Music in Berlin

Though one of my previous posts touches on this issue, I have to say that music in Berlin definitely merits it’s own topic. Berlin is considered by many to be the global capital of Minimalist music. Being a fan of it myself, I had never previously encountered any fans of the genre, but a few of the students at IMK were big fans of it, and pretty much everyone had at least heard of it. When I went to see Steve Aoki at club Weekend, I was pretty excited to see that the DJ that played before and after Aoki was Minimalist. It was a pretty soulful experience to see everyone grooving to the beats that were being played by the DJ.

Another interesting only-in-Berlin moment was when I went out to a movie-theater-turned-club and saw these two bizarrely dressed DJ’s spinning extremely old tracks. Among which were “We Like To Party” by the Vengaboys, “All Around the World” by ATC, and, of course, The Backstreet Boys. The only thing odder than their playlist was their outfit. They wore fit pink hoodies with wife beaters that had kittens bedazzled onto them. Throughout the night they distributed sparklers to the crowd, jumped up and down, and just had a really good time. I mean, this would never take place in America: between the liability issue that is the sparklers, the kids that are “too cool” to dance to crappy 90’s techno, and the fact that the whole thing is taking place at a functional cinema, this wouldn’t be possible.

(Yeah, it can get ugly)

My favorite encounter with Berlin’s underground music scene was going to Trésor, an abandoned generator turned club where every inch of concrete wall was covered in graffiti. It felt like it was my first time experiencing something genuine, even though we had class the next morning. See, this party starts at 2:00AM, but it doesn’t end until 9:00PM the next day. Did I mention it started Wednesday night?

The room within the club itself was awesome. The room was lit mainly by the projector, which was displaying some sort of rotating Vitruvian Man-like figure, as well as some other nonsensical English phrases. There was also a window that let you see into the rest of the building: a few concrete pillars ominously stretching into the void that was the poorly-lit roof. The DJ was playing house, which does have an audience in the United States, but nothing compared Berlin or Trésor.

Overall, I feel that Berlin is fertile soil for electronic music. I really think that electronic music is a part of Berlin’s culture, even though it’s not part of the mainstream. Berlin’s prevalent subcultures make up it’s culture, which I believe has given the city its character. I mean, just take a look at all the graffiti!