I Didn’t Hear Anything You Said, But I Totally Agree (Friday, February 4, 2011) Official Berghain stamp*: Club Transmediale: Hyperdub Night @ Berghain After a lovely dinner at our most awesome hotel, the Michel Berger, we suited up and headed out to complete our pilgrimage to Mecca, a.k.a. Berghain. The place is pretty much ground zero for innovative techno, as far as clubs go.I am going to save my lengthy poetic waxings about the venue for my next post, which will cover our return there the preceding evening and will attempt to express my complex adoration for the place. For now, though, Hyperdub. One of the sickest London-based labels, headed up by Kode9 himself, was bringing a crew of their best talent to Berlin, all while we happened to be in town. YES. Because it was a ticketed, concert-like event, we walked up to the building (an amazing former power plant in an industrial part of town that straddles the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain), there was no line, and we went right in. Inside, the main floor (Berghain) was open, and King Midas Sound, comprised of producer Kevin Martin (aka The Bug) and poet Roger Robinson were onstage finishing their set. We admired the giant towers of Funktion-One speakers, and found a nice spot atop a big wooden pedestal to stand on. A guy walked by us wearing a great t-shirt, which featured the Jurassic Park logo and read ‘Juracid Park: When Hard Crew Ruled the Earth’.Soon enough, Kode 9 & the Spaceape took the stage, mainly performing cuts off their forthcoming record Black Sun, which will be out in April. Kode 9’s dark, low-end moody beats coupled with Spaceape’s evocative Jamaican-style toasting were a perfect fit for the large room, which was full of smoke (from both a fog machine and cigarettes) and featured red and green directional lighting. We took a break and walked upstairs to Panoramabar, which is usually reserved for house whilst the main floor is techno central. We admired the large abstract art pieces by Wolfgang Tillmans behind the bar, and gawked through the big windows at the queue forming downstairs outside. There was indeed some good house music goin’ on as part of the monthly Get Perlonized party, but we were there for other purposes, so we headed back down just as Cooly G took to the decks. She played a wonderful selection of UK funky tunes, post-dubstep, house, techno, and further solidified my girl-crush on her. One of the things that’s so great about her, as Morgan said, is that she looks so comfortable DJing, she could just as well be playing Angry Birds on her phone. Next up was Ikonika, Hyperdub’s other resident lady DJ/producer. I’d seen her before in NYC and was underwhelmed, but was super impressed by her hard n’ dark set on this night. We were exhausted, so then headed to the coat check line, where we were flanked by Cosmin TRG in front of us and fellow New Yorker/friendly face Zach S. of the band Blondes behind us. Small world!*I took this photo in the bathroom because photography is explicitly not allowed in the venue. I may be biased because of the supremely awesome circumstances, but I must say this stamp is by far one of the best I’ve received in the entire history of this here blog. It depicts a shadowy figure sitting atop a stool, his legs open, and the Berghain logo smack in the middle where his genitals should be. I’m not positive, but have a sneaking suspicion this logo is a rendering of a minimalist asshole—a perfect representation of Berghain’s historic place within German gay nightlife.

I Didn’t Hear Anything You Said, But I Totally Agree (Friday, February 4, 2011)

Official Berghain stamp*: Club Transmediale: Hyperdub Night @ Berghain

After a lovely dinner at our most awesome hotel, the Michel Berger, we suited up and headed out to complete our pilgrimage to Mecca, a.k.a. Berghain. The place is pretty much ground zero for innovative techno, as far as clubs go.

I am going to save my lengthy poetic waxings about the venue for my next post, which will cover our return there the preceding evening and will attempt to express my complex adoration for the place. For now, though, Hyperdub. One of the sickest London-based labels, headed up by Kode9 himself, was bringing a crew of their best talent to Berlin, all while we happened to be in town. YES. Because it was a ticketed, concert-like event, we walked up to the building (an amazing former power plant in an industrial part of town that straddles the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain), there was no line, and we went right in.

Inside, the main floor (Berghain) was open, and King Midas Sound, comprised of producer Kevin Martin (aka The Bug) and poet Roger Robinson were onstage finishing their set. We admired the giant towers of Funktion-One speakers, and found a nice spot atop a big wooden pedestal to stand on. A guy walked by us wearing a great t-shirt, which featured the Jurassic Park logo and read ‘Juracid Park: When Hard Crew Ruled the Earth’.

Soon enough, Kode 9 & the Spaceape took the stage, mainly performing cuts off their forthcoming record Black Sun, which will be out in April. Kode 9’s dark, low-end moody beats coupled with Spaceape’s evocative Jamaican-style toasting were a perfect fit for the large room, which was full of smoke (from both a fog machine and cigarettes) and featured red and green directional lighting.

We took a break and walked upstairs to Panoramabar, which is usually reserved for house whilst the main floor is techno central. We admired the large abstract art pieces by Wolfgang Tillmans behind the bar, and gawked through the big windows at the queue forming downstairs outside.

There was indeed some good house music goin’ on as part of the monthly Get Perlonized party, but we were there for other purposes, so we headed back down just as Cooly G took to the decks. She played a wonderful selection of UK funky tunes, post-dubstep, house, techno, and further solidified my girl-crush on her. One of the things that’s so great about her, as Morgan said, is that she looks so comfortable DJing, she could just as well be playing Angry Birds on her phone. Next up was Ikonika, Hyperdub’s other resident lady DJ/producer. I’d seen her before in NYC and was underwhelmed, but was super impressed by her hard n’ dark set on this night.

We were exhausted, so then headed to the coat check line, where we were flanked by Cosmin TRG in front of us and fellow New Yorker/friendly face Zach S. of the band Blondes behind us. Small world!

*I took this photo in the bathroom because photography is explicitly not allowed in the venue. I may be biased because of the supremely awesome circumstances, but I must say this stamp is by far one of the best I’ve received in the entire history of this here blog. It depicts a shadowy figure sitting atop a stool, his legs open, and the Berghain logo smack in the middle where his genitals should be. I’m not positive, but have a sneaking suspicion this logo is a rendering of a minimalist asshole—a perfect representation of Berghain’s historic place within German gay nightlife.