Unscene Berlin

In this interview, Mindgrrind settles the 'core' with Unscene Berlin , discussing her lov e of speedcore, splattercore, splittercore, breakcore, hardcore... basically, anything over 180 b pm! "You should never be told what you want, what to worship or who to be, yet in our society, we have been SOLD these ideals.  Do whatever makes your heart sing and sometimes it means sticking your middle finger up!" The green haired lead singer of Skat Injector is marauding around the stage with the mic, belting out a tirade of raw aural energy.   The restless crowd below her reels and ricochets off each other in a nonstop, chain-reaction of movement & sound.  To all appearances it is a punk gig, except for a few crucial details: the “stage” is actually the back of a sound system van at the Fuck Parade, one of Berlin’s biggest techno street parties.   While the drag queen's vocals belong in a grindcore band, the beats are machine-gun gabba.  Even the singer...

" 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...

At the moment I'm working on a book so I probably won't have much time for entries over the coming weeks but a glance at the party calendar indicates that August is already brimming with parties. With the amount of people in town for the city's peak tourism month, even the alternative events I've listed are guaranteed to be splashy. .. So, there is no need to settle for run of the mill 'techno' parties that all sound the same; plenty of other subcultures within the electronic genre - psytrance, gabber, hard industrial techno and flower-power free parties - are present and accounted for this month. Saturday August 4th T t here will be a free openair at 'the Devil's Hill' from 12 p.m. Despite the scary name, it will probably be a fluffy (glittery and neon-y, too) party. The site itself is also an icon for urban explorers so you can kill two strange birds with one stone by going there. There is also a BGE parade on the 4th which, as far as I u...