Just one day left untill the Institute Party in Berlin and we are all really excited about it. This time we collaborate with the guys from the action comitee for neuronal enhancement (A.K.N.E.) and the party will take part at both floors of marvellous Levee-Club, which has become one of my personal favourite clubs in Berlin so far, because of its wonderful atmosphere and the damned good speakers there. We will feature some exhibitions and video-screenings by young Berlin artist as well as some stuff by Institute-members from Athens and decoration by Totalumbau, who allready did a great job at the first A.K.N.E.-Party last year at Raum18. As musicians we invited some of our favourite Live-Acts and Dj´s ranging from more experimental stuff to highly danceable housemusic. The opening of the upper floor will be done by Affaire Zweifuss, who you may remember from the artist-feature or his exclusive-mix, we had on the blog. He will be followed by Dr.Nojoke, who plays an special 2h-Clikno-live-set and has prepared a lot of new, unheard stuff for the Party. After the Doctor, The Marx Trukker will start playing one of his unique, analog Acid- live-sets. You can check an interview we had with him some months ago here. The next one will be Funkenström, who is well known for catchy, housy live-sets and his great releases on the Netlabel Symbiont-Music. Then its time for Wesenberg, a young upcoming Live-Act, with an fresh and seducing sound somewhere between Minimal,House and Dub. After him B.Wurst & Schlendrian Klimperbeat from A.K.N.E. and the Berlin Shituationist will play some afterhourish Techno, for those who left and close down the Party. The floor downstairs will be opened by Manuela Mayoral from Spain, who established in Berlin very fast with her nice Dj-Sets ranging from Vocal- & Jack-House over Disco untill Broken Beats. After her Neulich Irgendwo from Potsdam will take over the turntables with his unique blend of Disco-House and Oldschool-Classics and will be followed by Bastian Kurzweil from the Dienstagswelt-crew, who is known for his crazy, uplifting Techhouse-Sets. So far thats all I can tell you about the Party. I hope to see you all there, spending an great powerraving night with the Berlin Shituationists !
interview with Slydex
an interview by fancypunk
Q1 Could you tell us something about yourself and your artistic background please.
A1 ) I was born in Athens in the late 80s and raised in one of the most overcrowded neighborhoods of the city called Kipseli. My bIggest Influence in music since my early years was my dad.he had thousands of records and was really into the hi fi / hi end thing.I started singing in a rock band at the age of 14 but i also had influenced by disco,pop and house music. At almost the same time i started collecting my own cds and playing them in school house partys until the time i had the chance to explore the decks of a bar in the island of Evia. I didnt know anything about mixing but time to time i bought my first cdjs and mixer. Later at high-school i discovered the world of techno and so far i am traveling between techno,house and dub music.Now i am studding music production and hope i can produce my own tunes in the near future.
Q2 Do you work on your own, what collaborations do you participate in (label, musical partners, etc)?
A2) I never liked working alone, i always thought that being with other people its much more interesting and creative. I started djing along with my friend and partner Sen.na and since then we manage to create our own music collective called ” Hospital “. Me,Sen.na and Alxp started those partys 4 years ago and we still trying to keep the underground vibe alive in Athens.In 23 of December 2010 we are having our first Hospital Showcase at Six Dogs,a very fresh and different club in our city.I also collaborate with Zorz in another project called ” Sleazy Beats & Dirty Vibes ” once a month and we mostly spin our influences,from Funk & Disco to House & Techno.
Q3 Something you want to share about your local scene, some insights or recommendations?
A3) Our local dance scene in Athens was way bigger few years ago. Now we dont have much clubs and the dance promoters are fighting each other all the time for the love of the money.We are few independent crews and we keep fighting to bring the rave culture back in greece with free parties,good vibe and fresh music.Most of the people in our dance community are stuck back in the days of psy trance and progressive house and its quite difficult to bring the new techno and house sound,we are always 5 years behind from the most of the european capitals. I believe that after the economical crisis the things will be much better because right now people dont want to spend 30-40 euros to just listen one dj even if is their favorite one. I believe that the future will be free parties at independent places with local djs.We will achieve to have our own and strong dance scene only if we all gather and fight for our right to party !
