A Season in the Abyss

Abyss is the watchword for this weekend, it seems.  I blame the seasons, or rather the single season of winter which seems to have settled permanently in Berlin.  These last six weeks have illustrated exactly why the idea of global warming should leave us all cold: because, according to climatologist predictions, it's only going to warm places that don't need it - e.g. India, South America and Australia - while making Northern Europe and America colder than ever.

In the face of unreliable seasonal warmth on the surface of Berlin, people seem to be instinctively retreating and burrowing deeper into the city's party abyss - maybe to search out more steady sources of thermal warmth.  (That almost sounds like a metaphor to explain why people move from mainstream to underground culture in the first place.)

On Friday, Robot Army Meets Abyssmal @ About Blank.  Although I've slated its door staff on, oh, just about every single occasion that I've encountered them, About Blank remains a scruffy, style-free kind of anti-club.  There's enough space for everyone to do their thing (when all its rooms + garden are open, at any rate) and their 'let it all hang out' vibe seems to have  ingrained itself on every space. Usually packed and dark, AB is dance-oriented and camera-free... and it's one of the few special cases in Berlin where a camera ban doesn't annoy me, because it's basically impossible to take photos there, anyway.

Check out Robot Army's soundcloud mix to find out what their techno room might sound like (tip: the mix gets going around the 12th minute).  Words that come to mind are: 'Balearic', 'wiggly' and 'dark sunshine'.  With obscurist-fetishists Urban Poetry doing a bass room there, it should be a deeply quirky night. 
 

On the same night is Techno from the Abyss at Scharnweberstr. 38, Friedrichshain.  The party blurb talks about how the apparent monotony of techno beats shake up the foundations of the city, so that an eruption can occur.  I personally find that image appealing.  On a practical level the layer of frozen earth and concrete that's sitting overtop the city very much feels like it's pressing down on everybody's head.  People are missing that sense of change that seasons bring, and putting the extra energy they have into urban, rather than outdoor, activities to break up the tedium.  Presumably this will lead to you seeing more action on Berlin's dancefloor.

The extreme of the abyss is probably the bunker party, a dark void where one hides from an inhospitable outside world (made that way by a deluge of snow, not of bombs, but still).  This Saturday's Proud bunker party featuring DJ Westbam not only fits right into this entry's theme of 'abyss' but it also neatly ticks the box of "places you thought you'd end up when.you booked your low cost flight to Berlin (but only stand a 10 percent chance of actually finding)".

DISCLAIMER: I make no promises about the quality of the venue, music or organization for this bunker event... but would bring any visiting friends to these parties in a pinch.  Berlin's club scene is like an abyss at times and you can't always say what lies beyond the shadows, but taking a step forward's still better than standing still.

Stay tuned to Club Alien's Facebook page for last-minute party updates & tips.