- A stirring tribute to one of the most important house music nights in Germany.
- When Gerd Janson first started clubbing, he'd linger on the dance floor at Mannheim's Milk Club until the crowds began to disperse and the music became brighter. Back then, only in the final hours would you hear the house records coming out of the US. That was until Ata and the late Heiko M/S/O launched Wild Pitch Club, a weekly Thursday night party dedicated to house in the basement of Konstabler Wache in Frankfurt. This was the early '90s, when Frankfurt was all about techno. Clubs like Sven Väth's Omen and Dorian Gray were at their peak, with the latter launching a promotional in-house magazine, Frontpage, that would loom so large that it practically defined rave culture across the country.
It was against this techno-heavy backdrop that Wild Pitch Club's dedication to stateside house music stood out, and where Gerd Janson went deeper and deeper into his obsession with house. "I cannot imagine my musical education without those Thursday nights," he says in the liner notes for Running Back's latest Mastermix compilation—a dedication to Wild Pitch Club mixed by Ata and nd_baumecker. This marks the fourth edition of the Mastermix series, following the label's 15th anniversary mix (curated by Tony Humphries in 2017) and two compilations celebrating the legacy of Hamburg club Front in 2018 and 2022.
Wild Pitch Club came to an end in 1999 because Ata was working on opening another era-defining spot: Live At Robert Johnson, the Offenbach venue that, like Wild Pitch Club, served as a conduit through which a young nd_baumecker would find his feet before moving to Berlin and becoming a long-serving resident at Panorama Bar. In Heiko M/S/O's absence, it's fitting that Ata and nd_baumecker came together to curate this mixtape, which acts not only as a celebration of Wild Pitch Club but also as a nod to their late friend's legacy.
Running Back Mastermix: Wild Pitch Club is largely what I expected it would be: a rich catalogue of classic house. But where, in his liner notes, Janson notes Wild Pitch Club's memorable guests as the Robert Hoods, Theo Parrishes and Kenny Dopes of the world, the tracklist features lesser-known artists (Dewayne 'Powermix' Jensen, Benji Candelario, Angel Moraes, Joi Cardwell and Jovonn), whose influence as originators of the sound could (and should) well reach far beyond the success they have found over the years—and who Janson says are the peers of those bigger artists, some of whom could not be featured due to licensing issues.
Each edition of the Mastermix series offers an opportunity for Running Back to present a collection of defining records—most of which, in this case, are over 25 years old—to a new wave of music fans. As this is a mix of mostly Black music curated by two white artists and released on a label run by a white DJ and writer, I would have liked to see greater context provided about the artists and the music that make up the tracklist. Still, their inclusion nevertheless marks their contribution to the Wild Pitch Club story.
The story of Wild Pitch Club, as told by Ata and nd_baumecker, journeys through 24 tracks and clocks in at a little under 100 minutes. It begins with the oldest, and slowest, record of them all, Deep 6's chuggy and hypnotic "We're Going Deep" from 1989. Everything else in the mix was first released in the '90s, from KGB's pearlescent Italo tune "Detroit 909" (1991) through to Lectroluv's percussive "Dream Drums" (1999). As you'd expect, most of the music comes courtesy of American artists from Chicago, New York and Detroit, with several features for the UK, as well as Italy (KGB) and Belgium (Lectroluv).
Ata's discography is made up almost exclusively of mixes. He's a DJ over a producer, and his usual style is subtle and unhurried, letting the tracks play out and working from one record to the next through long, slow transitions. The first half of this Mastermix unfurls in true Ata form. Edging slowly from around 113 BPM up to 122 BPM, the early tracks span the funky guitar licks and bright disco textures of Papermusic Issue One's "Downtime," to the classic Chicago four-on-the-floor body groove of DA Rebels' aptly named "House Nation Under A Groove." "House nation, we're on the move / Nothing can stop us now," the vocal chants, the deep, grooving bassline propelling us deeper into the dance. A number of quintessentially house vocals thread their way through the mix, combining soulful melodies, compelling lyricism and some honeyed high notes.
Ata and nd_baumecker cover plenty of ground in under two hours, cramming changes in mood, energy and tempo that one might expect from an extended set—even a whole night on the Wild Pitch Club dance floor—into a comparatively bitesize recording. The BPMs creep up further and the transitions, while still smooth and understated, start to move faster. The energy becomes increasingly euphoric, reaching fever pitch with the penultimate track, Wam Kidz's "In Love Again," which is an ideal early hours record: shimmering pads, a breathy vocal imploring "close your eyes" and flute-like top lines floating up into the sky.
After an exhilarating, body-rocking listen, Running Back Mastermix: Wild Pitch Club comes back down to earth with Tronic Pulse's "Early A.M." from 1994. Lights up, sound system down, as the club kids, Janson among them, step out onto the pavement in the, well, early AM.
Tracklist01. Deep 6 - We're Going Deep
02. Ralph Falcon - Every Now And Then
03. Papermusic Issue One - Downtime
04. Global Goon - Fin
05. KGB - Detroit 909
06. Angel Moraes - The Cure (12" Megamix by Angel Moraes & Tom Moulton)
07. Omegaman - Into The A.M.
08. Da Rebels - House Nation Under A Groove
09. Lectroluv - Dream Drums
10. Joi Cardwell - Trouble - Vibe mix
11. The Afrodizzact - Strange
12. Dewayne 'Powermix' Jensen - Don't Go
13. Louie Balo - Don't Shut Me Out
14. Benji Candelario
15. Kings Of Tomorrow - Untitled
16. Kings Of Tomorrow feat. Sean Grant - I Hear My Calling
17. Iz & Diz - Down 4 U
18. Presence - How To Live (2022 Remaster)
19. Glen Vernon - Can't We All Get Along
20. Jovonn - Better Love feat. Krystine
21. Low Key - Try Me Baby (Low Key's Original Mix)
22. Free Energy - Happiness
23. Wam Kidz - In Love Again
24. Tronic Pulse - Early A.M.
25. RBWPC Mastermix Part 1
26. RBWPC Mastermix Part 2