Unscene Berlin

Truth is like love: putting a price tag on it makes it seem... cheap. EIGHT YEARS' FREE (Scroll to Weekend Picks for the party suggestions) You wanna know one of the main benefits of checking out party recommendations on my blog? (Admittedly, I don't recommend parties as often as I used to, but bear with me please).  I don't get paid one red Euro-cent for the parties that I pick. That means you can rest assured that no cash incentive was involved in me recommending any of the following gigs - and that is a lot more than you can say for most electronic music blogs and websites on the Internet, these days. Some of those sites would probably say that I'm dumb for not capitalising on this space, maximising its traffic potential by renting my words out to hidden advertisers. They're wrong: I'm stubbornly idealistic. I believe that writing about parties is an art form - an end unto itself, not just a vehicle to fuel superstar egos in their aim of re...

Friday the 13th is supposed to be one of those days when bizarre and inexplicable things happen.  But, if the day should fail to live up to your expectations, you could do worse than to drop in to Blitz #15: A Genderfucking New Experience at Horst. Photos from past events and flyers (left) suggest a veritable bazaar of the bizarre awaits you there. And at only six euros in before midnight, it's perfect for bargain hunters, too. Open air action seems to be picking up this weekend... come rain or shine. Griessmühle (right) and Neustockland will be putting on their regular summer events on Friday & Saturday , respectively. We went to Griessmühle last Friday expecting to have an early night but, as the hours got later the stoned house music drank a Club Mate and livened up.  At 12:30 a.m. the dance-floor was packed, glittery girls & boys bouncing around to the beats. They'd clearly been planning on moving on to a more hip nightspot after Griessmuehle, but the...

Whoom-whoom. Shlomp. Funch. Ge-Oh-Ah. No, these are not the sounds made by an alien swamp monster... believe it or not, they are the names of Berlin parties that have been listed on Resident Advisor recently. In Berlin, a club blogger's life entails makin a weekly journey through a wilderness of obscure, playful party names that offer little insight into the events they are referring to. Berlin's club promoters seem locked in a constant competition to see who can come up with the silliest and frilliest names.  This may be the  reason why no one party ever seems to keep the same name for very long - it's only a matter of time before a rival party will come along with an even more bizarre moniker and set the weirdness bar just that little bit higher.  First there are the run-on party names: 'Animals In Space From All Over Europe' at Subland.  'Take Off Your Shoes and Burn Down The Vatican' at Privat Club.  'There Is An Infinite Number Of Monkeys O...

Time now for my long overdue roundup of Silvester parties! Silvester is the German name for New Year's Eve. The name comes from Saint Sylvester, who passed away on 31 December 335. Since his death has become synonymous with one of the biggest celebrations on the German calendar, I assume that old Sylvester must have been a bit badass. I'm picturing a 4th century dilettante, stumbling around a monastery strewn with empty barrels of sekt , his followers draped over their pews with robes askew, groaning in hungover agony. But, historical speculation aside, here is my preview...