Interview by Sean B. Nutley

Have you ever wandered through a hot new resort or your favorite hotel hangout, Shazaaming the tunes wafting over the property thinking, why are these tracks so good? The mastermind behind those perfect playlists might be Joel Isaac Black (aka DJ Hazy Pockets) who’s busy elevating the hospitality music scene to an art form, one hotel at a time.

Originally hailing from California and Texas, Black’s curated playlists, year-round culture programs and wildly popular events set the mood at properties like the cōmodo in Bad Gastein, Austria and Mamula Island in Montenegro. Black’s après-ski parties and global DJ line-ups draw a vibrant crowd of locals, world travelers, and music aficionados. His creative agency, Wild Mountain Honey, sources and builds immersive music experiences and collaborations for luxury hotels and restaurants all over the globe. 

At the eco-chic Swiss ski resort CERVO Zermatt, Black’s soundscapes enrich the resort’s identity, offering a unique musical ambiance that evolves from morning to night and shapes guest experience. “Music is a living pulse for all activities at any hour of the day,” he says. “It gives us the ability to momentarily tap into something bigger than ourselves, an endless spectrum of human emotions and compulsions. Music is instant magic and transports us humans to spaces of pure feeling. It is power.” At A Hotel Life, we couldn’t agree more. 

Against the stunning Swiss Alps, Black recently curated an Against the stunning Swiss Alps, Black recently curated an après-ski event with Bushwick-based DJ Laura Lynn. AHL Contributor and event producer Sean B. Nutley was there to chat with Black during a rare quiet moment. 

How did your journey into music and DJing begin?

Joel Isaac Black: My father is a fantastic blues guitarist and harmonica player, and his music was a constant presence in my childhood home. I was drawn to the performative power of playing music and the subtleties of sounds. I remember selecting songs for specific chores around the house. I’d have a “washing dishes” song, or “sweeping the floor” sequence. Those were my first forays into primitive soundtracking. I recall having a pretty clear motivation that there was always a perfect song that could turn a mundane activity into a colorful cinematic performance.

How did your career evolve from there?

JIB: I’ve been in bands as a drummer and songwriter since I was 12. After high school in Texas, I studied English and Literature in Los Angeles and worked at Amoeba Records, soaking up all kinds of music. In 2010-2011, I recorded a wild soul-gospel-rock record with a friend, and we eventually moved to Berlin, drawn by its freedom and music scene. I never really left.

Your playlists are attention grabbing, emotional, full of nostalgia and unexpected tempos in mixes.

JIB: The goal is to create that perfect moment for guests, where it all just clicks, and a great song in a gorgeous space is an emotional high. That’s what I am going for. The Bazaar restaurant and lounge space in the hotel has an evening soundtrack that contains a great deal of music from myBerlin-centric electronic music colleagues. Their moods fit the space so well.

Do you curate playlists for Cervo based on the time of day?

JIB: Yes, I create unique playlists for different areas and times to match the intended feel of each hotel space. I aim for music that is so good that it can function as a gentle and pleasant background soundtrack for guests not actively listening, and ALSO be a great topic of conversation for the engaged and deep listeners among the guests.

Does FOH hear reactions from guests about your playlists? Any standout tracks?

JIB: Guests often give great feedback, but the overall experience plays a big part in that. I cannot take full credit for the reaction, it’s the sum of all elements— music, design details, incredible service, the warmth of the whole hotel. Any savvy hotel owner or designer understands that the sum of all the elements combine for a greater whole, and music is a hearty contributor to the memorable mood. While I don’t aim for one-track reactions, the time a guest spends in each area requires a broader approach. At Cervo, David Axelrod’s Capital Records recordings are a favorite of mine– cinematic, groovy, jazzy, playful. They wrap you up as you bask in the Matterhorn views and contemplate the majesty of nature. 

How do your playlists build a relationship between guests and a property’s design and specific environment?

JIB: Music-memory builds strong emotional bonds. When I can create a sonic mood that combines with all the other great elements of design and curation, I think the guest experience is unrivaled. Guests fall in love with it all and that’s a powerful, lasting thing they take with them…until they come back for their next visit! All hotels have a vibe, a soul, and an inherent feeling that provides cues for my work. I can really amplify this honest expression of hospitality with music, and that’s my calling.

Cervo’s natural and architectural design inside and out are very unique. How do you capture the aesthetic of the design of each space using sound?  

I would describe it as an ability to project myself into hypothetical sonic spaces– to really “hear” and “feel” what it’s like in a certain room with music or sounds. I slip into my own imagination, and have a very powerful and tangible gut feeling of what it needs to fill these spaces. I audition a few prospective musical ideas, and usually end up manifesting versions of these ideas for my  clients. Every artist has some parallel practice, however, mine is this well-honed sonic voyage.

They should sell Joel Isaac Black/Hazy Pockets mixes, like Stéphane Pompougnac for Hotel Costes! They’d be a top seller.

