Electro und Techno Clubs in Berlin

All the electro clubs in Berlin, the capital of Germany’s techno clubs, the place to be for nightlife, the city of culture for the alternative scene, world city in terms of science.

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Nightlife in Berlin – partying until the early hours of the morningIt is 
no longer a secret that this lively metropolis does not sleep at night. Hip scales can be found in almost every district, with Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain being the biggest hotspots. Zur Letzten Instanz on Parochialstraße and Ritter Butzke on Ritterstraße are trendy places to go out in Berlin. A great place to discover techno nightlife is the Club der Visionäre in Kreuzberg, not far from the legendary Warschauer Straße. 
The prices on the spots vary a lot. Admission varies from nothing in small clubs and dance bars to over €50 for a concert by a well-known band. In most cases, the entrance fee is between € 10 and € 15. Sometimes you can get a beer for €2. On average, going out here is not expensive and you will certainly spend less money here than in other Western European capitals.

A former railway depot, the RAW, has been transformed into a unique place. There are several rooms with live music and frequent parties. You can also relax in the beer garden or watch a film in the open-air cinema. If you still have energy left, you can choose between ice skating or climbing the former water tower.

If you still don’t want to go to bed early in the morning, you can drop by the Golden Gate. In this 24-hour club you can party all night long to the finest techno electro and they have a great rooftop bar at the same time. Another brilliant rooftop bar is the House of Weekend.

Watergate shaped the Berlin techno scene and was one of the driving forces behind the rise of minimal in Berlin in the early 2000s. The infamous temple and label is also known for being the first club with LED lights mounted on the ceiling. A dance floor with international appeal, it is located right at the foot of the Oberbaumbrücke. The door policy is sometimes strict and large groups rarely get in. For electronic music lovers, Watergate is an essential destination thanks to an impeccable booking policy that attracts cream-of-the-crop DJs from international labels every weekend. It is known for the view of the Spree and the riverside terrace, secondly for the colourful light ceiling and thirdly for the great programme with international DJs.

It is considered one of the most beautiful and not only because of its magical location on the river. This tricked-out electro-temple spans two floors; the main floor features an LED ceiling installation that spins in its head, and the water floor below. 
The interior of the groundbreaking venue spans two levels overlooking the Spree River. 
Both floors feature floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows that offer views of Universal Music’s headquarters and the Oberbaumbrücke with its imaginative towers and turrets. 
With a mix of amazing light shows and pounding house techno, it’s a great place for locals and tourists to dance until dawn. A beautiful location, great sound and decor and the best electro DJs in the world ensure that Watergate is at the top of party lists. 
In summer, you can dance under the stars on a pontoon anchored directly in the river. 
There’s hardly a better place to watch the sunrise than from the floating dance floor of this riverside ambience.

There are several locations in the vicinity of Lohmühleninsel: Club der Visionäre, Freischwimmer, Badeschiff, Birgit und Bier or the Arena and Festsaal Kreuzberg. They are all not far from Treptower Park, a place where East meets West; a huge park that you can walk through for hours. Before you enter the greener parts, you must see the huge Soviet Monument.
The structure really stands out from the more conventional western public art. As you enter, you are greeted by two huge stone arched gates, very minimal, very dramatic, very Soviet! This park is the greatest landmark of Soviet influence in East Berlin, offering the viewer striking communist imagery to ponder. 
Towards Lichtenberg is the Sisyphos, this electronic area has a large area with a truck and a bonfire where open-air parties are held regularly. It is located in an old dog biscuit factory, which means there is plenty of space. A party at Sisyphos is not for the faint-hearted! It starts on Friday and only lasts until Monday morning! Like many of the best and most illusive nightspots, this sprawling space in Rummelsburg has a no-picture policy and you get a sticker to put over your phone camera when you enter. It has made a name for itself for its many open-air dance floors and plenty of outdoor space to create a festive atmosphere! The regular festivals here are also worth the trip to Rummelsburg! If you think you can handle it, it’s worth the try.

