Preview: Rumble in the Concrete Jungle

It was a love of exploring unbroken tracts of urban jungle that got me going to parties in the first place, and a similar impulse seems to bring oodles of techno travelers to this city each summer, looking for uncharted party territory to explore. In a city the size of Berlin (890-odd square kilometers according to Wikipedia) finding out about all the little offbeat parties that pop up each weekend like magic mushrooms in a marsh - and then disappear just as quickly - can be an epic mission, even when you're only searching online!

Take this Trulov party listing that I found for Saturday on Resident Advisor. The venue name was new to me, so I checked it out on Google Maps. It turns out that it's actually somewhere northeast of Hamburg. This can only mean one of two things: a) Berlin's city limits have recently been redrawn to include everything from here to the Baltic Sea (you go offline for one week in this city and everything changes) or b) that Trulov's promoters are taking advantage of the glut of traffic on Resident Advisor's Berlin events listings to generate buzz about their own boondocks hoe-down. If that's the case, I can't really say I blame them: Berlin's party listings outnumber those in other cities by about 10 to 1. All the same, newcomers to Berlin should take note that there is no need to go that far for a party mission. Straying off of the beaten path shouldn't leave you stranded.

A Facebook invitation for an abandoned pool party at Altes Statdbad this Sunday also led me on a bit of a wild goose chase. After entering its address into Google maps I got an out-of-town listing, which turned out to be wrong. The website didn't have any further details but it did have a link, which took me... right back to the Facebook event page where I'd started! Only then did I notice the sentence at the bottom of the page that said, "The exact address will be here soon". With over 300 people listed as 'going' there at least is a fair chance that this party will be more local than that Trulov even located on the north-east coast of Berlin. Join the event's mailing list for more details.

The Really party in Kotbusser Tor this Friday is definitely local, but its exact details are still vague enough to appeal to one's sense of adventure. The website is a work of black & white abstraction which evokes a sense of impending sophistication and they describe their event this Friday as an exhibition. That may have something to do with the 48 Hours in Neukölln festival that is happening in the area this weekend. (For those of you who don't know, 48 Hours is an annual weekender which arms the neighbourhood's legion informal venues with the thinnest of pretexts for creating bizarre events combining art, poetry and theatre with nudity and duct tape). Oddly, many of the 'artists' listed for this exhibition share an interest in music and list 'hip hop' as an influence. If you've ever wondered what abstract art installations and hip hop have in common then come to this event - it should answer all of your questions.

Those who prefer to travel within their minds might be drawn to the Chapeau Clack party this Friday, in Reuterstr. 47. Moog Conspiracy will be playing; his sets have been described as "a disquieting journey through a minimal dystopian nightmare that creates an atmosphere that Hitchcock himself would have been proud of." There's no need for all that fancy terminology guys, you had us at 'journey'. Saturday's party sounds good too, with fellow Canadian Mike Gibbs playing "dark, glitchy, industrial-layered laptop beats".

Finally, if you like being left in the dark until the verrry last minute you should try The Pantheon Bar's Rave on Saturday - its 'secret location' will only be announced just before the party. Of course, it might end up being held in the function room of somebody's family restaurant but the anticipatory buzz of not knowing might be enough to lift your spirits for a few hours. Usually does for me. Here's hoping it's a sleepless weekend for everyone!