It's among the largest cities on the East Coast of the United States, but has always struggled in the shadow of its big brother, New York. Shuja Haider takes a look at the unique clubbing landscape of Boston.

The man throwing his hands in the air isn't Robag Wruhme but Monkey Maffia. Robag is on the left but nearly invisible.

Good feature this.

Would like to see the Clubbing in... series more often.

Thanks! That has been amended.

Great article and something my wife and I were just talking about actually.

I grew up in the New England scene, specifically the N.E.A.U. (N.E.W.) crew back in the early nineties. I did the rave circuit for a bit in the mid nineties and quickly found that to also be lacking. The transition from underground to club scene has been impossible for me honestly (much to my dancing wife's dismay). I just find it impossible to go to a cheesy top 40 club and enjoy myself. It's the antithesis of everything I learned about in the underground scene.

I live in Providence so I know where this article is coming from. There's no scene here either. House parties are the only place where you can hear good music on a consistent basis and those are few and far between. I have to really give a ton of respect to the people that are making it work in Boston. My heart really goes out to them. The contrast between the states and overseas is astounding and I can't imagine coming back from packed clubs in Berlin to an empty dance floor in Boston. It totally sucks to be quite honest. It makes me want to go on a tangent about the corporate control of music here in America, but that's for another day.

I frequented Pheonix Landing quite a few times in over the past few years. It's definitely the only place around that you get consistent talent and good music flavor (no disrespect to the other crews making stuff happen in Boston). I haven't been there since Red Light left for greener pastures, but now I think I need to head back and check it out again.

Other than that though, I go to NY for my electronic fix. Boston would be ideal because of its closeness, but the reality is that I party on the weekends and there is nothing ever going on then. It's the usual crap top 40, long lines, meat market atmosphere that I hated back in the 90's. Not much has changed in that scene.

I wish our parties here were as alive and vibrant as overseas, but wishing never made anything come true. I don't blame anyone for relocating away from this area who's passion is electronic music. I consider it all of time honestly. For the ones who remain and are in the trenches, a big thanks.

Boston beats New York anyday

yay

w00t

I'm surprised Throwed wasn't mentioned. E-Marce sells out either the Upstairs or Downstairs to the Middle East on a weekly basis; like 300 to 500 people respectively. It's also another midweek ordeal that only goes until like 1am.

nice article

A very fair and well-written article. Boston is an exceptionally special place despite the difficulties of bars closing at 2, the T shutting down at 12:30 and it generally being a drinking town. It's overflowing with creativity and talent in a variety of formats (from fine arts undergrads at Mass Art to senior software engineers coming out of MIT to mathematicians + neuroscience majors at Harvard) that all merge beautifully on a variety of small dancefloors. So proud

a nice article from shuja haider..
i met him on the party that Alex O & Mark Ingram curated@Goodlife.
was a great nite for Traxx and Derek Plaslaiko who played an
afterhours for several hours following the Never Say Never event..
i dont have any idea of the boston scene but it seems here
shuja did his best to cover every piece of opportunity equally
even if not everything is covered, i dont believe it was intentional.

RA currently feels a bit like soul clap central...

Great article!

Neat article!

Correction = Elements has been going on for a lot longer than Midweek Techno

i think it's great he mentioned red light as the crew responsible for kicking off the phoenix landing. people tend to gloss right over that.

True!

The things we do for love! Great article, thanks for the shout out.
I'd just like to say that Boston may have awhile to go, but it's getting there! When I first moved there in 2003, it felt exclusively like a rock town. There are decent parties for underground dance music on many nights of the week now, played by resident DJs who are extremely clued in to what's going on. Boston is where my passion for electronic music began, and it's where my journey to Berlin began. I'm extremely proud!!!!

True, but those parties are 18+ and they always combine bands with wonky electro house. You certainly won't hear any grown up techno there

Great article!

A few corrections:

The rave scene didn't die because of shitty djs. It died before the rave act was passed but local officials were already outlawing any EDM parties and the cops broke up every underground event as it became their mission. People were tired of being turned out onto the streets as their buzz was heightening with no where to go.

There was underground music on Landsdowne St. in the mid 90s if you went to the right nights.

