Larry Tee

Larry Tee secured the Electroclash (tm) trademark in the early 2000s to define both a club-music genre and an overarching lifestyle. Operating Brooklyn's Luxx as his primary venue, he organized high-profile underground parties such as Berliniamsburg and Club Badd that nurtured acts blending raw punk attitude with electronic production. Despite the name, Electroclash (tm) bore scant resemblance to the funk-rooted electro of 1980s trailblazers Afrika Bambaataa and the Egyptian Lover; instead it drew from a twisted strain of synth-driven new wave. While shaping the New York scene that featured outfits including W.I.T. and Fischerspooner, Tee exported the sound to additional cities through touring bills and a landmark anthology. Issued on his own Mogul Electro imprint in late 2001, that anthology was titled Electroclash (tm). Roughly eighteen months afterward he mixed the double-disc set The Electroclash Mix for release on Moonshine.

Tee's immersion in nightlife dates to the early 1980s in Atlanta, where he both spun records and managed a local club before relocating to New York in 1989 to co-found a weekly event at the Tunnel. Throughout the following decade he gained wider recognition by playing sets at the Palladium, Twilo, and the Roxy. A key milestone arrived in 1993 when he co-authored the track "Supermodel (You Better Work)" alongside his friend RuPaul, which ascended to the summit of the dance charts. Years spent working as a house DJ eventually left him fatigued with that sound, yet exposure to the neo-electro and electro-pop projects Adult. and Fischerspooner reignited his interest. That spark prompted him to assemble a circle of kindred artists, many of them New York-based, whose activities in turn generated the aforementioned compilation, additional club residencies, and extensive tours, elevating Tee himself to greater prominence than most of the acts he championed.