At the heart of the Party Monster soundtrack is a fascinating paradox. As a combination electroclash/retro-80s compilation, it is a well-catalogued and organized set of bookends for twenty years of club music. But there is a pronounced absence of any selections from the actual time period during which the tale of Michael Alig, Angel Melendez, James St. James, and all the other club kids orbiting through Peter Gatien's early nineties New York club empire. Certainly electroclash suits the clubkid manifesto better than the dominant Junior Vasquez dream drums pounding tracks with minimal vocals that proliferated in the NY clubs of that time.
The classics are an inspired assortment, from classic Hi-NRG (Stephen Tin Tin Duffy, ABC) and crossover pop-dance hits (Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts" and Shannon's "Give Me Tonight," though the latter is in a rerecorded version), and leftfield anthems like Nina Hagen's "New York New York" and Tones on Tail's "Go.
" The new tracks are electroclash as far as the eye can see, with Vitalic, the Scissor Sisters, and Tomcraft's offerings are fierce records, and there's nothing here to stop the listener from, as shocking as this may sound, listening to the record from beginning to end without skipping any tracks. Excellent work.
