FROM - NY HOT LIST

Compiled by Daphne Carr, Elizabeth Gibbons, Kerri Mason and Mike Williams

HOT LOG CABIN (FOR HIPSTERS) - CIELO

Cielo sprung up on the Meat Packing District's dingy, damp, partially hidden Little 12th Street with hardly any fanfare. But within weeks the tiny club's innovative layout, air of effortless cool, intrinsic music appreciation, and pleasingly pounding Funktion-One speaker system (by Sound Investment's Dan Agne) had the whole city talking. Described as a "techno log cabin" by lots of different folks all thinking themselves original, Cielo is one large square, with a sunken dancefloor flanked by bench seating on all sides. Fabric covered "rods" line the walls all around, and are interspersed with LED-equipped ones that actually chase and blink when the night gets going. These make up the entirety of the club's lighting system. The place is so damn cool that house godfather Frankie Knuckles recently accepted a monthly residency (Better Days); Deep Dish and Victor Calderone have hosted album release parties; and Francois K started a weekly, Deep Space, dedicated entirely to dub. Co-owned by Nicholas Matar, a sometimes Ibiza DJ himself, Cielo is proof that a for-the-music dance spot doesn't need black walls and dingy corners to be genuine. - KLM

Cielo Sound: 4 - Funktion One AX-88 loudspeakers; 2 - Funktion One F218 loudspeakers; 2 - Funktion One Infrabass subwoofers; 2 - MC2 T1500 power amplifiers; 2 - MC2 T2000 power amplifiers; 2 - Technics 1200 MKIII turntables; 1 - MC2 1250 power amplifiers; 1 0 XTA DP226 processor