JIB: That’s very kind! As a music composer and label owner, I advocate for better rights for musicians. A physical copy of music is still an incredibly valuable item. In our Spotify world, digital platforms are the primary mode of distribution, however, a physical keepsake should come along soon… 

Find DJ Hazy Pockets playlists at Cervo Spotify  and on IG @hazypockets  @thewildmountainhoney

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By Janet Mercel on 2.28.24

The nightlife of upstate New York ebbs and flows like anywhere else. But given its seasonal nature and relative isolation, when it ebbs, it can really ebb. There have been pockets of high level energy over the years, (ie. The Limelight club kids coming up in the late 90s to rave in fields, the Spiegeltent, House of Yes, Prime Time, et al.), but if there is any event in recent years that captures the lost art of curating a mega party, it’s the Disco Chalet.

Produced by Sean B Nutley, the unofficial social mayor of Kingston, and his co-organizer, DJ Laura Lynn, the event spans a weekend of festivities, some low-key, some high, at the picture perfect Inness in Accord, NY. 

Laura Lynn, a West Coaster who came to New York in 2018, quickly gravitated to the upstate-downstate trajectory of her Bushwick crew, like DJs Zev Eisenberg and Gadi Mizrahi (Wolf & Lamb) and Eli Goldstein (Soul Clap) who were already throwing invite-only parties at Hudson Valley properties. And Sean’s events, she says, like Catskills Roller Disco, were selling out. “There was just a sea of people at these things, there was such a need in the area. But there’s only a couple a year, and in the fair seasons. In the winter up here, if you’re not skiing, there’s nothing.”

“I always loved exploring the apre-ski culture of Europe, it’s a whole lifestyle,” she explains. “Two years ago, I threw a 70s glam themed party at a house near Hunter Mountain. We got snowed in, it was great. People were like, ‘why don’t you make this a real thing?’” Disco Chalet was born, and Sean, whose bonafides include working the door at Area back in the day, suggested Inness. Taavo Somer wasn’t necessarily looking to up the vibe at his peaceful, 220-acre, nature preserving resort, but as no stranger to building a nightlife vibe himself, he immediately saw the vision. 

“I started out DJing, believe it or not, from 2000 to 2004. Freemans came from wanting to make nightlife happen downtown [in NYC]. I moved upstate full time in 2016, and Inness is a different time; it reflects my life now. It’s a more holistic look at nature, wellness, interesting food and design.” These days, as anyone who’s spent time in Ibiza or Bali knows, a holistic point of view encompasses more than yoga classes and grain bowl breakfasts, and there’s more than one way to recharge and reset. 

“Sean I knew from being around Hotel Kinsley, [another Taavo property] in Kingston, where he’s such a fixture and a character in the community. He was an obvious choice to trust him with something like this,” Taavo says. “His skill set is seeing something that wasn’t there before, an audience that wanted this kind of party, this sense of openness and community.”

Disco Chalet is a smorgasbord of winter events- fully embracing the 70s chic European apres-ski mood that has you hitting the slopes, dancing late into the night and seeing the same people around the breakfast table the next morning. “You don’t have to pay for all the events going on,” Sean explains. “We want it to be a full weekender that’s part of the mountain culture, a chill environment.” 

DJs camped out at the base of Windham Mountain for daytime sets, while Mezcal Rosaluna  and Amaro Montenegro provided cocktails everywhere. Friday night’s Pré Fête opened the weekend with a warm up DJ set at The Gatehouse, an Anna Karenina-esque, firelit love shack packed to the brim with people eating and drinking. The Grand Soiree is Saturday night’s full-on rave in The Barn. 2023’s inaugural year sold out, and this year saw 500 attendees with a waiting list, drawing so many pre-party revelers that the restaurant at Inness saw its most successful seating since opening. 

As for next year, will there be a third Disco Chalet? “We would love to keep growing, next year incorporate brunch and the new spa that’s opening at Inness,” Sean says. “Especially during this pretty dead time of year, we want to breathe life into as many local businesses in the community as possible.” 

“It was absolutely a success,” Taavo confirms. “This was year two. Three would make it a pattern.”

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L.E. Miami, the annual summit of the best worldwide in high-end hospitality, landed in South Beach this week, where hundreds of brands, lifestyle media, designers, entertainers, hotel and travel pros gathered for four days of industry trailblazing. The hottest ticket was the opening night conversation between Ian Schrager and his longtime creative, A Hotel Life founder Ben Pundole.

Ian and Ben spoke to the filled-to-over-capacity room, (because if anyone knows how to bring a crowd, it’s these two) for an in depth industry discussion about starting an empire with Studio 54, breaking the mold and redefining hospitality as we know it today, and Ben’s nearly twenty-five years of “the wildest ride anyone in our industry could possibly dream of.” A Hotel Life was there to report.

On saying, “You cannot have an analog definition of luxury in a digital world.”

Ian: You have to be willing to break the rules and do something that hasn’t been done before, test the market and poke the bear. You have to do it in a fast and edgy way, and risk being ineffective and a failure. If you can do that and act lighting quick and be on the edge, on the cusp, then I think you can get rid of the analog and be digitized in modern life. 

On the real definition of a boutique hotel. 

