Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX is the second compilation for Eskimo Recordings compiled and curated by Berlin-based Musician and DJ Luca Venezia, aka Curses, to explore the darker side of club music. Spread across 3CDs and three 2LPs Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX features a mammoth 49 tracks that join the dots between early industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, EBM legends like Nitzer Ebb and the post-punk experiments of people like Malcolm McLaren and Big Audio Dynamite with some of the most exciting artists around today, such as Boy Harsher, Nuovo Testamento and Years of Denial.
Where the first Next Wave Acid Punx compilation was a personal journey for Luca, a lockdown inspired exploration of his record collection to find the thread that ran through the music that had soundtracked much of his life, DEUX is a celebration of that music let loose on the world, the thrill of music performed live, the smoke and strobe filled clubs you'll hear it in and the artists you'll find on those stages.
"After our enforced break, getting back out there and playing live again really brought home to me so much of what I love about the scene I'm in but also just how important live music has been and is to club culture over the years," Luca explains. "Too often we think of club nights and live gigs as these separate things, but throughout the years it's where the two meet, the friction that can cause, that you'll find the most vibrant scenes."
"There's an energy, an atmosphere that you get with live music, an unpredictability where at any moment something can go wrong or even better right in a way you never expect. I think about a live set we played at a Lebanese festival where our MPC drum machine froze up because of all the dust and sand trapped in the pads. We had to improvise half our set, jamming bass and guitar and pedal FX and vocals, embracing this surreal environment and experience, something that could only happen in the moment."
"With Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX I wanted to celebrate those bands and artists, past and present who, to me, represent that spirit. Both full live bands and makeshift electronic duos alike, the kind of acts that you might have found wedged between DJs back in the day at The Hacienda in the 80s, Trash in the 00s or today at nights like Berlin’s MILK ME, EXBTN in Paris, Night Terrors + SC&P in London, New York City’s Synthicide or Ukraine’s Worn Pop."
"So I've put this compilation together much like my favourite kind of night, going out to see some bands play, hitting up a club where live music and DJs blur together, before the serious business of the after party. On Chapter 1 you'll find bands like Vicious Pink, DAF and Cabaret Voltaire, some of these acts are more obscure than others, some flirted with pop and even the charts but they were all embracing new ways of working in the late 70s and 80s that both set them apart and set the scene for much of what we think of as club music."
"Chapter 2 moves the night on, and this is the sound of the clubs I love to both play and just hang out in these days, clubs where the people involved put a lot more time into digging through the crates than working on their Instagram Reels. These are places where you're as likely to find a band on stage as you are a DJ, where 80's German electro pop by a band like Boytronic seamlessly flows into tracks like Silent Servant’s Non Fiction. Timeless music that can be romantic, dreamlike and ethereal one moment, then veer into dark, industrial sounds the next."
"Then finally we get to that part of the night where you probably should go home but if it's too late for good decisions there's still time for good music. Things are a bit wilder here, the drums a bit harder, the synths are more aggressive, tracks like The Hacker's Monopoly, Zanias' Tryptamine Palace or EVA's Industrial Hope that don't let up, don't let you go, just subjugate you to the beat and keep you there till you stumble out blinking into a new day."
TRACKLIST
*previously unreleased
Chapter 1
1. Throbbing Gristle - Distant Dreams, Pt. 2
2. Mary Möör - Pretty Day
3. Sad Lovers & Giants - Things We Never Did
4. Malcolm McLaren - Madam Butterfly (Un Bel Di Vedremo)
5. Big Audio Dynamite - The Big V
6. Cabaret Voltaire - Blue Heat
7. Nitzer Ebb - Hearts and Minds (Mix Hypersonic)
8. Clan Of Xymox - Obsession
9. In Sotto Voce - In Sotto Voce
10. Psyche - Prisoner To Desire (Single Mix)
11. Propaganda - The Murder Of Love
12. DAF - Brothers (Gabi Mix)
13. Vicious Pink - Cccan’t You See
14. Book Of Love - Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes) (I Dream Of Jeanne Mix)
15. Absolute Body Control - Total Control
Chapter 2
1. Boytronic - Voloczny *
2. The KVB - Still Warm (2023 version)
3. Cardinal & Nun - Freak And Weak *
4. Jennifer Touch - Altars *
5. Matrixxman - Assembly Line *
6. Years Of Denial - It Sucks *
7. Silver Tears - Always Shine (Wait For The Rain) *
8. Essaie Pas - Retox
9. Aili x Transistorcake - Dansu
10. Dina Summer - Darkness *
11. Patriarchy - Suffer
12. Maelstrom & Louisahhh - Hate Machine *
13. Dame Area - Buon Cittadino *
14. Kris Baha - Into The Dark
15. Desire - Love Races On *
16. Blind Delon feat. I Hate Models - Flashback *
17. Poison Point - Altered Beats *
18. Roe Deers - Muscles *
Chapter 3
1. Boy Harsher - Machina (feat. Mariana Saldaña) (Dark Remix) *
2. Silent Servant - Non Fiction *
3. J.W.B. Hits The Beat - Body On Body (Curses Revamp) *
4. Hungry Boys - Toi *
5. Autumns - Repeat Prescription *
6. Nuovo Testamento - Heartbeat (Curses Remix - Edit) *
7. Buzz Kull - A Place (That’s Meant To Be) *
8. Soft Crash - Dolce Morte *
9. Dame Bonnet & Mufti - Pleasure Dreams *
10. Ultra Sunn - Night Is Mine
11. Neu-Romancer - Burning Eyes *
12. EVA - Industrial Hope *
13. Andi vs Randolph & Mortimer - Formidable Truths *
14. Zanias - Tryptamine Palace *
15. The Hacker - Monopoly *
16. Paradox Obscur - Evo-Devo
COME SAY HI
Thu 26/10/2023 | Curses Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX listening party @ DreamBabyDream, Berlin, DE
Sat 28/10/2023 | Curses Next Wave Acid Punx DEUX release party @ Fuse, Brussels, BE