Q4 What equipment do you use, what is your work process?
A4) I started playing with cds but for almost 1 year now i am using Traktor Pro along with Audio8 sound-card and the Native Instruments Controller X1. I am really enjoying the new way of djing that traktor offers me. I stoped thinking about syncing and started worrying about the flow and transitions in my set.In the near future i also want to buy one more X1 controller so i can handle 4 channels together.Despite digital sound, i also buy vinyls for my collection and to rip for playing in my sets. I usually buy tracks that i cant find in mp3 or wave and really classic ones that worth being in your box.
Q5 What are your next gigs and where can we preview your works online?
A5) You can find me playing 11 of december at Astron Bar in Athens along with Mr.Rousso a great veteran dj from Crete and in 23th of the same month our Hospital team will host the first Hospital Showcase.a really interesting project that combines music,visual arts.photography and fashion art. My last event of the year will take place in Heraklion of Crete for the NYE celebration.The event will take place in a private space and i will be playing along with Zorz and Mr.Rousso.
Q6 Any plans for the future you want to announce here…?
A6) My plans for the next year is to have my own productions and try to make Hospital a standard for the underground dance scene in Greece. We will think new projects to accomplish and find new places to have free parties.
Q7 How about some namedropping, do you want to recommend some artists that inspire you?
A7) There are many talented producers and djs that i realy enjoy at the moment. It depends on the style of music.i would recommend the whole Sandwell District label from berlin, they are making some great music at the moment and also the Echocord label from Denmark one of the finest dub techno labels over the last years.There are many artist to watch out .you just need to have your ears and mind open.
16.10.2010 – Fête De La Musaka
This Saturday the Berlin/Greek DJ and Producer Teknon Brutus has organised the Fête De La Musaka at the famous Berlin Club Ritterbutzke.
Among others Dave Allesmere and Holger Zilske aka Smash TV are playing. You can look up for the whole line-up and more informations about the party here
8.10.2010 Prkl! Macht Skweeertisch # 2 @ Raum 20, Berlin
This Friday MESAK from Finnland , JOXAREN from Sweden and KARL MARX STADT + LXC , ROKO and NAKS from Berlin are going to play at the former storage-room of the closed club Raum18, the Sound Gallery & Media Lab Raum20.
Skweee On with Mesak
This friday Mesak , one of the leading artists of the finnish Skweee-Scene
is going to play for free at the Wendel ( Schlesische Straße 42 ) in Berlin
from 22.30 to 2.00
Among other interesting stuff I´ve found this set on his Soundcloud Page
Its an very nice mixture out of atmospheric Krautrock, wonky beats and
funky basslines and definitely worth listening.
1st party of shituationist institute in Athens: April the 30th
Our first party in Athens is coming up! We are glad to announce that our party crew in Athens is organizing an event in a gorgeous location at the 8th floor, with a panoramic view of the city and a great line up. Besides Dj Stiv Sai and Dj Sourbi (I recommend you to listen their sets, see links below), Dj Spacenowhere (a.k.a fancypunk) and Dj an63l (a.k.a. angeldoumis) with be warming up with an atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass back to back set, both of them from the dynamic of the shituationist institute djs. Dj Beatter (resident of freakuency radio) will also play. So we are waiting to see you there. If you read this blog, feel free to come and talk to me….
house/ tech/ minimal/ progressive sounds
STIV SAI http://www.myspace.com/djstivsai
DJ BEATTER http://www.myspace.com/djbeatter (Freakuency radio)
DJ SOURBI http://www.myspace.com/djsourbi
warming up with atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass and Dubstep:
Dj Spacenowhere and Dj an63l (shituationist institute and freakuency radio)
Location:
ARTOWER HALL
Varvakeios agora square
Armodiou 10 ,8th floor
With fascintating panoramic view of the Acropolis and all of Athens 
**Entrance fee: 10e+drink
16th of April: Jeff Mills in Athens at Bios
An other big gig will take place in Athens this month. After many nice parties all the previous weeks at Bios ,one more legend of electronic music is visiting Athens and he will occupy the decks of Bios for one night , in a definitely exceptional event. Something that its useful to get noticed also is that together with Jeff Mills , an other popular artist is from Ninja tunes is coming Mr Scruff , the recording name of Andy Carthy. You can glimpse of his website www.MrScruff.com.
