The Anthems of Our Lives: How Music Shapes Our Memories
The
Soundtrack
to Our
Souls
Body & Soul · Vinyl · Memory · House
Music isn't background. It's the emotional score to a life. A single track can collapse decades in four bars. This is one writer's DNA — from Donna Summer in a Florida living room to Body & Soul on a New York Sunday.
Vinyl with mom
The Cure
UK Raves · The Prodigy
Pachanga Boys
Body & Soul energy
Music has a way of touching us in the most intimate way — not 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 favourite 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.
From dancing to Donna Summer with my mother in the 70s, to teenage Depeche Mode obsession, to rave culture in the UK, to Burning Man sunrises — what follows is the score to a life, decade by decade. And a few records that deserve more than a playlist entry.
"There's a difference between having a favourite song and living through an era of music that becomes part of your DNA."— Leila Antakly
Three Records Worth Sitting With
Not every track is equal. Some records aren't just good listens — they're load-bearing structures in the architecture of dance music. Here are three worth more than a passing play.
Atmosphere EP
Chandler grew up in East Orange, New Jersey — rough streets, gunfire routine enough to become background noise, cops who came only after. The son of a DJ, he found his escape not in darkness but in the gospel warmth of his church community. That warmth became his signature: pumping chords, effortless atmospheres, a production style so elegant it has been endlessly imitated and rarely approached.
The Atmosphere EP lays down crisp, swinging drums daubed with horns, DX chimes, and graceful bubbling keyboards. A perfect study in balance, proportion, and playfulness.
P.S. — One of the most imitated house producers of the past three decades. Start here.
"Cicely"
DJ Koze — a.k.a. Adolf Noise, Monaco Schranze, Swahimi (The Unenlightened) — is an unreconstructed weirdo with a sly, squirrelly wit. His catalog veers from chopped-and-screwed kitsch to the dangerously unvarnished. But every now and then, he reveals himself as a total softie.
Released at the tail end of minimal's reign, "Cicely" is modest in materials and vast in reach. Three tuned toms stand in for a bass line. Virtually no drums. The melodic weight falls on wispy chords and a filigree of jazz guitar — and the whole thing feels as natural as breathing. As ephemeral as fog on a windowpane.
P.S. — It shares a name with a Cocteau Twins song. Whether that's coincidence or not, it's equally apt.
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (Masters at Work Dub)
For proof of house music's power to unite all and sundry under a groove, look no further. British indie-poppers Saint Etienne took a Neil Young lament from 1970, turned it into a shuffling breakbeat soundtrack to the Second Summer of Love's waning, and got themselves signed to Heavenly in the process. Banged out in a bedroom studio in two hours.
Then Masters at Work arrived. They grabbed a vocal snippet from a 1984 Downtown funk band called Konk, stretched it into a long stuttering loop, and built something whose chord changes turn up the following year in Chez Damier's "Can You Feel It" — one of the most essential tracks in the entire house canon.
Neil Young set off a chain reaction he never saw coming. This remix is why dance music history is actually interesting.
P.S. — Topped Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play rankings. Also hit No. 11 on the Modern Rock Chart. Go figure.
Go Deeper
The full annotated playlist with more detail and context lives at SPIN — spin.com. And for 30 tracks that genuinely shaped the course of dance music, the complete list is at ninunina.com.
These aren't just songs. They're the soundtracks to entire summers. To nights that shouldn't have ended. To the right amount of dark in exactly the right room.
in the
Air — united by rhythm
Body & Soul closed its doors, but the music didn't. It's still moving through living rooms, headphones, warehouse floors, and Burning Man sunrises. Some records become part of your DNA. These are some of them.
Links:
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)
page 48 🫶
Prada 👜
press release ✨
board 🏄♀️
in Madrid 🍷
and Coco ☕
Leila Antakly
My career has never moved in a straight line, and that has always been the point. It began in fashion with a formative chapter at Vogue Italia, followed by an unlikely detour into finance. From there, film, PR, events and production. A role as Director at Wilhelmina Models in Dubai sharpened an eye already trained on people worth watching. Then came the years that shaped the platform: writing, editing, producing photo shoots, a short-lived photobooth business, lots of yoga and eventually Madrid, where the light is just right. Currently I am in the States in a new and exciting field, digital marketing for higher ed, but this remains my passion project. What started as a hobby back in 2003 evolved into Antakly Projects, leading to some exciting conversations, projects, and lots of joy. Throughout all of it, my best friend, one small white Shih-poo called Coco, has been present, unimpressed, and very fluffy.
Thank you for following along, for reading these interviews, and for letting them inspire you. And last but not least — for the personal rants on life, opinions you didn't ask for, and the occasional existential spiral: follow me on Substack.
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