a blur of sound and colour

Well another (long) Berlin weekend has whisked past in a blur of sound and colour...

Kreuzberg was left a drunken-but-generally-happy mess after the several-days-long cultural festival, saw a few more venues, moved house again (across-town) and then headed off to Hamburg for a week to be part of the international short-film festival...

so all-in-all, I'm a little hazy on the thorough details (and as Hamburg is right-now beckoning to be explored properly, it'd be a good idea to get away from the screen)... despite that, here's a summary of what happened:




With a warm Saturday hurtling towards us, it seemed the best thing to do was go swimming. As it turns out, I ended up swimming twice. Once that afternoon in a lake not far from where I was staying, and then again that evening in a pool in Wedding. The main difference was that the second swim involved waves of bass rather than water.

Once a public swimming pool, Stattbad Wedding is now a venue for art exhibitions and the occasional party. With a lineup including Henrik Schwarz, Ewan Pearson, Dixon, Åme and Prins Thomas, I was keen to hear and see the place in action.

Arriving about 1am, the pool was heaving with people. Apparently, capacity of the venue is around 1500 people. With each of the three floors packed, it must have been somewhere close to this.

not a great snapshot, but it gives you a rough idea...

The main floor consisted of an empty 50 metre pool, while the two smaller rooms were in the innards of the building - what was once the heating and filtering section of the pool. In terms of layout, it's a hectic maze of exposed pipes and tiles. Good fun for getting lost in - though I had trouble differentiating between the 'Boiler' room and the 'Bunker'.

From 3am or so, Henrik Schwarz did his thing. And with the room packed from wall to wall, the Boiler room was living up to its name.






Later on in the morning, Ewan Pearson treated us to deep rolling tech-house and general deep-end house sounds, while Prins Thomas took us on a roller-coaster ride of unusual grooves; oddball funk and disco... techno, house and calypso (strictly-speaking, I didn't actually hear him drop any calypso, but I like how that reads).

not really, but worth a shot ;)

The biggest surprise of the evening was the live-set from deep disco dons Genius Of Time. Admittedly, I wasn't so familiar with their sound before the gig, but standing towards the back of the pool, with the stage awash in blue lighting and an ocean of silhouettes bobbing to their deep grooves, I felt like I was seeing Atlantis from a deep-ocean submarine... a very cool memory to hold on to.

So if you happen to be in town and see a good-looking Stattbad gig coming up for air, dive right in - the water's warm! (ha.. ha..)














While the original plan for Sunday afternoon didn't involve riding across town and then coming home sometime Monday, somethings can't be banked on (like Sunday afternoon plans over a long weekend, it seems). In short; went for a ride to catch the end of the Mauerpark markets (which are pretty substantial... going to require a revisit), then across to a live gig in one of Berlin's last reclaimed squats/camps, Lohmüle. Following this, met-up with a friend and found myself at About:Blank in Friedrichshain.

In terms of the big-scheme-of-things, it was probably a pretty standard-fare kind of evening at About:Blank, but good fun. Situated in Friedrichshain, it's not far from Wilden Renate and worth a visit - if the weather is fine, don't forget to see the garden out the back (mung-out on the outdoor bedding, see what the other trashbags are up to in the caravan or stare at the pretty foliage).

recollections of a weekend

"I'm ninety-five percent sure the lake existed in real life, not just in my head"... and so went the words of a Scottish boy dressed as a clown, as he lead us across Gorlitzer park this morning. As a small group of us wandered deeper into the park, it occurred to me that this is probably what it felt like to stroll into wonderland... or Narnia... or something along those lines...



Before this, the night had begun as a drinking game on the S-Bahn. The rules were simple; no holding on to anything (other than your beer) and every time you lose balance or move your feet, you drink. Repeat until the ride is over or you're out of beer.

Having met with some friends in Gorlitzer park, we consumed more beverages while deciding on the evening's plans. Having had it recentely recommended to me, a few of us decided on a bar in Friedrichshain called 'What You See Is What You Get'.... Despite it being a Saturday night, it was pretty quiet. The crowd was a kind of mixed group; mostly harmless, but I got the feeling the majority were tourists. Our ears were presented with a selection of house grooves; contemporary-sounding, a little cheesy at times, but good fun. I'd happily revisit the place, but maybe for a bigger (& better?) party next time.


