Mr. Oizo and Boys Noize @ Ritter Butzke

Last night was fucking ill. Mr. Oizo got me off big time. I still think he was highlight of the show. Maybe it’s because I didn’t expect the “Flat Eric” guy to rip such nasty beats. Or maybe it was Ritter Butzke, packed with electroheads dripping sweat on every inch of their pulsating bodies. Whatever it was Mr. Oizo and Boys Noize made me dance till the lights came out on the pure thrill of sounds (I had one drink at 11pm, I wasn’t even remotely tipsy!). The fact that BN didn’t bust out “Nott” was a fair disappointment. I thought he was keeping it for the end, so around 5am I got up on the speaker on standby for MY FUCKING TRACK. Shit was so unsafe considering I fainted in a Bikhram Yoga class due to the heat. So I’m up on my elevated position, on the edge of a 4-feet-tall box of bass, and I busting out until the end of his set. And I’m witnessing the biggest insanity ever. I mean I was up in Panaroma Bar at Berghain so the shit there was still on a tame level for Berlin. I was NOT tame last night. The place was packed until behind the DJ where people were fucking to his remixed rendition of “trooper.” The fornicators where in every corner. In the middle of the room, a small group of people seemed to have made themselves a bit more place than everyone else and were shaking the sweat off of their heads with every head-bang.

Don Rimini @ Icon Club, Berlin

For hard electro, look no further than Paris. More specifically, DON RIMINI. Now of course, I would have a biased preference for anyone referring to themselves as "Don," but when I heard one song of his on his Myspace page, the fucking bass was juiced up the max and I was hooked. I listen to more of his shit and it was cool, by far the best one is still Kung Fu. His live set though, was OFF THE HOOK. Unfortunately, I was attacked by a mob of 20-year-old crackheads who were jumping around like they won the freaking lottery. Also, some DJ called Marvin Snuggs to whose set I had been dancing to for an hour really depressed me when he said he didn't like electro so I left.

True Berlin sound

I know I haven't written a single blog since I recently moved to Berlin. I have been going out, but I'm usually going to clubs where the music, albeit fantastic, is not promoted. No DJ names or shit like that. Then again, I also have met a couple DJ that were awesome, but I was either to lazy to music blog (since I now have a regular Berlin blog), or was too busy moving around (3 times!) or I had no internet. But now I am back and I will start this Berlin edition of Music recommendation with Len Faki. I don't know if any of the New Yorkers who read this blog will be able to appreciate this sound, but it is a perfect fit with the Berlin underground techno scene. It somehow just fits in the industrial surroundings of the clubs here. I haven't found a torrent of his, I can't download any of his shit on Limewire, the only thing I can offer is his MySpace page, but if you let it play, and turn up the volume, and picture yourself in Berghain... Welcome to Berlin!

Sensational New Year

New Year's Eve. The biggest party of the year. The party that's worth a $1,000 in costumes, entrances fee and titillating substances is also the night with the biggest pressure to have fun. Despite a few setbacks and a questionable health on my part, the night was a success. I wouldn't exactly say the music blew my mind (to be quite honest, nothing has since I love Techno...) I mean the night was danceable. It was very danceable. It would have been even better, had I been able to drink a full vodka&RedBull (damn you, PANCREAS!) But the whole affair was impressive. It's safe to say that a sober person can enjoy this shit to the end. The amount of care that's put into the decor is amazing. If they paired that with some, er ... riskier djs, the night would have been perfect. But unfortunately, Sander van Doorn and Eric E were the only ones to really take the cake. Laidback Luke should be shot for plagiarism. The man only spun remixes from other Djs... the most obvious case was the remix of Thunderstruck. I mean, I was fine when he spun bonkers... cause I mean I love that shit... but then why are you acting so busy turning buttons and reverbs... just have a cigarette and a gin & tonic!

But I must admit... the countdown was a pretty impressive sight. They blasted our ears with explosions but we were all adrenaline-pumping at that point. Goof job!

Sound of Stereo. Get it in Dolby, Baby!

