There’s an archaeological site in Asia Minor called Çatalhöyük. It’s a city that shouldn’t be there – a city from a time when there were no cities, 7,000 years before the birth of Christ. And none of it makes any sense. Rather than build outward, in Çatalhöyük they built upward – “streets” and “plazas” were on the roofs of houses rather than beside them. “Doors” were in ceilings. Every now and then they would tear the whole place down and build on top of it. Apparently they did this at least 18 times as their city raised up from the ground.

Like Çatalhöyük was a city before cities, Dallas’ Starck Club was the scene before there was a scene – a proto-rave/club fueled by the first widespread use of MDMA in the US and open to a multicultural clientele. It was a touchstone locale to hear them talk about it, and it’s only now getting suitable memorialization in our culture in film and the obligatory magazine longreads.

“Starck” from DJ Tennis is, I think, named after the Starck Club and forms a suitably flashy and Italo-esque homage to one of what Allen Ginsberg called “the classic stations of the Earth.” The arrangement is pure Tennis, though: complex, challenging, at points sweet and at others monumental. The flip features another sterling track: “Gordon,” apparently the track that Running Back‘s Gerd Janson proclaims made him fall in love-at-first-listen during a party in Miami. Starting off with a deceptively minimal approach, layer after layer piles on until it stomps, in its quiet and quite sophisticated way.

DJ Tennis: Gordon Starck / Running Back
1. DJ Tennis: Gordon (07:37)
2. DJ Tennis: Gordon (Atmo Version) (04:43)
3. DJ Tennis: Starck (06:55)
4. DJ Tennis: Starck (Cinema Version) (04:21)

 

 

Our House Is Open To Everyone: Originally published in 5 Mag issue 172 with Dawn Tallman, Hot Toddy, Benji Candelario, DJ Rocca, Detroit’s Filthiest & more. Help support 5 Mag by becoming a member for just $1 per issue.

 

 

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