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Published on 8/5/08
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Bar 13; Fri 18
It was in 1995 that Vincenzo Ragone, known to clubland simply by his first name, first hooked up with the future proprietor of Poker Flat, Steve Bug. The two apparently hit it off, as Bug offered the aspiring DJ a gig at his Hamburg club Flight and signed him to his (now defunct) seminal label Raw Elements. Vincenzo’s releases were homages to the sort of music coming out a few years earlier on New York’s Strictly Rhythm and Chicago’s Prescription: stripped down but lush, vaguely druggy yet still uplifting. It’s a template that the producer has largely stuck to till this day. And he’s stuck with Bug as well, spending most of his career recording for Dessous, the deeper sister label to the more jacking Poker Flat.
Vincenzo’s newest release, The Phantom Menace EP, marks his debut on Poker Flat proper. While the three-track release is still pretty groovy, it finds the producer exploring new territory, utilizing a tougher sonic palette and more angular beats than the bulk of his previous output. The new sound comes just in time for Vincenzo’s Friday 18 gig at Blkmarket Membership, the party that’s lately been filling the void left by the end of Robots as Manhattan’s go-to gala for thumping electronic dance music. Of course, it’s entirely likely that Vincenzo will be playing plenty of his deeper material as well—which is just fine by us—but it’s good to know there’s a possibility of high-grade bang-bang action as well.
