The Cover Mix: Honey Soundsystem

1977 was a monumental year for disco. It signified the genre’s pivot from gay underground to international mainstream and with it came the future of dance music. Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder’s collaboration ‘I Feel Love’ was a thumping slice of disco that showed the world music can have a mechanical heart, laying the foundations for dance music as we know it.

This year we've been celebrating 40 years since the song’s release on Casablanca Records and we did something a little different with the cover mix for our anniversary edition.

Up stepped San Francisco party-starters Honey Soundsystem, the crew that's been throwing parties, running labels and making music for the last 18 years. Their commitment to reconnecting the queer dots of forward-thinking dance music made them the perfect choice to put together this tribute mix.

As a collective made up of DJs Jackie House, Josh Cheon, Bezier and Jason Kendig, Honey Soundsystem have been one of the gay underground's most important voices, turning their impeccable music taste into dynamite parties for a San Francisco nightlife lacking in that department.

Their cover mix is straight tribute to Giorgio and Donna via the tracks their masterpiece inspired. Nu-disco champion Todd Terje and a number of Hi-NRG heaters all feature before the mix fittingly closes with Patrick Cowley's 'I Feel Love' megamix. As much a history lesson as a look to the future, Honey Soundsystem once again weave magic.

Listen below.

To attend our I Feel Love 40 event in New York featuring Giorgio Moroder, RSVP at ifeellove40.net

1. Todd Terje ‘Ragysh’ (Running Back)

“How to open a mix dedicated to a hit? Open with a hitmaker! Todd Terje does Moroder redux brilliantly on this Running Back release – can’t you hear Donna soaring on top of it?”

2. Savas Pascalidis ‘Walk The Night’ (International Deejay Gigolos)

“From 2004 this foreshadows the Hi-NRG angle we take on this homage to ‘I Feel Love’ – somehow Savas transported himself back to Patrick Cowley’s studio to record this one”

3. The Pilotwings ‘Les Invasions Babar’ (Brothers From Different Mothers)

“This duo from Lyon use a sawtooth bassline and fluttering top-lines to create classic material”

4. Phil Gerus ‘Ohashi Sky Garden’ (Richard Sen remix) (Public Release Records)

“Mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios, this brand new remix on a Bay Area label cups your package and whispers ‘I grabbed love’”

5. Max & Mara ‘Concrete Lines’ (Dark Entries)

“Fans know that Mara actually plays her basslines by hand – and it’s a sight to behold. ‘Look mom, no sequencer!’”

6. Marlon Hoffstadt ‘Cyclin’ Since 94’ (Midnight Themes)

“This Berliner knew this record was hot enough to release himself – try and imagine that voice patch
as a Donna Summer robot!”

7. Mr Pauli & David Vunk ‘Zanzibar Express’ (Moustache Records)

“Can’t imagine this mix without something from Vunk & Pauli. Catch the Discogs notes for a full run-down on the gear they used to make this Hi-NRG stomper”

8. Yello ‘I.T. Splash’ (Periphery Perfume)

“No Eurodance excursion is complete without a peekaboo from Boris and Deiter (oh, and Carlos was in the house for this one too)”

9. Ural 13 Diktators ‘Techno Is Dead’ (Ural 13 Records)

“The best part of mix-making is finding something you missed along the way – shout outs to Ron Like Hell for throwing us this bone!”

10. Xander Harris ‘Social Leather’ (DKA Records)

“Another fresh hot pancake out on our favourite label right now, based in Atlanta and releasing all kinds of synthesizer dance noise – time to get trippy...”

11. Santiago Salazar ‘Sci Fi Xicano’ (Rush Hour Recordings)

“A modern take on the low-end theory vis-à-vis Moroder, this UR-trained producer metamorphs the Rhodes keyboard below some Los Angelic bright ends”

12. Scott Grooves ‘Deneb’ (Parts Manager)

“‘It’s called a reduction, gurl, can you handle it?’ A Detroit legend grooves us with little to great effect – we throw a lil’ quote from a Donna Summer 1978 interview in there while the mix breathes some air”

13. Miss Kitten & The Hacker ‘Flexibility’ [White]

“No explanation needed”

14. Jes ‘Hitchhiking’ (Chicken Lips Dub Unlimited)

“Pouring one out for the endless love affair between San Francisco and the UK where ravey disco-dubs never seem to grow out of fashion”

15. Divine ‘Love Reaction’ (edit) (White)

“Time to kick up some dust in our home stretch towards summer – glamour trash-bag Divine reacts to Bobby O beats”

16. Donna Summer ‘I Feel Love’ (Patrick Cowley mega mix) (Polygram)

“What we realised from listening to his long-lost reels of productions is that Cowley made edits in between producing original tracks. Making tape loops and playing his machines atop these remixes to give to DJ friends to play at the bustling gay discotheques of 1980s San Francisco”