Unscene Berlin

All this rain. Sigh. You can't do much except for look forward to better weather...  ...so, in that spirit, I am losing myself in daydreams of the Berlin parties that are coming up in the next four weeks. First in line is Hotze: Fuer Eine Handvoll Party at Salon Zur Wilden Renate happening next Thursday August 4th. All I can make out is that it involves comics and nerdcore music. Which is intriguing all on its own but, to be honest, I think I am more attracted by the colourful flyer, since it brightens up an otherwise cloudy day. But what could be brighter than a party at an abandoned GDR fairground, with Kollektiv Turmstrasse tunes in the background? At the Berlinier Luft und Liebe festival in the Plaenterwald next weekend, a fantastic line-up of DJ's will be playing with "Minimal, House, Techno, Jazz und Gipsy" sounds... and I will be dancing along! An official date for the Fuck Parade has not been posted for 2011, but last year's party cons...

The lakeside beach was striped with bars of light. Sculptures that had been erected earlier leaned sideways in the sand, like mystical relics of a cybernetic race of fairies. Projections played across the waterside trees. Stray lasers refracted off of the water's surface in glimmering eddies. The people sprawled on the hilly shoreline basked in the light-show’s midnight sun as louche young things twisted in a sandy dance pit below. Spliffs were passed around. People asked each other, “Where are you from?” and “What do you do?” and "Hey, do you wanna threesome?" while trying to retrace the steps they'd taken to arrive at this unified state… or maybe I should say, unified 'nation'. And then trace new paths to an even deeper union, it seemed.  The light show and the people were the two greatest things about Nation of Gondwana. Several images stick in mind: the guy lying next to the fire who managed to sleep on blissfully as a burning stick fell onto hi...

I was back at work this weekend but in between shifts, I managed to catch a burlesque show and a few great DJ sets at Rummelsburg Berlin. Everything looked and sounded sumptuous (special kudos goes to Luis Ondo, Lady Lou and DJ Emerson for that) but the place could have done with a much bigger audience. Did the promoters simply take the trend for all things 'minimal' a little bit too far and apply it to their advertising campaign, too? Never mind; I got right into the desert-island vibe, so the party was still a highlight in my weekend. I just couldn't help thinking that it could have used some more word-of-mouth to pull the crowds down to sunny Rummelsburg. After that we headed to Massimiliano Pagliara's record release party. The venue itself requires no further promotion from me since it long ago reached sell-out status. It was almost worth being in Wilden Renate though because of the crisp tech-y house of DJs like Baby G's . If only you could get...

While stranded in the party desert of London, where I have been for the past week, I have been keeping one beady eye trained on the Berlin party scene and building up a lather of anticipation in advance of my return. To this end, I've been earmarking ideal venues for celebrating one's reunion with her favourite city in the world in a suitably cheap and decadent style. I wanted to start by checking out Whiskey Tango Foxtrot at Renate this Thursday but it has doubled in price in the six weeks since I first went there, from 2 to 5 euros. For a single-floor affair with two DJs on the bill that's quite pricey, especially on a sunny afternoon with a range of excellent free, open air options to choose from in nearby Treptow Park and Rummelsburg. Speaking of which, the new beach venue of Rummelsburg Berlin sounds like it is really coming into its own with a promising two-floor Burlesque Musique & Style Rockets extravaganza planned for this Saturday the 16th. It starts at 12.0...

By Sandra Winkler As we’re locking our bikes to the iron bars of the dark bridge, we can already hear the steady drum of the bass from the small club below. Apart from this, the area is quiet. It is the summer of 2004, and we are visiting that cool new club that a friend of mine has recently discovered. The bar is a shack and the people are drinking their beers sitting on floats chained to the quay, on a warm summer’s night. The ‘Club der Visionäre’ (CDV) - clearly an insider tip with potential. Seven years later, it’s a critics’ choice in Time Out Berlin. Therefore it is not surprising that on a Tuesday evening in June 2011, the club is crowded, dominated by people speaking English, French and Spanish. Hip young Berliners (and those who want to be) are tightly packed into the small area of the club. There is still some space on the floats, where we are having our first drink of the night. Groups of people are crossing the bridge above us, as the ‘Arena’ next doors is also attract...