Next up was to reconvene with the rest of the group back at The Laden. It was business as usual there, with the booze and tunes in fine form. Again, the sound system at The Laden is pretty incy-wincy. But to make up for this, if you want to get intimate with the music, wireless headphones are on-hand - allowing you to walk outside and catch some sun if you feel the need... Or something similar. While not the same as a Berghain-sized bass bin rearranging your insides, it allows you to get lost in music, and emphasizes the stereo image :)

Sometime after sun-up, one of the group lead us to a strange bar tucked deep into a corner of Kreuzberg. Word on the street - or rather the rumour - is that the owners have lost the key, and so the bar never shuts. Inside was a strange collection of misfits (including ourselves), who also happened to have stumbled into this bar - some clearly having also spent a night on the town, while a few looked well-rested, like they'd climbed out of bed bright and early, to be here by 6am.

Apart from yelling yarns with your fellow boozehounds and being a general menace, the central point of entertainment was a jukebox. A rotation of psychedelic rock, blues and tunes from yesteryear were the flavour of the morning.The other hunk of flashing-lights and metal was a singular poker machine. It was inhabited by one mad old lady the entire time we were there, who seemed to be muttering to herself as she spun her way through the morning. Apparently she is - or was (?) - the owner. Either way, when she blew a fuse over one overtly-boozey patron, he quickly pulled his head in.

To complete a loop, I then wandered back to Gorlitzer park to meet a friend and catch some sunshine. It was here that the Scottish boy in the clown outfit insisted we look for the lake. As it turns out, it existed in his head and in reality.

p'funk in the p'house

DIY recording. Mic in the oven (no mic-stand)

Am staying in a penthouse in Wedding this weekend. No playboy bunnies around (as yet), but it's a seriously neat space. Five rooms split over two floors. Occupied by four young students; two boys, two girls. Arrived yesterday only a few hours before they had a band practise/jam-sess in the kitchen. This involved guitar, vox, bongos, keys and copious amounts of beer and bud (no bass, their bass-player couldn't make it). Good fun... I even got some stuff done afterwards:)

view from spare room

getting wild(e) with Jan

During my last weekend in Melbourne, a friend & i were treated to an exceptional set of neat-house-grooves, being spun by micro-house & general-groove-connoisseur - as well as good friend - Timmus. He wrapped the set up with the following emotionally-laden Jan Blomqvist track...




 (what a tear-jerker- thanks Timmus! thanks Jan!)


And as such, after several hours at the Laden, I found myself at Wilde Renate, part way through Mr Blomqvist's live-set. Care-of some really friendly door-staff, I wandered in freely, to find myself surrounded by a much younger crowd than I expected (although, think back on it, I had been given the heads-up that different nights pulled different crowds).

Though he didn't play 'I don't think..' while I was there, his set featured his distinctly-recogniseable voice, accompanied by tight production, with a somewhat-pop aesthetic (and as the gig was packed, it's clearly a sound that works both for him and his fans).. Though I only caught the end of the set, there were a few times where he got absorbed in sort of power-pop moments, which kind of lost the dance floor... but nicely showcased his voice. Overall; an intertesting gig :)  (will have to catch another set of his - preferably a complete one next time).

 although I got the impression this was a small gig on the full-blown Wilde-Renate-scale-of-things (as there's a large outdoor section that wasnt being used - and I'm told there's also a labyrinth in the building - the space sounded good and had some distinct style. Will definitely visit again :)

Salon Zur Wilden Renate - outdoor part

groove-locked behind a closed-gate

Last night I dropped in to Watergate. Solomun was playing the whole evening on the main-floor, and being a big fan of his productions, I was keen to hear & see him spin in front of a crowd.

Watergate gives me the impression that this is what Studio 54 must have been like... Getting in was a mission; they're not super-selective like Berghain, just super slow at processing people. Everyone around me was warming up with various forms of booze - and when the queue is that long, you can put away a fair bit before you're in-sight of the bouncers. Note to self: bring a pre-beverage for the queue next time ;) second note-to-self: find out who you have to speak to, to get yourself on the doorlist and bypass the queue... (as there's a second, shorter queue for those in-the-know... very exclusive, very Studio 54, perhaps?*)



Once you're in: Upstairs it's all very lights & disco - and it was packed. Solomun dropped hours and hours of contemporary house grooves. Lots of rubbery-Crosstown-Rebels-esque bass lines. Here's an example chosen almost randomly (by looking up Crosstown's latest releases):

cue the b'line (1:49):



Didn't love the layout of the main floor. Too much foot-traffic hustling & bustling... and there were some pushy people... Fuck-wits some would call them...(not a lot, but it only takes a few - downstairs and the crowd was much more welcoming)... I imagine it would be a much nicer experience when it's not so busy.

Sometime around 6am, the sun was up & streaming through Watergate's downstairs wall of glass (looking out to the Spree). Feeling a bit claustrophobic with the upstairs floor, it was time to wander down and catch some rays. By this point, I was considering having one last look around the place before heading-off. And then I got locked in a groove...

