- Bossa Nova Civic Club, an unassuming venue under a subway trestle in Bushwick, has become one of New York's hottest dance clubs. Ironically, it's not much of a club at all, rather a long bar with a 10 x 15 foot dance floor and a DJ booth in the back. As most parties and spaces tend to take the image of their creator, it's not entirely surprising that Bossa has developed such a heady reputation. Its co-owner, John Barclay, has been involved in underground Brooklyn spaces and raves for nigh on a decade.
The location's unlikely incarnation as a dance club is underlined by the cheeky winks to rave culture placed around the dim space. A smiley-face balloon sits nestled among the liquor bottles behind the bar. The bartenders happily serve up Club Mate, a staple of Berlin clubs, which they spike with vodka at your request. The DJ booth is well built, and the tiny dance floor is occasionally lit by strobes. It's a cozy place, similar to smaller Berlin clubs like Loftus Hall.
Rising New Jersey producer Joey Anderson played the club on a recent Saturday as part of the Down By Low party. The series is presented by two Japanese DJs who recently relocated to New York. Masahiro Ueda, who played the night's opening set, was a longtime staff member and regular DJ at Tokyo's Womb. His partner, Drome Grunge, runs the Pacific Psychedelia Tapes label. Ueda aimed to do a night in NYC focusing on his love of both classic and modern underground house. He told me it was difficult at first—"Nobody knows me," he said. Still, Down By Low seems to be well on its way, having already hosted Huerco S. and Galcher Lustwerk in its short existence.
Ueda set the stage with beatless experimental music, waiting 45 minutes before dropping a kick drum. The ambient warm-up was followed by an hour of house from Drome Grunge. He had an interesting way of alternating between classics like MK's dub of Chez Damier's "Can You Feel It" and more oblique modern fare. The room filled up around midnight (which happens to be the time when Bossa starts charging a cover), and the space took on the pleasantly disorienting traits of a much larger club. Grunge played Richie Hawtin's 1990 remix of Kenny Larkin's raw house cut "We Shall Overcome," before handing over the reins to Anderson.
With the table set, the dancer-turned-building-engineer-turned-international-leftfield-house-DJ was in the position to knock it down. He delivered. Switching between tracks like Levon Vincent's "Solemn Days" and hypnotic predecessors like Aphrodisiac's "Song Of The Siren," Anderson whipped the crowd into a frenzy and even broke his stoic facade, putting his arms up at key moments. He played for about two hours, after which A.Arias pummeled the bleary eyed crowd with 132 BPM techno.
Bossa Nova Civic Club is a neighborhood bar where transcendent dance experiences are possible. Anderson, riding on the release of his excellent full-length After Forever, delivered on the hype.