I was postponing this entry till today because I was hoping I could catch the Belgian electro duo in Brussels last night. I wasn't able to make it. But I've been itching to share their new EP with you! It's called Zipper and the track title "Zipper" is off the fucking hook. It's an instant dancing it. They played the Petrol club not too long ago and they really drove me the crowd insane. "Button" is equally sick. Velcro is essentially a smooth continuation of the two (not on youtube but on their MySpace). I highly recommend getting the EP, not only is it worth it, you're supporting music from my country!

Groove City Festival (Brussels, BE)

8 p.m. I got there spanking early. There were barely 30 people on site. I remembered I ❤ Techno at 7 p.m. was already pumping. The rooms weren't packed but there was a decent vibe going on. The few people here hadn't quite warmed up yet. I was flipping though. I still had no contact whatsoever from my Parisian friends. They came over to Belgium just for this party. Little by little, the place started filling up. I checked out a bunch of the rooms they had. I even went to the drum n' bass lounge just to see what kind of set up they have. Truth be told, unless it's played in a deep Prague underground club or at Cross Club (also in Prague), I don't enjoy drum n' bass. Their electro room was rather small and unpopulated, so I didn't linger there either. So far I dug the light and sound of the techno room, so I stuck around. The place was the most crowded of all the rooms. at 9 p.m., Sebastien Leger came on. He's a French house/techno DJ from Paris. I could tell he had quite the following already because the place had doubled in capacity. I made a quick stop at the House lodge for a second time and concluded that the music there was not my type. It wasn't making me groove. So I went back to Sebastien Leger while waiting for my friends. They really trekked here for their favorite act, James Holden. And it seemed the whole crowd was crazy about the London-based spinner. I've never seen an audience strike back like they did last night. People going up to dance on stage and there was no security to stop them. Sometimes, a crew of the DJ would mention to the guy to get off, but it was totally amicable. If someone so much as made a move towards the stage in NYC, that person would have been dragged out onto the street by the rogue security crew. Here, it felt homey. Friendly, almost. It was as if we were all just attending one big house party. The Frenchies arrived for their beloved act, and we were grooving further to the prodigal beats of German DJ Sven Väth. (He doesn't have a myspace account and there are no uploaded videos of last night's performance but here are two excerpts from last year's groove city ). We couldn't even finish his performance. We were dead. We needed to sit down, walk around, do something besides dancing. Weather permitting. And last night, the weather was not permitting anything. It was raining a river. So we took refuge in the house lodge. We caught the end of Bob Sinclair's super commercial mix. It was really sad. That man sucks live. David Vendetta however, came to save the show. There was fight starting up at my left and my friends were recuperating close to me at my right. And the music suddenly hit me. I don't understand how I suddenly managed to move again, but I was dancing. As the music got better, I kept giving it harder. It came to a point where my brain no longer controlled what I was doing. I had no idea my body could or would move like that. People around me probably thought I was on some new miraculous dancing drug (not the case). The man and his violinist just tore it up with a electric violin rendition of small town boy, MGMT's "Kids," "Seven Nation Army" and "Sweet Dreams." No videos of last night are up on youtube yet, but I asked a girl who filmed the entire cathartic finale to put it on youtube. Waiting to relive that magical moment!

Sure Thing! Surkin is on my Saturday night playlist!

I know I'm a bad sport. I hate to admit it when French DJ's are awesome. Now I am presenting Surkin, a small French prodigy, despite my reservations. See the thing is... I love France. I love their music, I love their movies, I love their culture, I even love their super-strict education system which I was a prisoner of for 15 years. But they get on my NERVES when they try to use my open-mindedness about the world's greatest dj's against Belgium's ability to throw the sickest raves on the planet! But, if I'm going to let them gloat, I may as well use this dude, who was man enough to produce this sick remix of boys noise's "Don't Believe The Hype." Naturally, he has created equally, if not superior mixes of his own, like the uber vibing White Knight Two. Though I hated David Guetta's track "Sexy Bitch" for marking his demise into pop music, Surkin's Hoes Get Down proves that you can put the word "Ho" in the title of the track, and repeated it throughout the number and NOT turn it into techno from the ghetto. "Gangsta's" and "Homies" have hip-hop and rap. Leave the electro to the European kids!