::: Moscow Blog :::

Apr
07
2007

New Rave reached Moscow (Fridays at Propaganda)

I would have called Propaganda dead already. Especially since the formerly famous Thursday night went so bad recently. But, once again this club surprised me. Last week I met Zak and Ja Bagh, two New Yorkers who live here as long as I do. I wonder why we didn’t meet before. These New York cats organize a new party in Propaganda on Fridays. I have heard a lot about it from the get go and ever since I wanted to check the new rave on Propaganda Fridays.

When we arrived around midnight, there was an incredible long cue. Its rare to see this kind of lines in Moscow. Especially not at Propaganda. The crowd is a very young one. Its this new generation of wealthy upper and middle class Moscovites, in their early to mid twenties. Very fashionable and creative in a real (not a D & G) sense. This could be an outlook on the new Russia. The one that is ahead of us.

The party is said to be a new rave. God knows what that is, so I checked at Wikipedia:

New Rave (sometimes referred to as nu-rave)is a label applied to a style of music fusing elements of electronic, disco music and punk, which developed in the UK in 2006. It has similarities with US-led style dance-punk. Music publication NME is largely responsible for popularizing the term, which has connotations of the genre being a ‘new’ version of ‘rave’ as well as being a corruption of the term ‘new wave’.

Klaxons, Datarock and Shitdisco are generally accepted as the main exponents of the genre.

The aesthetics of the New Rave scene are largely similar to those of the original rave scene, being mostly centered around psychedelic visual effects. Glow sticks, neon and other lights are common, and followers of the scene often dress in bright colors.

more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_rave

Well, now we know it. At this point, I’d like to give some respect to the organizers of the event. Propka was full until the top. It was a very nice and friendly crowd (a little too friendly sometimes, you know na mean). Its seems forgotten, are the times, when even Propaganda was raided by the drug police with heavily armed officers. Back to Nu Rave. The music was good and Ja Bagh gave out florescent bracelets at the door, so everybody was glowing in the dark. For a moment I felt put back in time and on some Café Moscow Techno Party in Berlin, just that the music is a different one nowadays.

So what makes a good party? Here are my ingredients (or my checklist):

1. Handpick the crowd
2. Make a theme (special clothes etc.)
3. Have a good DJ, who makes the women dance.
4. Put some good looking guys behind the bar (so the girls hang out there).

You can find all of the above at this new party. It’s just a pity, that Propaganda doesn’t serve Red Bull anymore. Who can take more than 2 Vodka BURN? This red stuff is awful and its a real downturn to me. Can you believe it? They just don’t serve my favorite drink anymore. Oh well, probably a reason not to stay too long. Oh, and I forgot to tell you. While I was standing there with my friend Nikl, I heard myself saying: Oh God, I think I am too old for this. I am not sure, if I meant the crowd or it was just because I have been tired (and had no Red Bull!). But please never make me say this again. Its frustrating!

Two-Zero says: This is probably the BEST party in town. Go check it out as long as it is still fresh and juicy. But be aware of the long cue to get in and you may be turned down (yes, even in Propka), because you just don’t fit this cool crowd.