If Fun Is Still Transgressive, then FIST’s new, first-ever compilation is an insurrection. The pioneering New York queer techno party is marking its ninth anniversary with Fun is Still Transgressive, Vol. 1, a digital release of new tracks from FIST alumni and extended family, including Berlin-based break-heavy techno producer Ryan James Ford, the raw, post-industrial textures of BAUGRUPPE90, Krow’s percussive experimentalism, and Baby Blue’s dreamy soundscapes. 

The 17-track compilation flows like a night at the party: in perpetual motion, slippery in genre, and relentless in rhythm. Fun is Still Transgressive, Vol. 1 is testament to the scene built by party founder Danny Leyva, aka DJ Word of Command, along with his co-resident and co-conspirator Andreas “Dre” de la Peña, aka DJ Clone; a scene rooted in the pair’s commitment to deep musical connoisseurship, platforming othered voices, and intense, freaky fun. The release embodies this ethos, with 100% of its proceeds going to the Ravers for Palestine Strike Fund.

Now, the seminal techno party signals its evolution with a new eponymous label (and rumors of a long-awaited merch drop for its devoted fans). Document caught up with the founding duo to talk about their curatorial process, the compilation’s delirious cover art, and how nearly a decade of FIST made it all possible.

Artwork by GianXMarco.

Adnan Qiblawi: So this is coming right at the tail end of nine years of FIST, right? You just hit nine years, six of them at Basement?

Danny Leyva: That’s a crazy long time. Last month’s anniversary felt like a reunion. Time really flies—the whole nine years but also the 10 hours at Basement. Next year for our 10th I want to do like a festival. FIST-fest.

Adnan: Why is this compilation coming out now, at this point in FIST’s timeline?

Danny: It was always in the cards to do a label. We’ve been talking about it for a long time. Over the years, we’ve developed this roster of alumni—people we trust musically, people who’ve played our parties or whose parties we’d actually go to. A lot of people rush into things, start a label after one year, print T-shirts or whatever, but we never did that. I think now we’ve built something people trust. It feels like the right moment.

Dre de la Peña: And we’re learning as we go. It’s our first time doing something like this, so we had to figure out how to deal with mastering, distribution, even asking artists to contribute tracks without a fee. But people said yes. That felt like a testament to the nine years of FIST.

Adnan: Will there be more releases in the future?

Danny: I see this as the first of at least five compilations. We want to keep working with the artist who did the cover—he’s amazing—and maybe develop a kind of mascot or recurring visual world across releases. It’s a little ’90s mixtape coded. Like when everything had a character.

Adnan: Tell me more about the artist behind the mascot on the cover art.

Danny: The artist Gian Marco lives in Spain, but he’s Italian—he’s gay, parties, lives in this 200-person village. We started seeing his flyers for parties in Berlin and elsewhere. Kind of Harlequin, jester, freaky-clown energy. We liked the vibe. When we talked, I explained the vision and the idea of upgrading the original FIST art I made in 2016. He really got the references—video games, that kind of surreal, campy world. He’s gay, he goes to parties. He got it.

Adnan: I see some easter eggs in the artwork.

Danny: Oh yeah. There’s timers for dose o’clock. There’s cockroaches for New York, puzzle pieces because we’re putting the whole thing together. The main character is kind of inspired by Quina from Final Fantasy IX. If you look at Yoshitaka Amano’s concept art of the character, you’ll see it; the excess of pleasure and drugs and indulgence.

Artwork by GianXMarco.

Adnan: What was the curatorial concept for the compilation? Was this meant to capture a certain message, or era, or vibe?

Danny: We wanted it to feel like a night at FIST. Like, if you played it from start to finish. Breaks and house at the beginning, harder sounds in the middle, and trancey stuff toward the end.

When Dre and I talked about what the vibe was supposed to be, because there are a lot of compilations now that will just be like, a potpourri of whoever they want— it’s like 50 people on a compilation.

Dre: There are a lot of compilations out there that feel like grab bags. We didn’t want that. We wanted it tight, intentional, like a real listening experience.

Danny: We made a shortlist of about 30 artists, people we already had relationships with. And then, within that, we considered the range of diversity, not only in the artists themselves but in sound as well. We wanted people that really had the mantra of funky techno sounds that would make sense.

It’s funny, a lot of artists ended up making tracks that felt more euphoric or trancey than what they normally do. I think because of the political reality we live in, there’s a collective desire for euphoria and escape right now. And this compilation was a chance for the artists to be free and weird but still relevant.

Dre: We’re still very funky and weird; and weird has become such a trendy thing in itself. But right now it’s a lot more fun. When me and Danny started this, there was a lot of big room techno, pretty homogenized stuff, which we liked and enjoyed. But things evolve, and maybe it’s just our party, but I feel like things are more loose now. Techno is such a loose term to me that it could mean anything.

Danny: Yeah. It is funny to see how different it is from 2016

Dre: Yeah, I used to play heavy, heavy, heavy, you know, big, big kicks. And now I’m an inch away from playing dubstep the entire night at FIST. And I love it.

Me and Danny really like to do FIST, but we’re not doing it for ourselves. We really like getting people on and giving people the opportunity to shine—giving locals and artists from out of state or out of country sick closings, really putting them on. That’s kind of our favorite part too. I like to play, but I also love giving a platform to people that are different from me.

Adnan: What are some of your favorite tracks on there?

Dre: The Krow track is incredible. We’ve been rinsing it.

Danny: I love Baby Blue’s track. We had been online friends for like, 5 years. She played one of our early nights at Basement, opening for Perc, and it was one of my favorite parties ever. She played an amazing set.

Perc played our ninth anniversary again. When we had him play that first night with Baby Blue, that was when I knew we made it. Because, to me, he was always the person to book, because of his energy and the way he produces and mixes. I always thought he was our priority DJ to book.

“We really like to do FIST, but we’re not doing it for ourselves. We really like getting people on and giving people the opportunity to shine”

Adnan: There’s also a fundraising aspect to the compilation, right?

Danny: Yeah, all proceeds are going to the Ravers for Palestine strike fund. We told all the artists upfront that we wouldn’t be paying for contributions—it’s a fundraising initiative. And no one said no. Even artists who never do compilations said yes. That was really affirming. Even the guy who did our mastering gave us a break because of that. It felt good to be transparent and to have everyone down for the cause.

Adnan: What were some of the challenges that shaped this release?

Dre: Honestly, limiting the number of tracks. We wanted to include so many people, and it’s hard not to feel guilty when friends don’t make it on. But we also had to make it a cohesive experience.

Danny: Yeah, figuring out who fit together, sonically and energetically. That was the most time-consuming part. But again, we were thinking of this as a night at FIST. Not just a playlist.

The artists are mostly local. We wanted to keep that New York flavor. But we’ve got artists from Detroit, Boston, Chicago. Others are from Brussels, Paris, Morocco, Berlin. The bigger-name DJs like Ryan James Ford and BAUGRUPPE90 are more international, but the heart of it is New York.

But yeah, that was the one limitation, trying to figure out who made sense together. And even now, some of it is a little out there [laughs], but I like that.

Adnan: In what way is it out there?

Danny: There’s a lot of genres on this. I mean, maybe not to a normal techno purveyor, but it’s definitely out there. I like that, though.

Adnan: Being “out there” is like, definitive of the FIST experience.

Danny: Yeah, it’s the fun part. We put the fun in FIST. Put that in your little journal!