Ian: Steve [Rubell, hospitality partner and Studio 54 co-founder] and I wanted to do a hotel that manifested pop culture and our generation, not  a continuation of those first big American hotels in the early 1900s that everyone else copied up until that time. When we did Morgans Hotel in 1982, it was considered “the world’s first boutique hotel.” We wanted something that was edgy and innovative, something that would pick up the baton from Studio and continue with the next leg. 

People don’t realize [now] the number of radical things we did- like there was no concierge because everyone working was meant to be the concierge. It took off like a bat out of hell and was a natural success because it was a new product and everybody knew it. There were different uniforms, from Armani and Calvin Klein, just [all these elements] done by people who had never done a hotel before. It was the first to set the tone, a hotel geared towards the people who lived in the city, not the guests. Because the guests come to New York or any city you’re in, and they want to be and go where the people who know that city go. The other thing we did was not use food and beverage as a loss leader- we did it to make money. The food and beverage turned out to be very profitable for us and now business standard is 50% of the profits come from F&B and 50% comes from the rooms. 

On working with the most celebrated artists and designers in the world- Herzog & de Meuron, John Pawson, Philippe Starck, Julian Schnabel, Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring- and the qualities to look for in a collaborator. 

Ian: I look for a collaboration. I’m not interested in hiring a designer and having them just do it, because if they could do it themselves, they would do it on their own and they’d be a hotelier. It is a collaboration and I’m only interested in one thing- doing the best product imaginable. If there’s one thing I can pass on to people, it’s don’t take anything from designers who won’t listen to you just because they’re designers. They have a craft and a talent that you may not have, that I may not have. And I’m not a designer, but I am a team leader, a coach, and I try to get the best out of everyone in collaborating. And the really great designers- they want to be pushed to do the best thing they can possibly do. The most important thing is the collaboration- you’re the hotelier, they’re not. And when I choose a designer it’s something that speaks to me. 

On the big changes in travel and lifestyle media in the last decade, and the blurred lines between traditional media, social media, influencer opinion, etcetera. 

Ian: I’m still trying to figure it out because it’s still so new. One thing I don’t like is when influencers try to get free rooms. I could really go on about that one. We’re all learning how to communicate, but you have time to figure it out as long as the product is great. Steve Jobs said, “Nothing else matters but the product. If the product is great, the rest will take care of itself.” I feel the same way. All these things we have to figure out- technology, the booking engines, and everything else that’s the future of our industry, none of it matters without a great product. 

On the greatest lessons from Studio 54, which was open for just 33 months and gave recognition, contacts and the motivation to catapult a hotel career. 

Ian: Pay your taxes! And- that it’s all about the product. Nothing else matters but the product, nothing. Studio 54 was like holding onto a lightning bolt, and it became about just feeding the monster. It got to be intoxicating for both Steve and I. One thing I never learned is to play by the rules- I mean that seriously. We were so taken up by the success of it we thought maybe the rules didn’t apply to us, but boy, we found out pretty quickly how that went. 

On greatest passions outside hotels. 

Ian: My family, far and away. I didn’t get married until later, I had done everything and then some, and now I just couldn’t be happier in this part of my life. I love my wife, I love my family, I have 5 kids, and I do my work. 

Ben: Age is clearly a state of mind, and you’re definitely one of the youngest people I know. You’ve got more motivation, ambition and cultural awareness than anybody. What is your secret? 

Ian: No secret, I love what I do. I don’t do it for money, I do it because I love it and I have to. That’s it. It’s not a job; I think to be good at something you have to love what you do, and if you don’t love it, you should move into something else because life’s too short. The journey is too short. If you can love your life and the people you’re with, and your family and what you do, you are the richest person in the entire world. 

Ben: Ian has certainly influenced my life, and inspired our entire industry. Since 1999, twenty-four years ago, we have done some incredible things together, and opened some beautiful hotels. Any favorite moments?

Ian: I think there’s one thing that sticks out that perhaps only Ben and I can really understand. We had just opened up the EDITION Hotel in Times Square. Diana Ross was up there entertaining and she called Nile Rogers out on the stage and they were performing together. I was sitting on the side with my family, Ben was right in the thick of it in a booth looking right at the stage. Our eyes caught each other, and boy, only he and I knew. I looked at his face, and the supreme enjoyment that he had by doing something that turned on all these people. When I looked at him I knew, because I felt it right back. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

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Sarah Len founded MATERIA, a creative brain trust that includes a magazine, a studio, and a branding and production agency, to amplify art, design, and culture across the Americas. Her global lens brings a focus to the more thoughtful side of artists making things and stretches to wide-reaching corners of the world to do it.

BARRO, a collective show curated by Len and featuring over 70 unique ceramic pieces spanning traditional, modern, and functional design, is now showing at Love House’s contemporary chic showroom. The exhibition first debuted last November at the new MATERIA STUDIO in Colonia San Rafael, México City, before bringing the one-of-a-kind works to New York, including furniture, objects, lighting, and art from Nick Pourfard, LGS Studio, Krudo Studio, Carlos Matos, Disciplina Studio, Eusebio, Pablo Arellano, Eny Lee Parker, Catherine Dix, and Gianfranco Briceño.

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