Armand Van Helden, ‘I Recommend’, Jack, 2004
DJ and music-maker Armand Van Helden recommends…
Tracks for a perfect New York Friday night out
[Usually there’d be an intro to an ‘I Recommend’ in Jack but by the time I’d interviewed Armand Van Helden in a West End hotel bar and got this far with the write-up, we were called into the Dennis Publishing meeting room and the announcement was made that the magazine was ceasing publication with immediate effect. This has only happened to me once in my career. It was beyond staggering – we were the best magazine in the country! So this was unpublished. Armand was plugging a new mix CD titled New York: A Mix Odyssey. It was quite good, with Blondie, Felix Da Housecat and Soft Cell on it. I have the promo CD with a white sleeve. Just checked on Ebay and it’s worth around a fiver! This is the erstwhile DJ, record producer and speed garage pioneer’s ideal night out in New York…]
Jack, 2004 (unpublished)
10pm-1am, at home (preferably in a New York loft apartment)
About four months ago I had satellite TV installed. I watch a lot of VH1 Classic. I don’t know if that’s in the UK – it’s not VH1, it’s Classic. I record VH1 Classic every day and when I’m editing my VH1 Classic I’m freaking out.
On Friday when people come over and we’re starting drinks, VH1 Classic is on. All the videos are Seventies and Eighties, and some early Nineties. It’s all amazing stuff. You’re just so surprised that there’s music videos from the Seventies. You knew the song, and it’s like, “That had a music video?” It blows your mind.
There’s this song me and my friend like before we go out. It’s Benny Mardones “Into The Night”. It’s this banger record, and we just kind of bug out to it. It’s a big-time sing-along. I give the remote to my friends, and it’s like, “Pick the songs you want.” They’re the DJ. We listen to a great mix. Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait”, that’s a party record. It’s the best typical New York downtown party record. Anything by Cameo. “Word Up”. Yeah, there’s just something about that Cameo sound that’s so party. That f***ing red cup he used to wear on the video. It was like a tomato on his dick.
“Candy Girl’ gets people wowed, by New Edition. It’s the time for that record to really work again. It’s perfect. With “Candy Girl”, people go crazy. Sheila E “The Glamorous Life” – when I’ve got girls over, that always gets the girls up. Anything by Pat Benatar. “Heart Breaker” or “Love Is A Battlefield”. Anything by Cyndi Lauper. This is all the get-ready-to-go-out records. I’ll put on Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love”, we’ll do that one when you want to vibe out. Doobie Brothers is another one. Steve Miller, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, – these are all perfect tracks before going out.
1am-4am, clubbing
We try and make it out at 1am. One o’clock is a good time for New York, any day of the week. There’s so much nightlife in New York. Usually when I go out, the set is hip hop, house, reggae, r’n’b, classics, like Nineties, Eighties, Seventies, and it could be anything, rock or house or hip hop. I love hearing Lisa Lisa “Take Me Home”. I don’t know why. Lately when I hear it out at a gig, I know it’s going to be a good party if they play that record. I love to hear some of the new rock that’s out too, like White Stripes.
The clubs I go to play all those records and they play ’em f***ing smooth as hell. They do it almost every night, the DJs. They know exactly when to drop the next record. They’re well-versed. During the night, 40 per cent would be just relatively new hip hop. That’s the whole mix, you do all that, it’s mainly in the hip hop vein.
All the hip hop clubs in New York play house, but they only play the classics, and they only play it for like 20 minutes. They only play the records everybody knows, so they’ll play like Mr Fingers “Can You Feel It”.
I’ve been going out for a long time. My new thing is like when DJs play freestyle, because you don’t hear that a lot. Freestyle was huge in New York. In the UK, nobody knows what that is. Freestyle is like Stevie B or Exposé, Lisa Lisa, Mantronix, Joyce Sims, Shannon “Let The Music Play” and “Give Me Tonight”; that’s freestyle. It’s early hip hop. It was just called club music, and then it became freestyle. I love it when I’m out and I hear that. I really enjoy it when a DJ drops those records, because you don’t get it a lot. For me, it’s, “Ohhhh!” and then sometimes I go deep with it, and they’ll play “Hungry For Your Love” by Hanson & Davis, which is like a Mantronix record. Sometimes you’ll be surprised, you’ll be in the club, and you’ll see other people singing the song. You’re like, “Holy shit!” Like, “How the f*** do they know this song?”
Pool hall, 4am-5am
I have a 24-hour pool hall near my house, so if we’re still in the mood to be up, I go to the pool hall and they serve beer late. I don’t go all the time, but if you go around 4am, you can play pool and get a couple of drinks. It’s not like I’m that good at pool. You’re hacking. But sometimes it all clicks. Sometimes you’re just whippin’ ’em in and it’s some Zen thing. It’s very Zen when you tear up. I’ve had friends who have played pool who are relatively good, and they’d be high and drunk, and they just killed the f***ing table.
They have a jukebox at the pool hall. I know that jukebox by heart. They change it maybe like twice a year. You just know what’s in there. You get a lot of hip hop people at the pool hall down on my corner, a lot of kids.
What I’ll do is I’ll f*** with ’em. I’ll choose Foreigner “Cold As Ice” on the jukebox cos (hip hop outfit) MOP sampled it. Cos it starts out like it sounds like it’s gonna be MOP, and you see ’em, and the guy from Foreigner starts singing, and then they just start looking at each other. They’re like, “What the…?” I just do it to f*** with their heads. Just to f*** with the kids sometimes.
Or I’ll have Diana Ross “Love Hangover”. I think Monica sung over it, or something like that. They’re like, “What?” Then I’ll put on Elton John’s “Bennie And The Jets” cos they’ll think it’s Mary J Blige, and they’re like, “Oh, Mary!” And Elton John starts singing.
Back home, 5.30am
That’s a good night out. It doesn’t happen all the time. We’ll probably play pool for like an hour, so let’s say 5.30am we’ll go back to the house. And if we’re really up for it, depending on the mood, the first thing we do is pop VH1 Classic on. And the fun thing is, especially when you got people over, or people who haven’t been over in a while, or you’ve got new people you just met who happen to be hanging and f***in’ droppin’ those beers, everybody just sings. Everybody’s bugging and singing those songs, so it’s f***ing funny. To end the night, we play The Outfield. Like singing this shit. Late night with Journey – I know Journey was nothing in the UK, but if I play Journey “Separate Ways”, I have people singing at the top of their lungs. That is a good New York night out for me. Lee Gale