The Tresor, housed in an old bank vault on Potsdamer Platz, was one of the first clubs to spring up after the fall of the Wall. Like many other places, it had to close when property prices skyrocketed and a wave of development swept through the city after the turn of the millennium. Today, the Mall of Berlin is located at the same address. 
As its had to move and is now housed in an old factory, albeit now as part of a huge power plant owned by the Swedish energy company Vattenfall, you will experience an underground atmosphere. Tresor is an absolute concept in the worldwide scene. 
There are two dance floors, with heavy bass played in the basement by
 a DJ behind a grill. 
If you are not averse to some solid beats, then you should definitely be there.

Like so many locations, Kater Blau was born under a different name. Originally known as „Bar 25“, it gained international attention until 2010 due to the quality of its house DJs: later it became known as „Kater Holzig“ and finally reopened in 2014 under its current name. 
Located on the banks of the Spree, this club is best enjoyed in summer, as it has a large outdoor area that includes a boat deck. The bouncers are also notoriously picky about who they let in.

But if you’re a true clubber and techno fan, there’s only one place you need to visit – the world-famous and infamous Berghain. 
Massive, mythical and sometimes monstrously difficult to get into , the converted powerhouse Berghain lives up to its worldwide reputation and carries the torch for Berlin’s immortal heritage.
It is notorious for having one of the strictest door policies ever. The upstairs Panorama Bar offers house music to a diet of minimal and Detroit in the cavernous main room, with SUB:STANCE dubstep nights and the regular Thursday „electroacoustic“ session adding an experimental edge. Party with people flying in from all over the world just to enter this world-famous club, but it makes for one hell of a party!

Extremely liberal, disorienting, brutal and beautiful at the same time, Berghain remains justifiably popular and comes close to the uninhibited European clubbing that American film producers dream of. You might even catch a celebrity or two partying incognito – Lady Gaga was spotted here when she was last in town.

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Techno Berlin – History

Techno is a genre of electronic music that originated in the USA in the mid-1980s. It is mostly composed in home studios and reinterpreted by disc jockeys at parties, but is primarily dance music and repetitive. Techno emerged in parallel with house music in Chicago, but was even more inspired by electro and new wave, as well as soul, funk and futuristic musical themes that were prevalent in popular culture, especially in industrial America at the end of the Cold War. In the 1990s, thanks to the reception of Detroit artists, it developed into a proper musical culture in England and especially in Germany. Stylistically, it is mostly repetitive instrumental music, often produced for mix sets. The specialist press and connoisseurs of techno music sometimes use the term differently to describe tech house and trance music. Techno“ is often confused with the other general terms electronic music and dance music.

History and origins

Kraftwerk in 1976 at a concert in Zurich, Switzerland. The 
city of Detroit has a particularly rich musical past, symbolised 
above all by the Motown label, which made the city the epicentre of soul and funk in the USA between 1959 and 1971. The pioneers acknowledge this heritage, but also point out that some European bands played a decisive role, first and foremost the German band Kraftwerk. The American engineer Robert Moog and his classmate Wendy Carlos also made an important contribution, among other things through the sound experiments they introduced in 1968 with the album Switched-On Bach.In France, a musician like Richard Pinhas displayed a disconcerting modernity from 1974 onwards with his electronic „variations“. The German band Kraftwerk, formed in 1970, is rightly cited as the decisive influence of the artists who produced the as such. Kraftwerk’s entire discography was a worldwide success8 , but two records in particular stand for the band’s importance in the emergence of techno. The first was Autobahn, taken from the album of the same name, released in November 1974, which in its 22 minutes already reveals most of the musical elements of the later sound. The next album was Trans Europe Express from 1977 , with which Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson came into contact via the radio programme Midnight Funk Association, hosted by Charles „The Electrifying Mojo“ Johnson between 1977 and 1980, which among other things played Trans Europe Express in full, or the track Spacelab from The Man-Machine, whose introduction contains a very fast beat that was rarely achieved at that time. Juan Atkins at the DEMF in the USA in 2007.

