Koen Galle - Kong DJ


BOOK: MISSING THE CLUB


I proudly present ๐™ˆ๐™ž๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™๐™๐™š ๐˜พ๐™ก๐™ช๐™—, the book!


One year has gone since my last DJ gig or dance floor action. What started as a mixtape project a few months into the pandemic last year, now turned into ๐™– 248 ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™œ๐™š๐™จ ๐™—๐™ค๐™ค๐™ . While recording the third and final chapter of this mixtape trilogy and intrigued by the backgrounds and protagonists of the records, I began researching and got into the idea of a book version, where ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™จ about the mixtapeโ€™s tracks are alternated with a selection of favorite ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™ซ๐™ž๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ from my archive as a music journalist - printed on paper to safeguard from digital expiration - plus a few brand new ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™จ. The entirety offers a unique and utterly personal perspective on ๐™š๐™ก๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ข๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™˜, ๐™˜๐™ก๐™ช๐™— ๐™˜๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฎ๐™ก ๐™ง๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ง๐™™ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ.

Built on 20 ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐˜ฟ๐™…๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ and almost a decade as a ๐™ข๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™ฌ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง and fully conceived in my own world, this book feels like homecoming. After happily having worked for a number of projects and media, it marks a move towards independent authorship and an expression of my leitmotiv as a ๐™ข๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™˜๐™ช๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฎ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ง. 

 

My musical universe and record collection are embedded in the rich history of electronic dance music, from the originators to contemporary sounds, from ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™—๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ, ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™˜๐™๐™ฃ๐™ค, ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™˜๐™ค, ๐™ง๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š and always with a typical ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™ก๐™œ๐™ž๐™–๐™ฃ twist inspired by the early heydays of central European rave culture, when I was still a teenager listening to club recordings on my radio transistor during long weekend nights. While exploring the scene, I try to look from various angles, for example by connecting it with ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™˜๐™ก๐™–๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™ข๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™˜ in one essay or looking at the ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™š๐™š๐™Ÿ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ online during the pandemic in another.

I have always had a strong appetite to ๐™˜๐™๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ก๐™š, to meet people and dive into their ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™ง๐™–๐™ข๐™–๐™จ, their best and worst moments and to be allowed and trusted to rightfully portray them with my words. This led to meeting ๐™๐™ค๐™ค ๐™๐™š๐™ž ๐™‡๐™ž๐™ฃ, a walking music encyclopedia who worked in a record store before fleeing her native ๐™„๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™ž๐™– and after having spent ten years on the streets and in a refugee center in Brussels, still collects records. This also got me spending time with ๐˜ฟ๐™ž๐™ง๐™  ๐™Š๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™จ, the producer who conquered the house music scene in 1992 with his club anthem โ€˜White Lineโ€™ but today lives interned in a ๐™ฅ๐™จ๐™ฎ๐™˜๐™๐™ž๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜ ๐™๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ก, recovering from a fierce psychosis due to excessive drug abuse, paying a high price for his brief fame. Or talking with ๐™๐™ค๐™ง๐™ช ๐™Ž., who is a prolific Japanese house music producer and label owner and single handedly connected ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™”๐™ค๐™ง๐™  ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™ค๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค in the early nineties. Or interviewing ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ง๐™˜ ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐˜ฟ๐™… ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฅ๐™๐™š๐™ช๐™จ about SSR Records, the Crammed Discs sublabel active between 1988 and the early 2000โ€™s which surprisingly had not been documented on the internet before. And so on...

Last but not least, the book is substantially ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™ with black and white photography by ๐™๐™๐™ค๐™ข๐™–๐™จ ๐™Ž๐™ฌ๐™š๐™š๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ซ๐™–๐™š๐™œ๐™๐™š๐™ง for Brusseleir Digger, with zoomed in record sleeves, with a unique and coloured photographic essay of Crevette Records by ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ง๐™–๐™ ๐™Ž๐™ ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜ and with my own pictures.

Get the book here.