It was up to me to either get out of the way, or hop on board.

For me I decided to hop on board, and my love for Kaskade took me everywhere, including to the one place, I always wanted it to take me. Chicago. Which is where I heard my third Kaskade song.

The third Kaskade song, much like the others was a bit of a surprise. We went to Chicago with no intention of seeing Kaskade at all. We knew he was playing a festival that same weekend, but we were going to a different one. It was Labor Day weekend, and the city was alive and exploding with music at every single corner.
We were now in our thirties, married with kids. It was our first trip to Chicago, but we were ready. We had traveled all over this country, and now finally had the chance to attend a festival in Chicago, our dream destination.

We had been talking about going to Chicago our entire lives and yet never actually did it until now. Never had the reason, or the excuse, or even the drive to just do it already. Until we did. And when we did. We did. Does that make sense?

We had arrived in Chicago Thursday night even though our festival didn’t start until Saturday. We considered it a day to tour the city and be tourists. Like everybody else. Although, there’s one problem with that. We hate being tourists.

When we come to your city, we’re not there to be tourists. We’re there to fall into the city. We’re there to be a part of it. We’re there to party. So, when a friend of ours offered us tickets at a very cheap price to another festival being held in Chicago, we jumped immediately.

We’d go on Friday, and sneak this one in, see the other side of festival and rave culture, and then we’d go to our House and Techno Festival. I don’t think we even noticed who was playing until our friend was driving us to the festival, which was being held at a soccer stadium.

We recognized enough names to know we could patch them together and find a good experience in it, even though we knew it just wasn’t the crowd we were used to. There was a dirtybird stage, and it’s funny to think that no matter where we go, we always end up partying with those Dirtybirds. There was also a Wakaan stage, where we were given the chance to see Liquid Stranger, a DJ, we knew of, but also knew we’d never go to see unless at a festival. Which was exactly what was happening now.

So we went, and we had fun, and we ate this chicken that we thought was gonna be great, but we ended up hating, and then we went and danced, and listened to music we knew we’d never hear again. And then, we climbed the steps to the stadium and entered just as Louis the Child was finishing and the crowd was getting ready for Kaskade.

If you had told me when I was a teenager that I was going to see Kaskade in Chicago, I would’ve probably freaked out, but that’s kind of how that weekend went for us. After that night we’d see legends like Derrick Carter, DJ Heather, Gene Ferris, and my favorite of the weekend, DJ Pierre. It was a weekend filled with Chicago love, and It’s still amazing to think that for my love and I, it started with seeing Kaskade. Finally seeing him as a headliner. At a festival. On a big stage. Surrounded by strangers. It even started raining a little bit.

Can you believe that? Kaskade in Chicago? In the rain? It’s still crazy to think now, but that’s the point. We all have these moments, and it’s not just Kaskade that gives us that. It’s all of House music, and all of rave culture for that matter. It has given us so much, it has helped us endure, it has taken us to places we never thought possible, and in return we owe it the honor of remembering it.

The third Kaskade song is a bit of a cheesy one, and a mash up, but so am I. So are all of us. We’re all some cheesy, emotional, complicated, mix up of everything we’ve seen and done and felt, and music is a reflection of that journey. Hearing this song playing loud was nothing compared to hearing all the hundreds of people in the crowd with me, singing along, just like I was.

It wasn’t about being cool, or proud, or even happy. It was about having that one moment together where we could all celebrate and agree that this music really does mean that much to us. It did save us. It will continue to carry us on.
Then the fireworks went off, and we hugged, and the music ended, and everybody slowly filed out the stadium and into the parking lot where they’d continue to their lives. All different. All just as important and unique.

And as we sat in our friend’s car, watching everybody go, I continued to sing the third Kaskade song; the one I knew was the one meant to complete the circle. I was allowed this moment, and in return I had the music and my friends to thank. The music got me there and my friends are what I found.

So, again, I don’t expect these songs to be your songs, but they don’t have to be. This wasn’t about the best Kaskade song, but rather the one that meant the most to me. If you have one, please hold it close and remember that moment, but most of all, remember the people you were there with. Remember what it took to get there.

That way you’ll remember they way when it’s time to go back.

See you on the dancefloor.