If I asked you which DJs you most wanted to see but unfortunately missed them on their last couple of visits to the NYC and surrounding area, who would you say? Think about that for a minute, and I’ll tell you my answer. To my knowledge, Swanky Tunes have only been to NYC twice: their debut at Provocateur November 3, 2011, and their New Year’s Eve show on the Pier with Avicii and friends. Since I missed both, I feared that seeing Swanky Tunes would be a real challenge. Thankfully, the guys at Planet House brought the Russian duo, Stas and Vadim, to Philadelphia to Whisper nightclub on Thursday, July 5th.
Despite that it was a Thursday night and he had to be at work in north Jersey by 6am, my boyfriend Steve came along with me so I wouldn’t have to go alone. I’m not sure what happened to my friends who were planning to go, but they were nowhere to be found. When I explained to Steve how absolutely filthy this night would be, and that this show was something I just couldn’t miss, he was as excited as I was.
We arrived at midnight where we were greeted by the smiling doorman, Jason, who remembered me from my last visit to the club for Sunnery and Ryan. Whisper wasn’t packed, but people were dancing to the sounds of Zathan Radix. One of the first tracks I heard was this awesome remix of “Motown Philly” by Boyz II Men. Talk about a throwback! I loved hearing it, especially since we were in the City of Brotherly Love. He played a great opening set with plenty of tech house, which I absolutely love. My legs were bouncing and ready for the Russian invasion that was about to start.
It was 12:45 when Stas and Vadim entered the booth to get the party started. Fans huddled close to the front of the booth, leaving plenty of room to dance in the back. Vadim, who was pretty vocal throughout the night hyping up the crowd, took the microphone quickly and demanded us to “make some mother fucking noise!” We obliged and the countdown began through the speakers… 10… 9… 8… when we got to one, the vocals for “Sending My Love” blared, and everyone cheered. Up next was “Maximal Crazy”, making everyone pump their arms in the air. The duo transitioned through the tracks pretty quickly, playing less than two minutes per song, keeping things moving along.
When Vadim took the microphone to tell us they were going to play a brand new Arty track, I grabbed my camera to take a video for you guys. Check it out:
The club was black with these bright neon green lasers all around us. If you’ve never been to Whisper, you have got to go check this place out for yourself. The club is awesome! Stas and Vadim seemed to enjoy it as well, dancing non-stop and taking turns on the decks. They passed their headphones back and forth, which they barely used, and had a mostly non-verbal communication system of DJing. I think I only saw them actually talk to one another about three times, which showed me that they have developed a system together and it works well.
They chain smoked these really skinny cigarettes while playing a ton of awesome mashups. Some of my favorites from the set included “Bong” vs. “Satisfaction” vs. “My Feelings For You”, and “Promises” vs. “Ladi Dadi”. There were plenty of vocal sing-alongs in the mix, which the guys sang along to as well. One of the funniest was when they played “Molly” and couldn’t even get out the words because they were laughing so hard. Another great mashup was “Kick Out The Epic Mother Fucker” vs. “Calling (Lose My Mind)”. I hadn’t heard that one before, and I love seeing how everyone uses “Calling” differently in their sets.
Stas and Vadim turned Philadelphia into “FILTH-adelphia” for nearly two hours. They impressed the hell out of me, as I knew they would. They sent us off with a remix of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by 90’s grunge favorite, Nirvana, and we left the club at 2:45am. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be at the next Swanky Tunes show, provided there are no more scheduling conflicts in my calendar. I was happy to cross them off my DJ bucketlist… finally!
-Swedeheart
Here’s a photo of me in the middle of a Swanky Tunes sandwich (Stas: Left, Vadim: Right) when EDMNYC interviewed them at the Gansevoort Hotel in November 2011.
Full the full Planet House photo album, click HERE:
Swanky Tunes Partial Tracklist:
R3hab & Swanky Tunes feat. Max’C – Sending My Love
Tiësto- Maximal Crazy (R3hab & Swanky Tunes Remix)
Diddy Dirty Money & Dirty South vs. Daft Punk vs. Hard Rock Sofa feat. Skylar Grey – Coming Home Aerodynamic Quasar (Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso Bootleg)
Miike Snow – Devil’s Work (Dirty South Remix)
Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl feat. Georgi Kay – In My Mind (Axwell Remix)
Swanky Tunes & Hard Rock Sofa – The Edge w/ Fedde Le Grand – Put Your Hands Up For Detroit (Acappella)
Hard Rock Sofa & Swanky Tunes – Here We Go
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside (Third Party Remix)
Swedish House Mafia & Knife Party – Antidote
Tiesto & Swanky Tunes feat. Ben McInerney – Make Some Noise
Swanky Tunes & Matisse & Sadko – The Legend
Hard Rock Sofa & Squire – Just Can’t Stay Away
Cedric Gervais – Molly
Dyro & Ansol – Top Of The World
Hard Rock Sofa & Swanky Tunes – Apogee
Avicii & Nicky Romero – Nicktim
Alesso – Years (Vocal Mix)
Morgan Page & Sultan & Ned Sheperd & BT feat. Angela McCluskey – In The Air (Hard Rock Sofa Remix)
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (Remix ID?)
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