Review: Sunday Rotation @ R19

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Aside from the red Ganesh banner hanging over the decks, the bar in R19 is indistinguishable from the bar of any other after-hours club I've been to; think Sisyphos or Ritter Butzke at 1:00 p.m.  It's sultry, red-tinged and smoky.  The crumpled leather sofas and armchairs are full of grinning, blurry people swaying and resisting the call of gravity to assume a more horizontal position.

A DJ is casually manipulating the atmosphere from an inconspicuous spot in the corner.  Tech-house beats slouch along at a sedate pace and drawling vocals are slowed to the speed of dark, cool treacle. 
I am far too awake for this type of after-hours club but, luckily, R19 has an alternative variety on offer. A quickening pulse pulls me along the hall, away from the bar and into a second, bigger room.  Entering it feels like stepping into a hard trance all-dayer from the mid-nineties.  Everyone is on their feet in a fluro-washed darkness that's bubbling with spacey riffs.  Liquid, neon patterns are flowing across portholes of artificial light that are built into the walls.  The ceilings feel high as the sound echoes.  A driving 4-4 bassline barricades us with surround sound, creating a refuge against the daytime.

A slim woman in a sun-faded, sleeveless top scrawled with the letters for 'Om' appears and starts tearing around the dancefloor like she's high on sonic crack.  Hair whipping, the high hats yank her body from side to side and her feet follow with clomping, graceless steps.  This room feels like it's the pre-party for Boom.  Or the after-party.  For some of the people here, it might even be the main event.  Wandering outside for a breath of fresh air, passing smiling eyes and grinning faces, I can see why.  This is the Place To Be if you've already danced from dusk until dawn once this weekend, and are already in the mood to do it all over again.   

Sunday Rotation happens every Sunday daytime at R19 in Revaler Strasse 19, near Ostkreuz S-Bahn.



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