The T closes at 12:35am
---
Well written and thoughtful article. I like to think that Boston doesn't have its own sound because the underground is not intended for followers. Therefore, people stay true to their own tastes and the result is a wide variety of amazing creativity which can help to influence and inspire everyone.

as a boston native I found this article very insightful and well written. thanks to all the promoters (especially mike swells, alex from queens, and mark ingram) who make it happen in a city that's often determined to be lame!

I moved to Boston just over 3 years ago from Toronto. I didn't expect there to be an underground electronic dance scene here that would match my hometown, but I was a bit shocked at how few and far between the events seemed to occur. I attended the Midweek Techno nights a few times to witness varying degrees of attendance. I think I was one of less than 10 people at the Phoenix to check out my home town DJs Noah Pred and Eric Downer. Complete respect to the guys here that keep pushing on.

bahhstin

great article

I cannot speak on the state of the scene now in Boston, but it used to be decent in the late 90s and early-mid 2000s. Back then there was no shortage of good venues from avalon, axis, rise, pulse, etc., and the big names visited quite frequently, from pvd, sasha and digweed, carl cox, etc., to the local talent that was playing on a regular basis, including steve porter, ali ajami, john debo, etc.

Between Lansdowne throwing in the towel, and the late 90s club kids getting older, I think the scene has now gone very underground. Boston and New England still have soul though, and because the scene goes in cycles I think it'll eventually come back.

As a former promoter in Boston in the mid 00's this article was a pleasant surprise. Nicely written and balanced. I even learned a thing or two.

Props to all people mentioned for the incredible hard work and seeing some it actually bear fruit.

Thanks for mentioning some of the history, i.e. RedLight. I would have liked to see more of the historical aspect as I think Boston is a decent proxy for the story and struggles of dance music in the USA. It's damn hard to get a crowd, create a high quality atmosphere, build a community, all while staying committed to programming artistically relevant music that you love.

@ Chuck, you and the rest of the RedLight crew introduced me and so many to so much. You were an inspiration. Thank you. So many amazing nights at the Phoenix in college. It's a pity college kids and people in New England don't have decent dance music on the radio anymore via Tym Ryan @ Spin Cycle and Revolutions on WERS. Pre-internet, that brought a lot of younger clubbers into the scene.

Same goes for other people who kept dance music alive through wasteland that was most of the 00's. Randy @ Marz and crew in particular deserve a lot of credit for Bump & house music in Boston. Also to zeroG / unlockedgroove were the only crew doing anything credible in techno (specifically) during the worst years.

People from Boston always have such a complex about this. Boston isn't New York and never will be, it's a completely different kind of city.

I was under the impression that Boston had little to no good clubs, so this article was great. Definitely going to check some of these places out next time I visit.

No mention of the cheers bar then

lol danielpetry

Thanks for this Shuja, a really intimate look at a local scene.

I think it's interesting to read this, though, because because of how familiar it feels. I don't think these kinds of problems are limited to new england or even the us. Here in the UK, for instance, Glasgow is subject to similar licensing problems I think, as well as Dublin over in that Ireland, and early closures apparently put plenty of pressure on local scenes as well.

Also, the huge majority of english cities are permissive enough to put on truly great parties: almost any venue in this country can get a license to serve booze round the clock if it can be bothered to deal with the extra paperwork. City centre clubs closing at four, and later, is the norm at the weekend. And yet the huge majority of these don't care even vaguely about the atmosphere in the clubs, much less booking good music and creating environments where creativity can flourish.

I would say, despite the huge number of mid-size cities here with flourishing nightlife, there are probably only a small handful of consistently good clubs outside of London, and even there things can be shockingly hit and miss.

Essentially, I think what this article describes is the experience of an awful lot of dance music enthusiasts, basically all of those who don't live in one of a few cities, and don't have zillions to throw at the commute!

It's a crying shame that liberal, creative, and relaxed spaces for nightlife seem impossible to make work in so many places, whereas cheaper by the dozen piss holes never struggle! But that's life...

RA staff, I really recommend (at least) consider doing a feature on Florida. Compare and contrast Florida clubbing in the 90's and the current state of Florida clubbing. I think you would find reason for both joy and tears of sadness. You would have so much material to report on, the rave days in cities such as Orlando, Gainesville and Jacksonville or the more sex-fueled scene of Tampa.

