The Council Consults: Ray, Addicted to Music

There are moments on the dance floor where the beat peaks, and you find yourself enthralled by euphoria, chills running through your body. As the song comes to a close, and the lights flip on, you find yourself craving more. You have become afflicted, and your diagnosis is musical addiction.

Our next playlist for The Council Consults, comes from Ray, a fresh, young face, who might not be that fresh to the underground dance music scene. Hailing from the beautiful islands of Taiwan, Ray came to Singapore on an internship in the hospitality industry. Once he clocks out for the day however, you can usually find him getting his weekly dose of music on the dance floor.

Having been introduced to house and techno by a friend, Ray found himself addicted to a whole new world of music, but in Taiwan the scene was quite limited. Without any clubs dedicated to the genre, Ray found his fix at house parties, where his friends would take to the decks churning out house, techno and everything in between, and sometimes even taking the party up to the mountains, where they would soak in the springs and bask in the beauty of nature and music.

Coming to Singapore, one of the first things he did was to take to Google to find out where to get his music fix - that’s how he stumbled upon Headquarters.

“I’ll always remember the night with Lauer at 79 Circular Road. There were lots of different types of sounds in his set, and yet everything transitioned smoothly into each other - it didn’t feel complicated or as if he was rushing through any of the songs. The night made me feel a sense of peace and love, where everyone came together to enjoy the music, respecting each other and just having a great time. It was a really magical night,” he shares when asked what some of his favourite memories with The Council were.

For this week’s edition of The Council Consults, Ray puts together a playlist of his favourite tracks that have reeled him and had him mashing the replay button. “Some of the tracks come from really good movies that inspired me a lot, such as Born Slippy by Underworld, which is from Trainspotting - at the time, I didn’t even know what genre this track was, I just really enjoyed it. Another is Sky & Sand by Paul Kalkbrenner from Berlin Calling. I loved the movie and the creativity involved in it. The scene in which he recorded the sounds from the train station and turned it into a track really inspired and moved me!”

Hit play and kick back as Ray shares some of his favourite dance music.