When Atkins, May and Saunderson, three friends called „The Belleville Three“ after the high school where they met, listened to The Electrifying Mojo, they came into contact not only with Kraftwerk, but also with Giorgio Moroder, Tangerine Dream, Yello and many other artists of this great European avant-garde, not to mention American artists such as Prince, Sylvester (and his mixer Patrick Cowley), The B-52’s or George Clinton, as well as the entire catalogue of Motown. Atkins, May and Saunderson all three cite the Midnight Funk Association programme as the catalyst for the production of this new music, soon to be called techno, and Atkins adds that he heard in Kraftwerk the concrete musical expression of the emerging electronic age. In terms of history, it was the formation of the duo Cybotron in which Atkins brought together all the influences he had received from The Electrifying Mojo and created music that, while still close to that of Kraftwerk, distanced itself from it, particularly through the final departure from song structure (introduction, then verses, then chorus).

Techno was symbolically born in 1985 when Atkins founded the independent label Metroplex, which was followed by the labels Transmat (May 1986) and KMS (1987, Saunderson). While Atkins‘ music always remained very cerebral, May and Saunderson gave the genre its explicitly danceable and festive character. The sounds played on daily radio broadcasts or at more confidential parties in Detroit high school clubs became music for gatherings and parties, but its success, long confined to its hometown, did not yet bastardise it. A few more formal clubs emerged, including the Music Institute in downtown Detroit, which was founded by May and others.
The club didn’t last long, but it became internationally known thanks to its DJs who played all night and its bar that served only fruit juices and smart drinks (non-alcoholic beverages). At the Music Institute, for example, a Richie Hawtin made his first experiences. 
From Detroit to Berlin Kevin Saunderson in Melbourne, Australia (2006). 
Music producers generally use the term „techno“ from 1984 with the piece Techno City by Cybotron. Sporadic references to a poorly defined „techno-pop“ can be found in the music press only in the mid-1980s. But it was not until the release of the compilation The New Dance Sound of Detroit on the Virgin label in 1988 that the word began to take on the official meaning we know today. However, it goes back to the German DJ and record shop owner Talla 2XLC (en), who used it to describe a music genre in his shop as early as 1982.

Incidentally, his music group Moskwa TV (en) was one of the bands featured in the Midnight Funk Association programme. In retrospect, works such as the track ShareVari by A Number of Names (1981), the early works of Cybotron (1981), the Giorgio Moroder-produced track I Feel Love by Donna Summer (1977) and the danceable tracks from Kraftwerk’s repertoire (between 1977 and 1983 are referred to as techno and later, in relation to A Number of Names and Cybotron, as electro.

These disco-electro tracks shared with tech-no the intrinsic use of electronic rhythms and their popularity on dance floors.In the years following the release of the compilation The New Dance Sound of Detroit, this music was described by the dance music press as the house equivalent of Detroit, which had a high-tech sound with more mechanics. Although the music emerged in different and independent contexts, it was based on the same structures as the house music that emerged at the same time in Chicago, although the latter had more to do with soul, was more sober and was stylistically more like disco. Moreover, house was much earlier and much more successful outside the city where it originated, so this mixing was done to the detriment.

Music producers of the time, especially Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, admitted that they were fascinated by the Chicago scene and influenced by house in particular. This influence is particularly evident in the tracks on the compilation The New Dance Sound of Detroit, as well as in many of the compositions and remixes they produced between 1988 and 1992. Derrick May’s classic Strings of Life (released under the pseudonym Rhythim Is Rhythim), for example, is considered a classic of both house and techno music. It is also obvious that house music has experienced influences from techno music.

Tresor, underground club in Berlin, Germany. 
It was seen by its founders (and by producers who began to take an interest in it) as a crystallisation of a certain fear of the post-industrial future and an anger at the growing insecurity it generated. This philosophy accompanied him as he expanded into Europe in the late 1980s, particularly in Berlin (via the club and label Tresor) and Manchester (via Haçienda), whose socio-economic backgrounds were not dissimilar to Detroit.
Initially, hard uncompromising bass was brought to the fore by these clubs, which – by adapting to the tastes of the audience in the design of their parties and selecting disc jockeys who played innovative and eclectic music – were able to provide a favourable environment for the development of the local scene of this dance music. As these clubs grew in popularity, DJ groups began to band together, offering their mixing talents and sound system (under names such as Direct Drive and Audio Mix) to bring an ever-growing audience to hear their music. In places as diverse as church halls, disused warehouses, offices and YMCA auditoriums, a crowd of young people gathered to see this genre of music emerge. May describes the Detroit vibe as „the meeting of Kraftwerk and George Clinton stuck in a lift with only a sequencer to keep them company.“

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The German scene
Germany’s involvement with American underground music in the 1980s coincided with that in Britain. In 1987, a German party inspired by the Chicago sound established itself. The following year (1988), acid house became massively popular among Germans.