"It's a crying shame that liberal, creative, and relaxed spaces for nightlife seem impossible to make work in so many places, whereas cheaper by the dozen piss holes never struggle! But that's life..." ~ cshields

Nice job, Shuja! And props to all the Boston party promoters and resident DJs who pour their hearts into making it happen every week

Boston underground has been one of the best musical and rave scenes I've experienced people like Pat Fontes, Soul Clap, Sergio Santos, Tanner Ross, Radioland Crew, Justin Carr, and Mark Imgram keep the scene real: PASSION FOR MUSIC and good times with REAL people. (Excuse myself for those not mentioned, excluding David Day and his shitting documentary...pleanty of music life in Boston to promote local dj/producers, no need to go so far...seems he needed money and not musical promotion) Beantown is something unique, in Mid Week Techno you get to experience first the top line djs on there US tours, taking advantage on wednesday that they are playing on Fridays in NYC. Honestly i had more fun with the music scene in Boston than NYC, Miami, San Fran, Austin, etc. Keep it going!

Thing that sets Boston apart from NYC is InstantNightlife.com - u can check how long the line is before u go out, no such thing in new york.

actually dude. this is kind of commercial bullshit that makes boston so hard to do anything in... thanks for posting an advertisement on here that has nothing to do with the content of the article.

ON A MORE POSITIVE NOTE: thanks shuja for an amazing, honest article. another shout out to the people who built the scene in the 90s and made it possible for us to do what we do: dj bruno, dj kon, pat fontes, shalako, caseroc, pete moss, randy deshais, dj static, boston happy ravers, boom, tru crew, rise, caril and tom at vinyl connection, boston beat, satellite records, biscuithead, 4front and anybody im forgetting. we might not have the biggest scene, but we've definitely had some of the best times ever!

love this feature!

enlightening. =) i was born in boston, but i've lived *kinda sheltered. XD* in western mass most of my life, and i turned 19 a month and change ago. while the collapse of lansdowne is something anyone who's even heard of the new boston HOBY is probably familiar with, the local(-ish) scene itself isn't something i know much about.

is there some way i can get... more involved? i've been a listener for five or six years now, but i'm only getting into DJing and production now, and as much as i wish it weren't the case, i haven't done much of any clubbing stateside. i'm looking at moving to greater boston next fall for massage school, anyways.

also, do people from out east come to western mass for events at all?

Phoenix Landing FTW

A bit dry this one but rather informative.
No mention of Stewart Walker and Fred Giannelli?

who knows where I can listen to IDM / ambient in Boston? I've tried Ecology on Tuesdays at Wonderbar in Allston, but it's been mostly dubstep and not very busy.

IN 2010 there are nothing to do in bosotn if you want to listengoood electronic music
NOTHING
no CLUB no INTERNALTIONAL DJ
you have to go to NYC if you want to dance
the phoenix launding is a shity irish pub and not at all a club

guys stop
boston is a small town on the east and it s BORING

need to drive 4 hour o NYC if you want lsten good DJ

IN 2010 there are nothing to do in bosotn if you want to listengoood electronic music
NOTHING
no CLUB no INTERNALTIONAL DJ
you have to go to NYC if you want to dance
the phoenix launding is a shity irish pub and not at all a club

guys stop
boston is a small town on the east and it s BORING

need to drive 4 hour o NYC if you want lsten good DJ

IN 2010 there are nothing to do in bosotn if you want to listengoood electronic music
NOTHING
no CLUB no INTERNALTIONAL DJ
you have to go to NYC if you want to dance
the phoenix launding is a shity irish pub and not at all a club

guys stop
boston is a small town on the east and it s BORING

need to drive 4 hour o NYC if you want lsten good DJ

wow never would have known... might be worth the short plane trip to boston and check it out!

nicely written; an illuminating article that expresses in words how I felt when Max Cooper recently played in front of a half empty Middlesex; and of the people there I doubt more than 1/3 knew who he is. Having had a memorable night seeing him at Robot Heart earlier this year, we walked out of Middlesex before 1 shaking our heads. I'm almost done trying in this town, there is so little culture of electronic it ends up being almost depressing. Still blows my mind how Mike Swells and a few others can book names like Hawtin, Umek, Lazarus. Love you guys for not giving up.

but hawtin and umek play shite watered down nonsense thats not really in the spirit of what the set out to achieve, yet you crave this as customer