For over three decades, DJ Fra‘s Nitsa parties have been at the very epicentre of Barcelona’s underground club culture. Many veteran Spanish selectors even honour the club as the place where they met electronic music for the first time. Written beneath its storied history – the peak-time glory, the fabled mega-bills – is a long legacy of quietly distinguished residencies. From 2000 through 2013, Hivern Discs‘ Marc Piñol and Nitsa’s lead-man (and now one of Barcelona’s Primavera Sound) DJ Fra helmed warm-up – the critical window after doors that could dictate the mood of the night. It was a wide-open space for beatless soundscapes, meandering curveballs and those tracks that wouldn’t sit comfortably at peak-time. Before Marc opens the Barcelona edition of our series with Generator, he was kind enough to share with us his ten favourite tracks to warm up the dance. Over to Mr. Piñol.
“This is a selection of tracks that DJ Fra and I played a lot during our warm-ups at Nitsa from the year 2000 until 2013. They influenced me to the extent that, after all these years, I still listen to them as though it was the first time.” — Marc Piñol
DOPPLEREFFEKT // “Myon Neutrino”
The first minutes after opening Nitsa’s doors, when the club was still empty, was one of my favorite moments ever as a DJ. I still love doing warm-ups because of those moments.
THE HOLY GHOST INC. // “Walk On Air (Sun & Moon Mix)”
Slow tracks were always a good (or easy) choice to start the night. Eventually, at 7:30 AM you could find out that you ended playing around 118 BPM. That meant it was a special night.
SHINICHI ATOBE // “The Red Line”
The very first track I remember to mix properly at Nitsa was Maurizio’s Domina. I played tons of Basic Channel and Chain Reaction records (amongst other shitty ones). But this one will always have a place in my heart.
CLICK ft. DJ GOLD & TONY T // “Acid Deluxe”
At some point we were listening a lot of UK acid house. The approach was usually less funky, more spacey than american house. I’ve always loved this one, it even sounds a bit like Klaus Schulze trying to make an acid track.
MIDNIGHT STAR // “The Midas Touch (Hell Interface Remix)”
This BoC Remix was one of my favorites at that time. DJ Fra used to play it a lot in our B2B warm-ups. Always wanted to buy it, but the record was really, really expensive and hard to find (as much as nowadays).
CTI // “Dancing Ghosts”
One of my favorite tracks ever from two of my most venerated artists.
THE BASS FOUNDATION // “Recognition (Bass Wave)”
We played lots of Chicago and New York house during that time, right when it wasn’t cool yet (damn, this makes me feel so old now). You could find the records anywhere for cheap, even the ones they’re worth a lot of money today.
THE OTHER PEOPLE PLACE // “Eye Contact”
Oh, THIS album.
RICARDO VILLALOBOS // “808 The Bassqueen”
Most probably my favorite Ricardo Villalobos track. That awesome vocoder… And those strings, come on! My vinyl is ruined from all the times I played it.
DONATO DOZZY & SAY DJ // “Tutto Positivo”
This record can really drive people mental. Cheesy and epic in a really weird way, and as hypnotic as only Dozzy can do. We closed a lot our sets with this track.
Marc Piñol plays the Barcelona edition of our series with Generator next week – head over here for more information.
