Still Mixing It Up While Clubs Are Closed: Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande, Sofi Tukker & More Stay-at-Home DJ Picks
Each week, Billboard is polling club DJs with venues shuttered due to the coronavirus.
With clubs closed across the country and Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart on hiatus, we’re asking reporting club DJs what they’ve been listening to lately, while at home, of course.
This week, we spoke with Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico, DJ Eldon; Chicago’s RONS; and Los Angeles’ The Perry Twins.
Eldon
Eldon (full name Eldon Feldman) has been moving to Moon Boots’ “Tied Up,” featuring Steven Klavier (Kenny Dope extended mix). The track was released last fall, on Moon Boots’ album Bimini Road, which debuted at No. 4 on the Dance/Electronic Album Sales chart and at No. 24 on Heatseekers Albums.
“I loved the original album,” Eldon tells Billboard. “Now, Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez of Masters at Work fame takes and twists this to another level.”
Eldon, who would normally be DJing in both of New Mexico’s biggest cities, including at Sister, Effex and Wine Dive in Albuquerque and Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, has also been taken with Moon Rocket’s “Reciprocity,” featuring Paula (main mix). Eldon terms the track “a beautiful collaboration. Moon Rocket is the superbly talented, classically trained piano player, and Italian producer/DJ Raffaele Scoccia and Paula’s vocals complement his production perfectly.”
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Additionally, the deep house DJ and housemusic.com domain owner, who’s been livestreaming from his home in Albuquerque during the pandemic, as well as producing mixes for the market’s KUNM-FM, extols the virtues of 12-time Dance Club Songs chart champion Crystal Waters and DJ Spen’s “Party People” (DJ Spen & Micfreak vocal mix). “DJ Spen is an institution in house music production,” Eldon gushes, “and he pulls out all the stops with Crystal Waters. The track features that distinctive and classic Crystal Waters vocal. This feels like the perfect summer beach or pool party anthem to me. I can’t wait to play it in that setting.”
RONS
RONS (real name Ron Slomowicz), half of remixing duo Otto Benson (with The Wideboys’ Ed Craig), has been loving Live Lounge Allstars’ “Times Like These” (Jacked remix). “Everyone sings along to this inspirational cut,” RONS tells Billboard. “It’s sung by the best British pop/dance vocalists, including Paloma Faith, who is my spirit animal because she is as extra as I am.”
The cover of the Foo Fighters’ 2003 original hit No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart and No. 2 on Rock Digital Song Sales earlier this month.
RONS, who would usually be DJing at such Chicago clubs as Roscoe’s, SoFo Tap and Meeting House (plus regularly traveling to play at Hunters Nightclub in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Club Icon in Kenosha, Wisconsin), has also been enjoying El Capon’s “Shut Up Chicken.” “While the chicken is crass, rude and borderline offensive, the silly song has a pre-fabbed dance routine that makes it an even bigger earworm,” RONS muses.
The DJ, who’s been livestreaming while at home in addition to producing his syndicated Nexus Radio mix shows, has also been into Todrick Hall’s “Mask, Gloves, Soap, Scrubs,” from Hall’s April 29-released Quarantine Queen EP. Hall’s “‘Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels’ was arguably the biggest club anthem of [last] summer,” RONS says. “Todrick’s rework for our quarantine life brings much needed joy to the world.”
The track indeed plays off of “Nails,” which hit Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (No. 21, June 2019) and Dance Club Songs (No. 35, July 2019), among other charts.
The Perry Twins
The Perry Twins (identical twins Doug and Derek Perry), who have scored two Dance Club Songs No. 1s (“Bad, Bad Boy,” featuring Niki Haris, 2009; “Euphoria,” featuring Harper Starling, 2018) among four chart entries, have been digging Sofi Tukker and Gorgon City’s collab, “House Arrest.” “For weeks leading up to this song’s release, I would wake up every morning at 10 a.m. just so that I could hear Sofi Tukker play it in their livestream,” Doug Perry tells Billboard. “I’m also a big fan of Gorgon City and that song would get me out of bed and dancing every day while stuck at home.”
“Arrest” debuts at No. 21 on the latest Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Gorgon city topped Dance Club Songs twice in 2019, with “Go Slow,” with Kaskade and featuring Romeo (August) and “There for You,” with MK (October).
The Los Angeles-based Perry Twins, resident DJs at The Abbey and The Chapel in West Hollywood, have also pounced on another collab, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me,” released last Friday (May 22). The Perry Twins agree that “Gaga and Ariana combined equals a song that would be a huge hit on our Friday night mix show on KRYC (Rhythm 105.9 FM) and dance floors alike.”
Additionally, The Perry Twins, who have been livestreaming to raise money for Joining Hearts, benefitting HIV/AIDS victims in Atlanta, add a plug for their most recent production, “Impulse,” featuring Jania. “We just released some new stay-at-home-and-dance remixes, which were produced by Quinn Coleman, Solar City and the two of us,” Derek Perry discloses. “They range in style from tech house to disco, and our summer pop mix has a reggaeton feel to it.”
First released December 26, 2019, “Impulse” was at its peak position of No. 28 on March 28, the last week before the Dance Club Songs chart went on hiatus.
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