BY RU BHATT

Alinka (Alena Ratner) launched herself onto the music scene with a residency at Chicago’s Smart Bar in 2001 and has been a force to be reckoned with ever since. In 2013, she teamed up with Hercules & Love Affair vocalist (and soon-to-be best friend) Shaun J. Wright and and started, Twirl, a monthly party that was held at Berlin nightclub in Chicago. The now sadly-defunct party featured many guests familiar to readers of this column like Derrick Carter, Eli Escobar, Lauren Flax, The Carry Nation and The Black Madonna.

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Nevertheless, Twirl lives on in Alinka & Wright’s co-founded music label of the same name. Their next release, ‘Matters of the Heart’, gets a pulsing, dirty disco-tech edit courtesy of The Black Madonna. The churning beat gives way to throbbing synths, bringing the classic Chicago sound of the original track into big room territory ahead of Alinka’s big move to Berlin this year.

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Denmark’s René Kristensen, a.k.a. Noir, is re-launching his label, NM2, with his new release, Lumières. ‘Lumière Brillante’ is a monumental, atmospheric track with a hypnotizing vocal sample that goads you to the dance floor.
Tom Peters latest, ‘Made For Another’, is a nostalgic, bouncy gem that subtly changes throughout and keeps the listener guessing as it powers along.
Next up is Jiggler‘s ‘Dancing Astronauts,’ a sparkling, galactic masterpiece that will launch listeners into orbit with it’s sci-fi like synths and progressive sound.
We remain in orbit with ‘We Will Return’ from Damian Lazarus & The Ancient Moons. The track is co-written by Hot Natured‘s Ali Love, who also features on vocals. Love’s own own Infinity Ink project remixes the emotive track with intricate layers of percussion and synths, making it more suitable for the dance floor.
Finally, Chicago’s Doc Link brings us back to earth with his soulful house edit of W. Jeremy Pelser’s latest GetUp recordings release, ‘Clear To Me (It’s Ovah).’

Weekend Calendar

This year we’re thankful for all-night dance parties – and to celebrate, you can find us Saturday night at Brüt, playing all night downstairs at Santos Party House. We’re celebrating the holiday by keeping everyone moving till dawn with our blend of late night house music and haunting techno. To warm you up for the party, check out the first of our new monthly mixtape series, ‘OXD Sessions,’ below.

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OCCUPY THE DISCO (OXD) is a gay, New York City-based DJ collective who got their start curating alternative night life and music events for the LGBT community. The OXD Mirror serves to showcase house, disco and techno tunes that are definitely off-the-beaten-path but rightfully deserve the attention of the gay ear.

This week’s post was written and curated by Ru Bhatt. Check out more of his music picks on his podcast, The Ru-Mix and on Made In Brazil.

Check out these tracks and more on our Soundcloud. For more information on OXD, visit our website at www.occupythedisco.com, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter/Instagram: @OccupyTheDisco.