In 1989, German disc jockeys Westbam and Dr. Motte founded the Ufo Club, an illegal party co-founded by Love Parade17. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, underground parties mushroomed in East Berlin, as did a rave scene comparable to that in the UK. Paul van Dyk notes the great influence that created social links between West and East Germany.In 1991, numerous parties became popular, including the Ufo Club, and the Berlin techno scene centred itself in three different locations: Planet (later renamed E-Werk by Paul van Dyk), Der Bunker (stronghold of the Berlin gabber scene), and Tresor. At this time, DJs increased the intensity and speed of the sound that later became hardcore. DJ Tanith comments at this time that „Berlin has always been hardcore“, hippie hardcore, punk hardcore and now a hardcore house sound.

Bởi <a rel=“nofollow“ class=“external text“ href=“https://www.flickr.com/people/43846837@N00″>m.a.r.c.</a> from Berlin – <a rel=“nofollow“ class=“external text“ href=“https://www.flickr.com/photos/mabi/147736558/“>Acid ist fertig</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0, Liên kết

This emerging sound is said to be influenced by Dutch Gabber and Belgian Hardcore. Other influences on the development of this style include Electronic Body Music (EBM) bands in the early 1980s such as DAF, Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb.Development of the musical phenomenonLove Parade in Berlin, Germany (1998). Its 
spread outside its hometown was mainly through Tresor in Berlin, which emerged as the European embassy of Detroit techno, both as a label and a club. Tresor was also where many newer German artists like Ellen Allien started. Berlin was the first city to launch the Love Parade in 1989 (a parade of techno music floats that attracted hundreds of thousands of people within a few years). In 1992, the Street Parade in Zurich (Switzerland) followed, in 1997 Paris with the Parade and a few years later other European cities.

Following this popular boom, other local scenes emerged all over Germany, e.g. in Frankfurt, where the DJ Sven Väth founded the Omen, and others in Munich, Hamburg and Cologne.In England, the first Detroit artists performed from the late 1980s onwards at the l’Haçienda in Manchester, a post-industrial city whose abandoned atmosphere was reminiscent of Detroit. Since then, many other have sprung up, such as Ministry Of Sound or Fabric in London, founded by Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie and inaugurated in 1999. In France, the genre first conquered Parisian nightclubs, starting with the Queen, the Rex and later the Pulp and the Scorpion. The Rex was the first „headquarters“ of DJs such as Laurent Garnier and Scan X.In Eastern Europe, the scene became very active, including the Ukrainian disc jockey Miss Monique, who is considered the most recognised female artist in the progressive house subgenre in Europe.

Production

Laurent Garnier at the Audioriver Festival (6 and 8 August 2010, in Płock, Poland). 
The development of such a song is mainly done by adding or removing sound tracks, following a cycle of four (or a multiple of four) bars. Techno is characterised by an abundance of drums, synthesised sounds and studio-generated effects to a steady rhythm (4/4) that usually varies between 120 and 140 beats per minute25. The 
analogue instruments used by the pioneers of Detroit techno include drum machines such as the Roland TR-808 and the TR-909.

By <a rel=“nofollow“ class=“external text“ href=“https://www.flickr.com/photos/54581307@N00″>Brandon Daniel</a> – originally posted to <a href=“//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Flickr“ class=“mw-redirect“ title=“Flickr“>Flickr</a> as <a rel=“nofollow“ class=“external text“ href=“https://www.flickr.com/photos/54581307@N00/3297373483″>808 and 909</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

In the original Detroit sound, the melody and the bass line are given a lot of space in most compositions, but they are no longer the essential elements of this music, as is the case with other dance music. Often one comes across pieces of music in which they are omitted altogether. Tekkno music is particularly well suited to disc jockeying because it is mainly instrumental and is produced for continuous incorporation into a musical section consisting of various compositions woven together in long, synchronised sequences. Although other dance music can also be described in these terms, it has a sound of its own that makes it very easily recognisable to its aficionados.