In terms of music, some of the best nights I've had in the past, have been under similar kind of conditions. You get to a point where you think, 'Ok, I'm outta here' (for whatever reason; another party, food/booze/sleep, other commitments) - and you tell yourself, 'a few more tracks, then I'll make a move'.... and five hours later, you're still there! Locked in a groove and loving it. Some things are worth sticking around for.

The jockee-of-discs in question was local spinner, Sven Von Thülen. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more sets of his (edit: got in touch via facebook, and might have solved my doorlist problem - he offered to pop me on a list for his Watergate gig with Kenny Larkin - sounds like fun). From 6am-10am-ish, Sven's grooves-of-choice were a kind of uptempo (128-ishbpm), melodic, deep-house... but in a soulful kind of vibe... think: Larry Heard, Theo Parrish, Motor City Drum Ensemble... including a few of my all-time favourites:

 

timeless...




(if you're listening on shitty speakers, you won't hear anything above till 0:27 - but it's worth the wait)



...and the rest of his set was comprised of grooves unbeknownst to me, but sounded gooood.

In terms of gear (anyone who doesn't care about technical stuff can skip this paragraph), Sven was playing across two CDJs, a Xone 92 mixer, and one turntable (which he was looping up with a looper/FX unit - that I've forgotten the name of... They're not a new toy, but I've never seen one in action before)... as a side-note; have noticed the Xone 92 mixer seems to be the club-standard here. It's used in both Watergate booths, plus the Berghain and Panorama booths - except for on Friday, when Arto Mwambe & Roman Flügel were using this rotary-fader (?) unit that looked like an old analogue synth (maybe that's exactly what it was; a synth for Arto's live-set, but doubling as a mixer via some line-level inputs... I'm not sure, but I've definitely never seen a mixer like that in any Dj booth).


***


Having spent a lot of the weekend in densely-packed clubs, I'm looking forward to when the weather picks up and more open-air parties are being thrown... A little more space to move is always appreciated : )




(having said that, there are some really tempting gigs at Berghain/Panorama & Watergate over the next few weeks - more crammed, sweaty, body-grinding is likely... and I'm still yet to see & hear KaterHolzig and Wilde Renate first-hand...)




(* I think David Mancuso had a better idea of how to throw a party with the Loft, and its more-openly-welcoming-than-Studio-54 ideals - he really set the blue-print)

friday with Flügel

Friday night was all about Roman Flügel - what a dude! Having seen him play live in Melbourne a few months ago, I was keen to hear him behind the decks at Panorama... and he nailed it. Such good fun. A lot of the tracks he played sounded distinctly like his own productions - it'd be interesting to know how much of his set was original - or remixes he's done - versus other peoples' music. Will definitely keep an eye out for any more gigs he's playing (either live or DJing - really impressed with both varieties of the Flügel performance).


Fun techno...What's not to love? : ) *

(does anyone else also think the melodic synth vibes from 3:30 are kind of similar to the horn stabs in War's 'Low Rider', in terms of rhythmic lead melodies?)

Prior to Roman was the live duo of Arto Mwambe. Having come across their stuff accidentally years ago (again, in late high-school...) - I was keen to hear how it came across live. And the result? It was raw - but that's kind of expected when it's live (and this was 24-channel-mixing-desk-live, rather than the standard Ableton + controller set-up).... (as a side-note; Roman Flügel's live-set - in Melbourne this past April - was also of a rougher, more unpolished sound, compared with his releases... but don't let that deter anyone).

While it seems the general rule-of-thumb for set-times in Berlin is around 4 hours, it tends to be much shorter for live acts. Such was the case with Arto's hour-long set. While it was good fun, and recognisable as their signature bouncy-gritty-lofi-house sound, there were a few awkward mixes... at a couple of points, it sounded like someone had loaded a synth patch too early, while it was still playing... oops!


Arto's sound (again, poor audio quality in this video):





And paying respect to Loleatta's epic voice, here's the original disco groove that the above vox are taken from:





***

As a bonus, here's Roman doing his bit for dub-techno:




And here he is getting deep, introspective and beeee-yootiful:






* big thanks to Louis Tobin for showing me this little number

free-wheeling ramblings on Friedrichshain

Moved across to Friedrichshain last Thursday. Staying in a neat little apartment with a couple of rock-climbing enthusiasts and their cat. All very friendly so far : ) They're living in the north-east tip of the suburb, several blocks north of the Spree. The area is definitely more gentrified than Neukölln - the babies and prams are a giveaway!

