Unscene Berlin

Wands: the ultimate NoG dancefloor accessory A woman in a body-hugging indigo stocking and skirt outfit twists a hoola hoop around her torso, shoulders, upper thighs.  A shock of yellow yarn  sways under her indigo headscarf, like doll's hair. She seemed to be in a trance.  Even if it's not your kind of music, one glance at her and you'll start to feel the beat... I had a pretty bad time at Nation of Gondwana the first time I went there in 2011 .  This is mainly because it was freezing cold (7 degrees Celsius in July... hard to imagine that now).  There also weren't many people there and the people who were, were understandably grim.  However, I've finally seen NoG the way that it is supposed to be: a sunny, rambling, warm pressure cooker for Berlin's precociously artistic clubbing community, and I am a convert.  I might even apply for a passport, or at least a temporary, annual residency at the nation of Gondwana.  While the music in ...

Techno Deluge   At Sisyphos there is plenty to look at: fleshy drapes; giant glittering baubles; trellis towers; doll's heads; motion-sensitive light sprays in the halls.  Passing by crowds of people bedecked by all the above trappings in the outdoor yard, I head to the dark inside. The first room that I blunder into is saloon bar full of dancing lights, wafting ribbons, swaying bodies. Beneath the deco, I see the black ribs of a warehouse jutting in the dark like the backstage area of a theatrical set. Later, my friends and I search out a spot nearer to the techno that's booming down the hall from the Hammahalle.  We find a second room where our personal sphere is reduced to a crawl-space. The unyielding mass of people drawn towards its sweaty beat turn this cavern into a human labyrinth.  Normally that's the sort of vibe we go in for... but it feels off in here, somehow. It's oversubscribed, this word of mouth location. We're pushed back and forth thr...