WE ARE KLANK - Retro classix: the records that shaped us

Every booth starts with a record

Before there was a sketch, a prototype or a price list, there was music. Long nights, full floors, records that still give us goosebumps thirty years later.

So we put them together in WE ARE KLANK - Retro classix, our playlist on Spotify. No algorithm, no filler. Just the records that shaped us, as DJs and as designers. And it keeps growing.

What you will hear

Think trance with a long build-up, acid that bites, techno that keeps pushing and club classics that never left the crate. Many tracks run eight, nine, ten minutes. They were made for DJs, not for radio.

It is the sound of an era when a club night was a journey, and the DJ was the one steering it.

Made in Belgium

A big part of this playlist was born a few hours' drive from our workshop. Belgium was one of the capitals of electronic music in the nineties, and you can hear it.

Of course DJ Ghost is in there, with Needle Destruction (Cherry Moon Trax), Blow The Speakers (The Moon) and Desire Go Higher (Q-IC & Ghost). Records that were born on the floor of Cherry Moon and still work today.

Next to them: Yves Deruyter, Push, Fiocco, La Bush Team and CJ Bolland's The Prophet. And thanks to R&S Records from Ghent, a few global anthems have Belgian roots too, like Joey Beltram's Energy Flash and Jaydee's Plastic Dreams.

The classics

Then there are the records every DJ knows by heart. The Age Of Love in the Jam & Spoon remix. Lil' Louis with French Kiss. Rolando's Knights of the Jaguar. Paul van Dyk's For An Angel. Energy 52's Café Del Mar. Green Velvet, Laurent Garnier, Daft Punk.

They are not here for nostalgia. They are here because they still hold up, on any system, in any room.

Five tracks to start with

• Jam & Spoon, Odyssey to Anyoona. Ten minutes of pure journey.
• Cherry Moon Trax, Needle Destruction. Where it all comes together for us.
• Jaydee, Plastic Dreams. That organ. Need we say more?
• Joey Beltram, Energy Flash. Raw, hypnotic, timeless.
• Laurent Garnier, The Man With the Red Face. Proof that a saxophone belongs in techno.

Why a booth brand makes a playlist

Because for us, design and sound are one story. These tracks were played on decks in clubs where the booth was the heart of the room. Where the DJ stood for hours, record after record.

That is exactly what we design for. A booth at the right working height, so your back still thanks you at 4 a.m. Room for your setup, cables out of sight. And a piece of furniture that makes the space better, whether it stands in a club, a studio or your living room.

Play this playlist on a CUE or LOOP booth and you will understand what we mean.

Your turn

Follow WE ARE KLANK - Retro classix on Spotify, so you never miss a new addition.

Missing a record that belongs in here? Tell us on Instagram at @weareklank. The best suggestions go in.

Built for the music. Made for the moment.