***

Feel like I'm getting the feel of Friedrichshain (and slowly remembering how to spell it too). The area reminds me of Melbourne's Chapel St. It's definitely undergone gentrification in the last 5/10/15 years - but there seem to be some interesting parts left... just as Chapel St still has the Windsor end (to retain some street cred). From what I can tell, south of Frankfurter Allee/Karl-Marx Allee seems to be the more interesting part, while the northern bit is pram-town.

pram-central

not sure, but I think this is one of Berlin's last
remaining squat(ish) ventures… a block from...

From Friday 16th, I'm off to Kreuzberg for a few days.


Enjoyed Friedrichshain plenty (more-so in the less baby-populated sections)... my rock-climbing-obsessed hosts took me climbing too; good fun, and good exercise.

... this! how's that for variety in the same neighbourhood?

sucked into an abyss

 "it's a black hole that will swallow your time, money and soul" is how Berghain was recently described to me, by a North-American girl passing through town... she meant that in the most positive way possible...

Come Saturday night, I meant to have a short nap and head to the Laden again with my flatmates, aiming to be there around midnight. Instead, I woke up at 5am (feeling fresh) - a good time to check out Berghain and catch some of Steve Rachmad's set.




 
Knowing his sound from a few productions and remixes of his, plus his recently re-released "Secret Life of Machines" LP, I was expecting some melody. His set was pretty heavy, not as heavily-percussive as Blake Baxter and the support crew from the night before, but not as melodic as I expected. Got the impression that the Berghain floor is for serious grooves, while Panorama bar - upstairs -  is of the more tech-house & disco-esque vibe.

After a short and sober stint, I left Berghain around 10am to head back to the flat to work on something... (as I'm trying to remain productive, amongst the distractions and 'research' - as Gian-Paolo & I have taken to calling it, meaning any social event that beckons you to go out and leave your work-in-progress... hopefully leading to the soaking-up of ideas and some further inspiration, or at least some reflection on how the piece is going... or to get generally wasted... it's like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, except it's your life, rather than a Goosebumps book).

By 4pm Sunday - having been productive, rested and eaten - I was back at Berghain (once your inked, you can enter/exit across the weekend). This time I met-up with a friend from Melbourne beforehand - she just happens to be a 'Bergs' devotee.

Such an intense place... Like an industrial playground. An ideal venue for dirty, dark techno... Four massive stacks of Funktion Ones make-up the Berghain room, plus two angled horn-and-mid-satellites face the crowd from in-front and behind... a good system for surround-sound-ish gigs?

a weekend in ink

In terms of sound, it's loud but clear (you can talk to your fellow oonce-devotees). The system seems to be pegged at 100dBSPL in both bars (I measured it - just out of curiosity). For those that are soft - or cautious, as I see it - with their ears, the cloak-room downstairs has earplugs (cut a cm off the end of them if Frankenstein isn't the look you're going for). 'Haben Sie Ohrstöpsel?' - 'have you got earplugs?'.

Visually, Berghain has got plenty to offer. While you can't take your camera in the venue (instead checking it at the door), there's plenty to see and capture in your mind's-eye instead. Whether it be the labyrinth of small dark rooms, the outlandish outfits of those around you or the variety of people in the crowd, there's something to look at.


From memory, the Berghain closed-up at around 10pm (with an epic, 5-minute breakdown courtesy of Patrick Gräser). Shortly after this Steffi took over the reins upstairs in Panorama and rode it out till dawn.

Panorama's system isn't as massive as the downstairs room, but it's still huge. Consisting of four suspended stacks of mids/high boxes (can't remember the manufacturer) - with the subs to one side of the room.

In terms of design, the space has been well-conceived. When you enter Panorama, the floor is directly in front of you, with the bar at the back of the room. But if you take a sharp-right, there's a walkway all the way to the back of the room and back to the bar. Essentially, it works as a pathway that can take you across the room without having to push through the throng of people on the floor. Clever management of foot-traffic... and you'll appreciated it doubly-so when you're tearing up the floorboards and not as many people are bustling passed.



They closed-up Panoramama sometime after dawn, Monday morning. Wandered out into a grey-sky feeling pretty good... Must have spent about 20 hours of the weekend in that epic hunk of concrete, steel and glass... what a wholesome way to start the week ;)

Will definitely be back there soon. Over the next few weeks alone, Carl Craig, Phonique, Trentemoller, Dinky, Dominik Eulberg and Extrawelt will be at either Berghain or Panormama. So another visit is inevitable.