The recording studio and home studio used by music composers may consist of a single computer (which is increasingly the case these days) or several keyboards, synthesizers, samplers, effects processors and a mixing desk, all linked together. Although most scene musicians use a variety of equipment and excel at creating never-before-heard sounds and rhythms, they quite often seem to stay within stylistic boundaries set by contemporaries, resulting in a plethora of sub-genres (see list of electronic music genres). There are many different ways of making techno music, but typically the use of a compositional technique derived from electronic instruments, especially sequencers.

Although this technique can be said to have its roots in Western structural elements (speaking of scales, rhythm, metre and, more generally, the role played by each instrument), it can be said to differ from traditional approaches to composition, such as supporting the notational system, the tonal system and melody, or the creation of accompanying voices. Some of the most striking pieces can be reduced to the ingenious use of the drum machine in interaction with various types of reverb and frequency filters, mixed in such a way that one no longer knows where the timbre of the instrument ends and the various effects begin.

Instead of traditional compositional techniques, the computer musician (often producer, for that matter) uses the electronic studio as if it were one large and very complex musical instrument: an orchestra of interconnected machines, each capable of producing both familiar and alien timbres. Originally, each machine was used to create the repetitive and continuous sound patterns it produced by default, according to the capabilities and limitations of early sequencers. Rather than reproducing the arrangements that can be achieved with performers, the techno musician is free to assemble unreal combinations of sounds. However, many musicians strive to create a realistic/unrealistic balance of arrangements and timbres that facilitate dancing and listening, rather than demonstrating all the extremes made possible by his machines.

Once the musician has worked through this palette of textures, he begins the work again, this time focusing not on developing new textures but on arranging them. Depending on how they are connected, they can influence each other as the layers of sound are built up (e.g. first syncopated, then in rhythmic harmony), and the musician can capture all this at the mixing desk. He does this with the help of the mixer and the sequencer, bringing the different layers of sound to the fore or away from them, playing with the effects to make them more or less hypnotic or to create more or less driving combinations. The result is a deconstructive manipulation of sound that in a way owes as much to Claude Debussy and the futurist Luigi Russolo as it does to Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. 
Electronic instruments allow for a different approach to composition, no longer based on a „simple“ expression of harmony, but on a progression of grain, resonance and filtering of sounds that evolve as the pieces progress. Derrick May says: „Just like Detroit, techno is a complete misnomer. It’s as if George Clinton and Kraftwerk got stuck in a lift“.

Misuse
The term „techno“ is derived from the word „technology“. This music was long marginalised by mass culture advocates, especially in the US, in part because its American musicians and producers were black. The historical similarities of the jazz and rock ’n‘ roll movements from an ethnic perspective were often discussed by fans and musicians. In England and France, too, computer music was marginalised for years and often associated with rave and later free parties and the use of psychotropic drugs. On the other hand, it revolutionised the music world through its free and anti-commercial side: Jeff Mills refuses to sign with a major label to this day, and the symbolic Detroit label is actually called Underground Resistance.

Since its founding in 1989, this label has always emphasised self-sufficient and independent music production and a claimed anonymity at the expense of commercial success. Some DJs wanted to break up the musical „star system“ by playing hidden from their listeners. Daft Punk, for example, preserved this spirit for a long time by not wanting to appear in their music videos.

The term „techno“, which has become politically correct and has been appropriated by the music industry, is later misused indiscriminately for all electronic dance music. Trade journalists and aficionados of the genre are generally cautious about using the term, concerned that it might be confused with the other, very different styles of electronic music. Currently, the label electro tends to replace in the major media what the term techno denoted for the general public, no doubt due to the very strong 1990s imprint on the latter and also due to the complexity of this style of music, both in the limits of its definition and in its methods of creation.

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