Benny Soto Reflects on the Last Dance.Here.Now at Cielo

dance.here.now

New York City’s dance music community took a one-two punch to the chin this fall when Cielo and Output both announced that they would be shuttering at the end of 2018.

For many, the writing had been on the wall for some time. The building that housed Output in trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn, had been sold in 2014, and there was little doubt that the property would be eventually be transformed into a luxury condo, office building or perhaps a hotel.

With Cielo based in Manhattan’s now swanky Meatpacking District, there had been sporadic rumors of its closure for some time. But through it all, the Dance.Here.Now. party held court for over a decade, regularly bringing in the hottest DJ upstarts and living legends to grace the decks. (Honestly, it’s a little weird mentioning the party in the past tense.)

As Dance.Here.Now prepares for one last dance on December 29 with Murk’s Oscar G at the helm in association with Nervous Records, we caught up with DHN promoter extraordinaire Benny Soto and asked him about his party’s amazing history and the final party.

In the candid interview below he offers nothing but gratitude and tells us, “I think and hope that Cielo closing doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the road for Dance.Here.Now.” Continue Reading

Thomas Dolby To Make NYC DJ Debut at François K.’s Deep Space Party

thomas dolby DJ debut

Move over, Giorgio Moroder. Electronic music icon Thomas Dolby, who is famous for producing breakthrough ’80s pop hits including “She Blinded Me With Science” and “Hyperactive,” will make his DJ debut at François Kevorkian’s Deep Space weekly party at New York City’s Cielo on November 17.

Dolby, a wildly talented musician/producer who has played keyboards for David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Foreigner, Joni Mitchell and George Clinton, will be mixing an electrofunk set along with some ’80s classics.

Dolby has been named the Johns Hopkins University’s first Homewood Professor of the Arts — a position that will enable him to help create a new center that will serve as an incubator for technology in the arts. In addition to playing a leading role in designing the new center, Dolby also will co-teach a course at Hopkins, “Sound on Film,” that will bring together film students from the Homewood campus with composing students at Peabody — and that will make use of computer techniques he pioneered.

On November 10 FK’s weekly fete will feature a DJ set from David J, who is known for his groundbreaking work in Bauhaus and Love & Rockets, on November 10. Here’s hoping he sneaks in “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” into his mix.

Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science from Mad Hatter on Vimeo.