In the meantime, I'm still to check out Watergate, KaterHolzig and Club Der Visionaere (each have been recommended).

flying solo

Kicked off the weekend with my flatmates at small bar called 'The Laden'. A cool little venue that stays open well into the next day (one flatmate crawled home around 8am).

Following this, decided to check-out a gig in Friedrichshain, at the questionably-titled, 'Suicide Circus'. In particular,  I wanted to hear headliner Blake Baxter do his thing. It was billed as a "DJ & live set combination", with Blake playing alongside a "[Roland] 808, 909, 303 and 404".


Here's an old (1987) Blake Baxter track I used to bounce along to in late high-school (around '04-'06, I remember digging up some early house & techno gems):

(bouncing staccato bass-line from 0:53, like dribbling a dozen basket balls at once - siick)





The warm-up jockees were all percussion and no melody. Though I arrived around 1am, come 3am it seemed like the same track was still spinning... not much was happening.

Mr Baxter took to the stage sometime after 3. His sound was tougher and more-percussive than I expected, but brought some vocals and melody into the mix. In terms of his set-up, it looked like he was running the Roland TR-909 as the main rhythm-machine and syncing the rest to this (or mixing into this on CDJs - didn't see him spinning vinyl, but I wasn't watching the booth for the whole gig, so maybe he did later - there were definitely turntables set-up).



Regarding the venue; there was plenty of space in the main-room and a solid PA; four large boxes suspended form the ceiling in each corner, angled at the crowd (kind of like Revolver's main-room PA in Melbourne, but each speaker was about four times the size). Pretty sure the subs were mounted on the floor.

In terms of vision, it had a dark/blue-light kind of vibe. Personally, I thought the decor was kind of tacky... with things stuck to wall in Pac-man-esque kind of patterns, and stencils of E... all a bit 90s rave, perhaps? (as a side-note: seen a few posters - mainly in the touristy parts of town - pushing 90s-styled parties... geared towards late 20-something/early 30-something tourists hankering after that cheesy pre-millennium vibe, I guess...?).

 I got the impression that the crowd consisted of many tourists... despite all this, I was there till sunrise. Won't rush back to the Suicide Club, but if an act I particularly wanted to see was playing there, I'd definitely consider another visit (it sounded good - which counts for something)...

a day in May

Yesterday was May Day - a public holiday here. 27ºC, Sunny.

Having hauled my gear across town to Neukölln - to live with four interesting young Berliners for a few days - it was time to hunt down an open bottle-o (more like a milk-bar, in Melbourne terms - except they sell beer as well as milk... and like milk bars, are usually closed on public holidays).

With most of the others off to a private bbq, one of the housemates and I - an artist of New York/Italian descent  - headed to Gorlitzer park. Traditionally, this particular park - situated right in the heart of Kreuzberg - ends up as a riot-zone between the Polizei and Berlin's anarchists and political activists. However, prior to this seemingly-inevitable meltdown, the area hosts a stack of outdoor PA systems.

view from window in Neukölln - scaffolding included

With roadblocks, large crowds (1000s?) and plenty of riot police standing around looking bored, it was pretty mental getting in, but super peaceful half-way through the park... sat down and chatted, completely forgetting about the impending riot outside the park walls.

An interesting conversation with the housemate, Gian-Paolo. He hasn't worked in over a year and has been getting-by from selling his paintings... chatted about art and living in Berlin, and life and girls... and how ridiculously long German mobile numbers are (12 digits..?!)... that kind of thing.



Next up was to tackle the bedlam outside the park and see what sounds were being beamed out into the city. Crammed into the single block of Kreuzberg that Kleine Reise is in, there were at least half-a-dozen PAs.  if you weren't directly front & centre of a speaker stack, leakage from one stage to another was obvious - but some decent grooves were cranking.

Gianni's flyer - his work can be seen at :www.artgianpaolo.com/

As the vibe between the police and the crowd was getting uglier (riot squads were starting to close in), it was time to make tracks. In doing so, I was stopped & searched by an officer. Pretty friendly, really... (even so, at the time, I had been here less than a week!) ... was interesting explaining that my helmet was for my bike, not for causing a ruckus...

("...bass from those high definition speakers...
givin' us the boom boom boom..." - R.Clarke)

Not sure if riots actually broke-out, but at 5:35pm, the forecast was looking something like:
thunder storm; possible  riot; probable.


It seems as though having that many riot police and road blocks is kind of self-fulfilling in terms of developing a recipe for a riot - there was a tense feeling in the air.

("Woop, woop! That's the sound of da police..." KRS-One. They
actually sound more like "eyooore-eyooore" in Europe)

In other news, had a mildly productive day today. Here's this loose & live recording of a bass-line I was working on: