Well its getting to that time where Charlie realizes he has no money, no prospects of any and no housing for October... so I'm jumping ship and coming home to Glasgow. It was inevitable though wasn't it, did Ali actually have a sweep stake? Bastard. I'll be sad to leave - Berlin's been good to me (though not good enough to give me a fucking job!) and I pretty much just love this place. But I'm excited about Glasgow as well. I get to see you all guys again* and have a bunch of plans for what I'm going to do and that's always fun.
I've been entertaing everyone's favorite Sikh this past week and, hell, we've had a ball. We shaved him a moustache and drankl Berlin dry of cheep beer. We went swimming in thee Spree -not quite as bad as swimming in the Clyde, but approximate, we saw boobies -some pretty ladies followed us in, I got kissed - yay!, we took photos, we lost photos, we drank, we daced, we climbed on monstertrucks, we did too much speed, we danced to Ellan Allien at miday on sunday morning, WE SAW CONOR OBERST, HE WAS GOOD. We talked about Real Police, we talked about love affairs and marrige, buisness plans and ageing.
we drank a lot.
So... yeah, got an interview over a webcam with the skinny tomorrow to try and blag a job as clb editor which would be cool. Just finished a new mix which i'll put up on conetoaster along with the new album by Gang Gang Dance (cuz its ace), and I'll be seeing you all soon.
* Yeah I know that I'm talking to about 2 folk who might actually read this blog, but you know what i mean....
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Saturday, 6 September 2008
and I'm spent
here's a short piece i wrote about villalobos/panorama. I'm going to use it in applying for a job so if you've got any suggestions on making it better let me know.
A Night in Berlin
Ricardo Villalobos @ Panorama Bar 5/9/08
There’s a funny way of going about things in Berlin. Glaswegians like to party -but here they just don’t stop, and nobody seems to want to stop them. Having a wee nap before heading out around 4am is perfectly acceptable and a ‘midnight-open end’ door policy is the norm. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do it starts to sort of makes sense – and nothing and nowhere is more suited to Berlin’s 24-hour party aesthetic than Mr Ricardo Villalobos in Berghain’s Panorama Bar.
Ricardo is something of a poster boy for the sunglasses at night minimal party kids – and on arriving at the place it was a bit worrying to see the multitude of drunken trendy/pushy types sprawled all over. The path to the front door was blocked by some cops dealing with a leather jacket wearing, highly hair-cutted young party casualty (who we later saw being thrown out again by an incredibly irate and incredibly large security guard), and on entering the club my friend saw some unfortunate getting punched in the back of the head. Police and punching at Berghain? Its really not meant to be that sort of place.
Berghain is in the strange position of being one of the world’s most famous purveyors of underground club music. Few would claim that the back-to-roots-yet-updated techno of Berghain and its in house label Ostgut Ton, as pushed by Marcel Dettmann’s mix CD or Shed’s new solo album, is really a commercial sound – but it is certainly making waves within the electronic music world. Furthermore, few would argue that a club with such a strict door policy that originated out of, and still to an extent embraces, a quasi-legal men only S&M party could ever really be called mainstream.
Yet Berghain’s clubnights are legendary: the wild hedonistic activities freely engaged in within the club’s dark corners and corridors, the non-stop drug-fuelled parties, and even the menacing power station architecture all add to the mystique and excitement that surrounds the club. In a city that is famous for its techno, Berghain has become one of its leading landmarks. But under such hefty media attention and hype is the club in danger of becoming chiefly a tourist attraction, devoid of the grit and edge that first pushed it into the limelight?
Firstly, I must point out that tonight is not actually even in Berghain, but in its little sister venue the Panorama Bar. Downstairs, in Berghain, it’s a much bigger and darker affair. Pounding techno, leather, and a largely topless male crowd who’ve been coming here for years dominate. Its fun and its hardcore and really not in danger of being over run by anyone whose not suited to it –its that sort of place. However, located on the top floor of the building, the Panorama bar takes a less purist techno stance, catering for a more minimal/house/party vibe with a mixed crowed rather than downstairs’ predominantly, though certainly not exclusively, gay audience.
Ricardo is often called a minimal artist and this is primarily down to his productions –his fabric mix and recent Vasco EP testify to this, but as a DJ it is far from accurate. Sure, there are plenty of beeps and clicks but this is a far cry from Hawtin’s cold, effects-drenched technological monotony. Ricardo plays house music: deep, warm and full of love -music with trumpets, vocals, Latino drums and frequent trips into altogether more psychedelic territory. He does it with just two turntables and he drives the crowd wild.
I’m not sure what time Villalobos started –the place was a heaving mess and getting near the booth while still having a good dance was pretty unrealistic, but by 5am peak-time winners like Sis’s Trumpet and the A-side from La Pena’s newish 12” had folk going silly. He then took things a bit deeper and with extended breaks and slightly off kilter strings before releasing the much anticipated drop to mass hysteria from the floor. I’m not sure what makes him so good, whether its his track selection, creative mixing or just shear experience in making a club dance, but whatever it is everyone in the room seemed to agree: we’re having a pretty fucking great time.
After that Ricardo took a break for a while and a surprisingly fresh faced Zip hit the decks. Similar in style to Ricardo, Zip enjoyed that special time in a Berlin night when the dance floor starts to thin, when casualties go home and where a dedicated, considerate and friendly party crowd remains. And remain they did. By this time the journalist in me had switched off and the sound system (which in both Berghain and Panorama is truly outstanding) owned all. I do know that at some point Ricardo came back on and really let things go wild with very spacey yet funky rhythms twisting you up and taking you out of your mind, pushing people on in there dance-trance energy. It’s at this stage of the night that I think the true face of Berghain/panorama shows itself. It is no longer a tourist destination or a hipster hangout, though of course there are still both tourists and hipsters. It’s a place where people come to dance and celebrate. I’m reminded all the smiling sweaty faces I met of every sort imaginable: an equally heavily tattooed father and daughter lounging and talking in the smoking area; a British dubstep producer raving about his first visit to Berlin; a beautiful Brazilian designer inviting me to an afterparty and an excitable Romanian festival promoter I met the night before at a riverside party with Philip Sherburne. This is really what makes the club special – not hyped up hipster hysteria, drunk on the idea of the hedonistic legend of the place and the DJ, but the people who were actually still there at 2:30 Saturday afternoon, dancing. Ricardo did us proud, as, I think, we did him.
A Night in Berlin
Ricardo Villalobos @ Panorama Bar 5/9/08
There’s a funny way of going about things in Berlin. Glaswegians like to party -but here they just don’t stop, and nobody seems to want to stop them. Having a wee nap before heading out around 4am is perfectly acceptable and a ‘midnight-open end’ door policy is the norm. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do it starts to sort of makes sense – and nothing and nowhere is more suited to Berlin’s 24-hour party aesthetic than Mr Ricardo Villalobos in Berghain’s Panorama Bar.
Ricardo is something of a poster boy for the sunglasses at night minimal party kids – and on arriving at the place it was a bit worrying to see the multitude of drunken trendy/pushy types sprawled all over. The path to the front door was blocked by some cops dealing with a leather jacket wearing, highly hair-cutted young party casualty (who we later saw being thrown out again by an incredibly irate and incredibly large security guard), and on entering the club my friend saw some unfortunate getting punched in the back of the head. Police and punching at Berghain? Its really not meant to be that sort of place.
Berghain is in the strange position of being one of the world’s most famous purveyors of underground club music. Few would claim that the back-to-roots-yet-updated techno of Berghain and its in house label Ostgut Ton, as pushed by Marcel Dettmann’s mix CD or Shed’s new solo album, is really a commercial sound – but it is certainly making waves within the electronic music world. Furthermore, few would argue that a club with such a strict door policy that originated out of, and still to an extent embraces, a quasi-legal men only S&M party could ever really be called mainstream.
Yet Berghain’s clubnights are legendary: the wild hedonistic activities freely engaged in within the club’s dark corners and corridors, the non-stop drug-fuelled parties, and even the menacing power station architecture all add to the mystique and excitement that surrounds the club. In a city that is famous for its techno, Berghain has become one of its leading landmarks. But under such hefty media attention and hype is the club in danger of becoming chiefly a tourist attraction, devoid of the grit and edge that first pushed it into the limelight?
Firstly, I must point out that tonight is not actually even in Berghain, but in its little sister venue the Panorama Bar. Downstairs, in Berghain, it’s a much bigger and darker affair. Pounding techno, leather, and a largely topless male crowd who’ve been coming here for years dominate. Its fun and its hardcore and really not in danger of being over run by anyone whose not suited to it –its that sort of place. However, located on the top floor of the building, the Panorama bar takes a less purist techno stance, catering for a more minimal/house/party vibe with a mixed crowed rather than downstairs’ predominantly, though certainly not exclusively, gay audience.
Ricardo is often called a minimal artist and this is primarily down to his productions –his fabric mix and recent Vasco EP testify to this, but as a DJ it is far from accurate. Sure, there are plenty of beeps and clicks but this is a far cry from Hawtin’s cold, effects-drenched technological monotony. Ricardo plays house music: deep, warm and full of love -music with trumpets, vocals, Latino drums and frequent trips into altogether more psychedelic territory. He does it with just two turntables and he drives the crowd wild.
I’m not sure what time Villalobos started –the place was a heaving mess and getting near the booth while still having a good dance was pretty unrealistic, but by 5am peak-time winners like Sis’s Trumpet and the A-side from La Pena’s newish 12” had folk going silly. He then took things a bit deeper and with extended breaks and slightly off kilter strings before releasing the much anticipated drop to mass hysteria from the floor. I’m not sure what makes him so good, whether its his track selection, creative mixing or just shear experience in making a club dance, but whatever it is everyone in the room seemed to agree: we’re having a pretty fucking great time.
After that Ricardo took a break for a while and a surprisingly fresh faced Zip hit the decks. Similar in style to Ricardo, Zip enjoyed that special time in a Berlin night when the dance floor starts to thin, when casualties go home and where a dedicated, considerate and friendly party crowd remains. And remain they did. By this time the journalist in me had switched off and the sound system (which in both Berghain and Panorama is truly outstanding) owned all. I do know that at some point Ricardo came back on and really let things go wild with very spacey yet funky rhythms twisting you up and taking you out of your mind, pushing people on in there dance-trance energy. It’s at this stage of the night that I think the true face of Berghain/panorama shows itself. It is no longer a tourist destination or a hipster hangout, though of course there are still both tourists and hipsters. It’s a place where people come to dance and celebrate. I’m reminded all the smiling sweaty faces I met of every sort imaginable: an equally heavily tattooed father and daughter lounging and talking in the smoking area; a British dubstep producer raving about his first visit to Berlin; a beautiful Brazilian designer inviting me to an afterparty and an excitable Romanian festival promoter I met the night before at a riverside party with Philip Sherburne. This is really what makes the club special – not hyped up hipster hysteria, drunk on the idea of the hedonistic legend of the place and the DJ, but the people who were actually still there at 2:30 Saturday afternoon, dancing. Ricardo did us proud, as, I think, we did him.
Monday, 1 September 2008
hey, here are some pictures my sister took while she was here:
(me looking like a spaz by the east side gallery)
(thats like where watergate is, and thats pretty cool)
(thats Brandenburger Tor its pretty famous and shit)
(Thats me (looking like a spaz) wandering through the jewish war memorial thing which is actually very good. if you come make me show you it)
(thats a delapidated former seat of power which has a pretty funny story that i'm too drunk to type right now.... make me tell you if you come here.
all for now. but i think i'll be posting a mix tomorrow which will show you what filthy berlin has done to meeeeeeee.
(me looking like a spaz by the east side gallery)
(thats like where watergate is, and thats pretty cool)
(thats Brandenburger Tor its pretty famous and shit)
(Thats me (looking like a spaz) wandering through the jewish war memorial thing which is actually very good. if you come make me show you it)
(thats a delapidated former seat of power which has a pretty funny story that i'm too drunk to type right now.... make me tell you if you come here.all for now. but i think i'll be posting a mix tomorrow which will show you what filthy berlin has done to meeeeeeee.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
hey ho
had my sister staying for a few days which has been lovely, fooding, boozing and exploring. got to take her around and pretend like i know the place, which she humoured rather well i think. last weekend was pretty epic - spent most of it in berghain again think i got to see radioslave and redshape which was pretty fucking great -though i must admit i can't remember radioslave all that well... then on sunday there was a big free techno festival in the park just around the corner from me so i went on to that which, although it was rainy, was super fun and hada great vibe -there were loads of families and children playing around as the adults grooved to the housemusic, currywurst and cheep beer. man i love this town.
going to have a quiet week as i finally am making some progress making music and doing some writing -its certainly not great but it feels good to be doing some.
as to work it looks really unlikely, so current plan is coming back mid october to save up and apply to loads of internships starting over here in april, so fingers crossed...
i get to see villalobos for pretty much all of next weekend so i'm staying in till then - so so so excited! then jas is coming here 9th-19 so that'll be a ball. happy days.
going to have a quiet week as i finally am making some progress making music and doing some writing -its certainly not great but it feels good to be doing some.
as to work it looks really unlikely, so current plan is coming back mid october to save up and apply to loads of internships starting over here in april, so fingers crossed...
i get to see villalobos for pretty much all of next weekend so i'm staying in till then - so so so excited! then jas is coming here 9th-19 so that'll be a ball. happy days.
Thursday, 21 August 2008
updates
Drinking: Sternburg Export (€o.60 get in!); rum and coke from lidle and wonderful "Mexican Libre" Coctails from a bar called Cake in Kruezberg.
Reading: Henry Miller, William Boyd and the internet.
Travel: old rickety bicycle no.1
Dancing: In Berghain to stuff that sounds like this
watching: I watched Wall-E the other day. it was crap. going to see batman (finally) this weekend.
Missing: the halt bar and all inhabitants there of. Also family and any friends who don't happen to have a drinking problem. and english
Doing: Job hunting (bad); friend making (hard, but getting there); Deejaying (hells yeah); writing (only when drunk, dude - i suck); trying to learn german; getting lost on my bycicle as explore this lovely city; clubbing; sleeping; not sleeping; clubbing. Starting to make my own tracks as well but its a slow process and i don't really have all the stuff i need here. how much would it cost to shipp over my midi keyboard do you think?
eating: badly; sandwhiches, eggs, cereal and kebabs. the kebabs here KICK ASS by the way
well, yeah so life's clicking on by here. work seems next to impossible but i have prospects of a 6 month internship with Get Physical starting in april -so if i get that i'll probably come back to glasgow and work my ass of until then, which would work really well i think. cool. so yeah, let me know what you guys are up to? Also i started posting on conetoaster again if you need some new tunes
charlie x
Saturday, 16 August 2008
superstardj
hey so you should all come over to berlin on my birthday as me and liam are throwing a hijack vs throb night in a gallery. oh yeah. we just need to work out what we're doing and how we're going to get folk to come along to it but fuck,
Throb Hijacks RGB, 26th September @RGB Berlin
Throb Hijacks RGB, 26th September @RGB Berlin
Thursday, 14 August 2008
lost on a bike in berlin
yeah so wow.. that took a long time.
was down in kreuzberg showing emma a few trendy bars. took my bike down all cool and that made sure she was on the right way home. step on my usual tram to avoid a big hill lost concentration for a bit then BAMB i'm in the middle of nowhere and too drunk to use a map properly. fuck i was just flying three sheets to the wind trying to find my way home. trip should have taken just under 20mins. fucking two hours later I'm home sipping a berr and not looking forwards to school tomorrow.
in my defence the tram did say M10 on it and i wasnt the only one confused when it went the wrong way. bastards.
i did get to see the sun set from the roof at weekend though, so that was nice.
was down in kreuzberg showing emma a few trendy bars. took my bike down all cool and that made sure she was on the right way home. step on my usual tram to avoid a big hill lost concentration for a bit then BAMB i'm in the middle of nowhere and too drunk to use a map properly. fuck i was just flying three sheets to the wind trying to find my way home. trip should have taken just under 20mins. fucking two hours later I'm home sipping a berr and not looking forwards to school tomorrow.
in my defence the tram did say M10 on it and i wasnt the only one confused when it went the wrong way. bastards.
i did get to see the sun set from the roof at weekend though, so that was nice.
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