The Anthems of Our Lives: How Music Shapes Our Memories
The Soundtrack to Our Souls
Music has a way of touching us in the most intimate way—not just as background noise, but as the emotional score to our lives. A single song can transport us back to a moment, a feeling, a place we once loved. For many in New York City, that place was Body & Soul, the legendary Sunday party founded in 1996 by François K., Danny Krivit, and Joe Claussell. Their soulful, organic house grooves turned Club Vinyl into a sanctuary where people of all ages, races, and backgrounds came together, hands in the air, united by rhythm.
I only experienced it a few times, but those Sundays left an indelible mark. Because there’s a difference between having a favorite song and living through an era of music that becomes part of your DNA. Hearing those tracks now isn’t just nostalgia—it’s time travel.
A Lifelong Love Affair with Sound
Music has always been my first love.
70s: Dancing to Donna Summer with my mom, watching her flip through vinyl with excitement.
80s: Obsessed with Depeche Mode, The Cure—moody, poetic, perfect for teenage angst.
90s: A whirlwind of Nirvana, trip-hop, and hip-hop, plus a rave phase in the UK with The Prodigy, 808 State.
2000s & Beyond: From Burning Man sunrises (Pachanga Boys’ “Time”) to deep house euphoria (RÜFÜS DU SOL’s “Innerbloom”), my tastes keep evolving.
Lately, I’ve circled back to happy house, the kind that reminds me of Body & Soul’s spiritual grooves, Thievery Corporation’s lounge magic (“Lebanese Blonde” is a forever anthem), and D.C.’s Buzz parties in the ‘90s. And who could forget the thrill of buying the latest Ministry of Sound compilation? Those weren’t just songs—they were the soundtracks to entire summers. These are some tunes I’ve been listening to a lot lately.
Kim Carnes ( oldie) also Dreams ( Deep Dish Mix)
Goldie InnerCity Life - inspired Andy C, Portishead and Massive Attack.
What is Love / DeeLite ( this beat is just top top top)
If your into this then check out this SPIN link. I added a bit more detail to my list;
Kerri Chandler, Atmosphere EP (Shelter, 1993)
“I’ve always been in places where somebody has a gun, somebody’s getting shot, and we’re running,” Kerri Chandler has said of growing up in East Orange, New Jersey. “It’s daily. There’d be a war every night. The minute you heard something, everybody got on the ground. It’s routine. The cops would never come while this was happening, they’d just come to pick up the bodies. That’s where we grew up.” The son of a DJ, Chandler found his escape in music — first as a DJ and engineer, and later as a producer of his own records. What he took from New Jersey wasn’t the darkness, but the gospel influence of his church-going community; the pumping chords and effortless atmospheres of his tracks have led him to become one of the most imitated house producers in recent years. His Atmosphere EP, from 1993, lays down crisp, swinging drums daubed with horns, DX chimes, and graceful, bubbling keyboards — a perfect study in balance, proportion, and playfulness. P.S.
DJ Koze, “Cicely” (Philpot, 2007)
DJ Koze — a.k.a. Adolf Noise, Monaco Schranze, and Swahimi (The Unenlightened) — is an unreconstructed weirdo with a sly, squirrelly wit. The former International Pony member has covered “We Are the World,” Photoshopped himself alongside an octogenarian Spanish duchess, and given us a catalog that veers from the chopped-and-screwed kitsch of “My Grandmotha” to the deranged, dangerously unvarnished “Dr. Fuck.” But every now and then, he proves himself to be a total softie at heart.Released at the tail end of mnml’s reign, “Cicely” is modest in its materials but expansive in its reach. Three tuned toms serve in place of a bass line; save for 19-and-a-half bars of skittering hi-hats, there are virtually no drums at all. The bulk of the melodic burden is carried by wispy chords and a fine filigree of jazz guitar, and while nothing about the song follows virtually any of dance music’s standard dictates, the whole thing feels as natural as breathing. It’s probably a coincidence that it shares the name of a Cocteau Twins song, but it’s equally as apt a soundtrack for a rainy day, as ephemeral as fog on a windowpane.
Saint Etienne, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Masters at Work Dub)” (Warner Brothers, 1991)
For proof of house music’s abilities to unite all and sundry under the power of a groove, look no further than this fundamental, history-making remix. First, British indie-poppers Saint Etienne tackled a song off Neil Young’s 1970 album After the Gold Rush, of all things, turning his mewling lament into a shuffling breakbeat soundtrack to the waning of the so-called “Second Summer of Love.” Banged out in producer Ian Catt’s bedroom studio in two hours, the song got them signed to Heavenly and even made it into the U.K. pop charts, landing at No. 95; when reissued in 1991 as a double-A-side with “Filthy,” it made it all the way to No. 39 in the U.K., and it topped Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play rankings, thanks to a slow, dubby remix by Andrew Weatherall. (Oddly, it also hit No. 11 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Chart.)That’s already a pretty tangled family tree, but Masters of Work went one better, grabbing a vocal snippet from “Your Life,” a 1984 song by the Downtown funk band Konk, and extending it into a long, stuttering loop. The chord changes, meanwhile, are dead ringers for the stabbing keys in Nikita Warren’s “I Need You,” an Italo-house tune released the same year, although it’s unclear whether one song influenced the other, or whether it’s just an instance of the trans-Atlantic synchronicity that’s so common in dance music. Whatever the case, MAW’s organ chords turn up the next year in Chez Damier’s “Can You Feel It,” one of the most essential tracks in the whole house canon. Neil Young’s Trans may have failed to ignite the techno-pop revolution he hoped for, but with this song, he set off a far more unpredictable — and productive — chain reaction. P.S.
Also check out this link- 30 tracks that shaped dance music
By Leila Antakly
