Unscene Berlin

Winter is the season when Berlin gets that famous post-apocalyptic look to it:   the streets are empty, the wrecked buildings that people used to work in loom visibly over the more discreet, tidy ones they now live in; everywhere you look, the city's mottled grey shell is exposed by bare branches.   In the streets, nothing seems to move except a few furtive pedestrians, camouflaged in dark clothes that blend in with the post-industrial grime.   The crows and sparrows are silent, saving their energy to keep warm; the pigeons sip spilled beer and peck fallen drugs outside of clubs to blot out their existential despair.   Even the trains seem to have a touch of winter blues as they sluggishly creak their way between stations.  It's a bit bleak, if you get my drift. These weather conditions are perfect for checking out an exhibition like X Lab’s solo show of Ken Plotbot's work , this Saturday the 26th.  The show's “ dark nuclear graphic and post industria...

I thought that my previous Preview would sum up the first two weeks  in November quite neatly.  Well apparently, I thought wrong!  Late additions to this weekend's party recommendations have been pouring in through my wireless router so fast that I think it's actually starting to melt... kind of like my brain, which has been working overtime to keep up. Experimental dub techno will join forces with wobbling, twisted vocals and confuse everybody in the room as one half of the Swedish duo Telebild takes to the decks tonight, at  Du Alter Schweder in Eschloraque. That should make for a good talking point - not that it's generally difficult to  talk to strangers and this comfy alt.Berlin lounge bar.  The flow of unpretentious out-of-towners is pretty constant, thanks to the Monster Kabinett underground-tourist-attraction that's situated next door.   Tomorrow, Zero2Nine will be taking over Cube Club in Neukölln for a night of pristinely erratic beat...

Cube Club I just love this time of year: Hallowe'en, Guy Fawkes, roasting chestnuts, bonfires and fallen leaves painting the pavement yellow; it's as if the last sunlight of the year is being combusted all at once, in a flare of brilliance.  From the start of December  it's lights out in the Northern Hemisphere for a couple of months, so we better enjoy these burnished last days when we can be outside without thinking of nothing else except how to get back inside.  Here are some tips for doing that in the coming weeks. Tonight, Friday October 26th is Switch Technique at Subland a night  of no-skool techno and more.  "Serenading the undead with dissonant offense until the early hours of the morning is what Skank, Ugly Funk and Subland do best" so dust off Orpheus' lyre and get down there, already. Also tonight Oct. 26 there's a party at Heroes in Neukölln .  If you join the Facebook event page you get into this 2 room party for 3 euros.  Room...

" A journey thru techno, techhouse, minimal noize and industrial techdub... " When I get to M-Bia on Sunday morning it's late by yesterday's standards, and early by today's.   Half a dozen door staff are sitting outside, smiling tiredly and ushering me past the door, out of the chilly sunshine.  A very different reception than you'd get at Berghain, Kater Holzig, Salon Zur Wilden Renate. Like the inside of an industrial air vent, everything's warm, dark and metallic on the other side of that golden door.  Aside from the warmth, the darkness and the odd metallic gleam, no other features are visible till my eyes adjust.  Even the faces behind the decks are spectral half-visages, silhouetted from beneath by a smouldering orange glow. The dancefloor has black tiles, black tables, dark risers, dark walls, and the only light comes in gaseous spumes, descending like inverted flames from a dozen mini-spots that are dotted around the ceiling.  I don...