Unscene Berlin

I've got to be honest with my readers: I am getting a bit bored of clubs full of self-conscious fashion victims wiggling to minimal tech that pussyfoots around the dance floor like it's afraid of breaking something... or someone! I've more of an extremist when it comes to parties and lately, it seems like there are few places where someone like me can really, truly be free. But this weekend, a plethora of style-free, cheap and nasty underground events have deposited themselves within easy reach, in nearby Friedrichshain. I am more than ready to have a revel rebel with a rival tribe and if you are too, then read on...

It was a cold and rainy Sunday morning and Zach and I were standing in front of Kater Holzig. "We'll never get in," griped Zach for, like, the 12th time. "We're not waiting to get in," I hissed. "We're waiting for someone to show up with weed ." "What do you think is gonna happen," Zach asked. "That they're just gonna just stop here and say, 'Hey, here you go, have a spliff'?" "With a little luck," I said, forcing a smile. Zach just rolled his eyes and said, "There's nobody here." He was right. The queue held a pair of nerdy tourists, nervously eyeing the herd of bouncers that was shouldering one another by the club's gate. And no, it wasn't just us looking in the mirror. Eventually, the pair got up the nerve to ask the dominant bouncer when they would be able to get in. The bouncer thought about it a few seconds and then replied, "Not today." Crestfallen

So there I was at Golden Gate's Sand und Seide party last Friday night, dancing hard on a fully-packed dance floor when it suddenly dawned on me: "Hey - this would be the perfect time to send a tweet out from my new twitter account!" So I switched on my phone, opened the menu and then realized that I had forgotten to install the Twitter app. D'oh! It was a fun, tightly-packed night. Due to lack of space, it was not easy to photograph but then, Golden Gate is nothing if not a sonic experience. Daniel Schwarz from Polynom in Jena played a leisurely techno-house set, followed by some crispy techno action by Mutlu and a smooth but intense Balearic-style set by Luis Ondo , who is one of the friendliest faces in Berlin's party scene. I had been planning to leave the club before 6:00 a.m. but at some point, I found myself staring at a watch and asking myself how it could possibly be 10:00 a.m. Those seven hours on the dance floor raced by so fast that I might not

Right: Dancers' feet at open air party in Berlin, June 2010 I had an interesting question the other day from a group of English tourists. They asked me where they could go to find an illegal warehouse party in Berlin. The group's spokesperson clarified: "We sometimes go to these parties in Brighton . They aren't advertised and they're usually pretty filthy but the music is way better than it is in a club." He was talking about free parties , (or squat parties, as they are also known). After thinking about it for a few minutes I realized something: there aren't that many free parties in Berlin. There isn't much of an illegal party scene here at all - not in the winter, at any rate.

Time to repeat that old stereotype that you hear every new year: it's time for Unscene Berlin to try out something new!  This January, I will be test-driving the new @UnsceneBerlin Twitter account whenever I go out on the town. The general idea is to keep my readers up-to-date with party info live from the streets of Berlin. Whether you live in the city or are just visiting, it's always good to have an insider at the place you're headed who can answer questions like, how big is the queue? Are the bouncers turning people away?  Are the DJs as good as everybody said they'd be? With @UnsceneBerlin you'll get gossip, mini-reviews, photos and more to help point you in the right direction... and away from the wrong one!   Don't be left out in the cold this winter - make sure to add @UnsceneBerlin to your 'follow' list before you leave the house. Oh, and... Happy New Year by the waaaay!