Abe Duque (US)

The name is pronounced “Du-kay”. He jokingly describes himself as one of the "few producers still licenced to use the 303". But with a career that started in the early days of house at New York's notorious Limelight, Abe Duque has been at the head of the acid-house and underground-techno table since his earliest releases way back in 1993. His first tracks were influenced by the madness of the Limelight's club-kid audience, later publicised by films and books like Party Monster and Clubland Confidential. But despite jokey titles like "Fantastico!!!", "Truckers Choice" and "Vodka, you sweet companion," his early tracks had the sophistication of his serious keyboard skills and a get-in-and-do-it-yourself aesthetic learned as a kid growing up in the suburbs in Hollis in Queens, New York. From muscular and melodic techno to cocktail jazz and ambient interludes, his early tracks on his own labels Tension and Hollis Haus, his releases under pseudonyms like Kirilan, Super Secret Symphony and his releases on others' labels like Disko B, Rapture!, Morbid, and Tresor captured a particular period of clubbing history bought to a sudden halt when the Limelight was closed down by the cops. It was, Duque says, a great time for musical experimentation. Each month bought radical new types of music kit - much of which Duque still keeps in use in his underground studio "the Cave" - alongside an amazement of now classic tracks and new acts. Last year, Abe Duque was in the mood for love, and he said "Don’t Be So Mean". But as he enters the third part of his long, strange musical career, that’s all going to change…