Wide Boy Awake - Slang Teacher
1983

If you go to hip parties in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, chances are you've danced to music played by the Crazy Rhythms DJ's, Dan Selzer and Mike Simonetti. The duo cover a wide range of styles, but their core set is drawn from disco, post-punk, and new wave. Selzer, who runs the email list NY Happenings, as well as the reissue label Acute, is a big proponent of Italo-disco, and has been instrumental in bringing this hip subgenre to hipster prominence. Simonetti isn't exactly sitting on his ass either. In 1994, Simonetti started Troubleman Records, a diverse and prolific label best known for unleashing Erase Errata on the world.

On a recently released mix CD, Rvng Prsnts MX4, Selzer and Simonetti show off their DJ skills by assembling a compilation of some of their staples ("Slang Teacher" being one of them), as well as their coveted Italo-disco obscurities ("Massimo Barsotti's "Whole Lotta Love"). After starting off with some low-key disco moves, the DJ team gradually quickens the pulse to a monotonous house thump, only to settle back down to classic disco tracks and some post-punk dance workouts.

As for Wide Boy Awake, little information is available on them. According to Trouser Press, they were formed by Ex-Adam and the Ants bassist Kevin Mooney in the early '80s. "Slang Teacher" was released as a 7" single, and also appeared on a five song EP released by RCA in 1983. The band dissappeared not long after.

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