Two legendary DJ’s from New York City + Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) + Club Answer = a great weekday night out in Seoul.
While most Korean clubs are not known for booking international DJ’s, the Red Bull Music Academy is opening Korean club-goers to the real “club music” experience the right way – booking quality artists and choosing appropriate venues. Last Thursday night, die-hard fans lined the streets of Gangnam. The ElectRow crew was among those fans ready to get inside for the unique Club Answer experience.
As with any club night in Seoul, the party was relaxed early in the night as people got their wristbands and headed in. However, the opening DJ, Jinwook, helped keep the crowd loose and moving about on the dance floor. By midnight, the mega club was filling up nicely as Francois K took over the decks. As he transitioned into his unique style, it was quite clear that he had been perfecting it over the past 30+ years. The crowd abandoned their relaxed nature and transitioned to dance mode. The VIP table patrons made their way to the upper-floor railing to watch as the infections mania of Francois K’s musical groove made its way through the club. As a forefather of NYC house music, Francois K’s sound was something truly unique for Club Answer and Korea as a whole. Even those unfamiliar with Francois K’s legendary status could tell that this guy was good. And when we say good, we mean really good.
With heavy influences of disco and funk, the freshly installed disco ball was a perfect fit for the vibe. As beams of light danced across the smiling faces of everyone on the dancefloor, it was apparent that disco was definitely not dead. Similar to the invigorating sensation you get when you try Red Bull for the first time after years of sucking down those “other” energy drinks, the music ignited a feeling of energy and excitement in the crowd. People were hearing a whole new side of dance music that isn’t played often in Seoul. With playing NYC house and disco in Korea, comes great responsibility. Maintaining crowd interest is very important for any DJ, but in Korea especially, you have to pull the audience in. Once Francois K dropped some James Brown into his set and the crowd roared, we knew they were hooked.
Around 2 AM, Danny Krivit joined Francois K on stage as he was winding down his set while continuing to wind up the crowd. It was awesome to see these two guys together behind the decks – their natural habitat. The sonic sound waves had already changed a little bit of everyone at that point, but the night was far from over.
Danny Krivit took control of the decks next, and gave Seoul a taste of what he has been doing since the age of 14. As we walked around the club taking pictures and talking to club-goers, we were constantly dodging people dancing to the music pumping through the speakers. When the music is that good, its hard to resist the impulse to move your body. With the alcohol kicking in, people put aside their inhibitions and let the music take control. On many occasions, we’ve seen people dance in Seoul clubs, but not like this Thursday night. The mood was different and the people were happy to be exactly where they were.
Danny Krivit delivered the same quality of DJing that we had seen just before from Francois K all the way up until about 3:30 AM. It’s no surprise that the two of them make up two-thirds of the Body & SOUL collective, which puts on events all over the world every year. 2011 marked the 15 year anniversary of Body & SOUL and they released a compilation album on the Ministry of Sound label. If you were at Club Answer, or even if you weren’t, and enjoyed the music that you heard, be sure to check the compilation album out here.
Once Danny finished his set, he headed up to a VIP room, while Korea’s own DJ Conan continued to keep the crowd occupied. We were fortunate enough to meet up with Danny and sit down to ask him a few questions. We don’t want to give away too much about the interview before we release it, but let’s just say that you’ll be amazed by some of the people he grew up watching and learning from in the Big Apple.
Finally making it out of the club around 4 am, just before the sun was about to rise and welcome in Friday morning, the ElectRow team will never forget what the Red Bull Music Academy brought to Club Answer that night. We are extremely happy that RBMA is continuing to deliver these artists to Korea and we definitely want to say a big “Thank you!” to them for letting us be there to witness.
Solid Nature x ElectRow Photo Gallery
[AFG_gallery id=’3′]