Running Back presents: Front Part 2 (2LP) [Running Back]

Format: 2x12" in gatefold sleeve.

Historical reissue/compilation project that focuses on the legendary club FRONT in Hamburg, Germany, active from the 80s to the late 90s. A pioneering and iconic club for its musical selection, mixing technique, and contribution to rave culture, during a key period for the evolution of electronic music and club culture.

The eponymous resident DJs Klaus Stockhausen and, later, the now globally recognized Boris Dlugosch, take a detailed look back at that era, guiding the listener through the history, early steps, and absolutely fundamental moments of club culture (House Music).

Part 2 includes 9 legendary tracks from the 90s Classic House scene, which define the masterful sound of that era and can serve as an essential starting —or closing— point for any great collection, especially in conjunction with Part 1, which focuses more on the journey of the 80s.

Hamburg's Front club was already legendary even when it was still open. In the early nineties, when I was a teenager on the outskirts of Frankfurt and before Klaus Stockhausen's name meant anything to me, Boris Dlugosch was not only at the helm of that club, but was already one of the finest disseminators of house music in Germany. Front was his home, but also the playground for a colorful group of club kids from all backgrounds. Its roots dated back to the eighties as a gay club, and it gradually opened up to anyone who "couldn't even dance straight."

Rumors about the club were strong enough to make people like Ata from Playhouse embark on a road trip, and young people like me fantasize about it. The musical menu of that era was marked by monstrous house music from the United States and the United Kingdom, alternating depth with an almost hysterical glamour.

Of course, Front's sound was full of nuances. Boris Dlugosch learned his trade from Klaus Stockhausen, who ended his DJ career in 1992 (because, as he told me in an interview about ten years later, "suddenly every Bratwurst wanted to be a DJ") to pursue a career as an editor and fashion stylist. Stockhausen's approach as a resident —which at the time meant playing at a single club every week— was a mix of electro, American R&B, British street soul, new wave, and the emerging house sound. If you manage to unearth old recordings online (a musical diet I lived on for several years), you'll find surprising similarities to the way classic American DJs played, albeit with a ferocity and uniqueness that avoid any dull comparison. On the contrary: Front's sound is one of the most interesting you'll ever lend your ears to.

So, why a Front mix and compilation 21 years after the club closed its doors? For one, because its story has yet to be told and is worth telling. For another, because German clubs like Robert Johnson or Berghain —as different as they may be— share Front's spirit, its diversity, and its musical openness. And finally, because dancing is still fun.

Although putting together a compilation like this took over a year of work and was plagued with licensing horrors and other obstacles too terrible to detail here, we're happy to have made it happen. Spread across a double CD and two compilation LPs, organized mainly chronologically, Klaus Stockhausen and Boris Dlugosch selected and mixed some of the club's most beloved records and its sweetest moments. This is the sound of Front. And although I never got to move my feet on its dance floor, I would undoubtedly be a very different DJ without it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Gerd Janson