There is not much to write about the location of the party (Bios) since me , sandy mayhem in the recent past , also others constantly wrote many remarkable comments and criticisms concerning the atmosphere in there , the entrance , the prices and so on. It is rather more productive to focus on the artists and their personal backgrounds.
Jeff Mills in Athens , in other words the father of Detroit techno in an educational session. I was a little kid when a friend recommended the Purpose Maker compilation of Jeff mills (released in 1996). Every time Im listening to the music of Jeff Mills or dancing his tracks at parties , have the same , non comparable with anything else feeling.
Many people consider Jeff Mills as the father of techno. He is indeed , a very influential producer. Jeff Mills’s personal background/history is full of inspiring moments , many good releases and parties. In the 1980s, Mills was an influential radio DJ(hip hop) in Detroit at a radio named WJLB. During the 90s Mills started to involve with underground resistance a highly influential techno collective from Detroit.Officially he never left his base in the US but he moved for short in Berlin , often playing at Tresor.
An other logical result of Mills involvement with music was the foundation of Axis records label as well as other sublabels such as purpose maker , Tomorrow, and 6277. If you want to get more information concerning Jeff Mills , you should read the Wikipedia article or his own websites. In any case Jeff Mills remains one of my favorite techno artists , Im planning to write more posts presenting properly his work in the future. At the moment it should be enough to repost bellow all the released albums of Jeff Mills. The next days Im also going to write a short presentation of Mr Scruff . In fact Mr scruff never was one of my favorite artists neither trip hop , Nu jazz and down tempo
Wikipedia info: the albums of Jeff Mills
- 1992 Waveform Transmission – Volume 1
- 1994 Waveform Transmission – Volume 3
- 1996 Mix-Up Volume 2 Live at the Liquid Room (a live DJ set)
- 1996 Purpose Maker Compilation
- 1997 The other Day
- 1999 From the 21st
- 2000 Every Dog Has Its Day
- 2000 Metropolis (soundtrack to the Fritz Lang film)
- 2000 The Art of Connecting
- 2000 Lifelike
- 2002 Actual
- 2002 At First Sight
- 2004 Exhibitionist (a live DJ set, also available as a DVD)
- 2004 Choice: A Collection of Classics
- 2005 The Three Ages (new soundtrack to the Buster Keaton film)
- 2005 Contact Special
- The Mission Objective (2005) (a live DJ set)
- 2006 Blue Potential
- 2007 One Man Spaceship
- 2008 Gamma Player Compilation Vol 1: The Universe By Night
- 2009 Sleeper Wakes
si-blog special edition: interview with Kalle Kalectro from Berlin
thanks to Kalle Kalectro for this interview
taken by Fancypunk April 2010 for the SI-BLOG.NET
Q1 Tells us something about yourself and your backgrounds
I grew up in Berlin downtown in a former squatted house where life always kept progressing. In my early childhood I started playing the piano forming my musical roots. During my youth I got stuck in between the vast of music genres listening to almost every kind of music. After my year in America I rediscovered electronic dance tunes in 2007. I thought it would be cool to become a Dj and bought my first pretty bad turntables and a cheap battlemixer. Practicing at home i soon had my first gig at a berlin club in october 2007. In the following years i toured trough berlins clubscene making a lot of experience – personally and music wise.
Q2 What makes a dj exceptional ?
An exceptional Dj is able to communicate with the people via music.
Q3 Where can someone find your dj sets in cyber space ?
You can find my own tracks and DjSets on www.myspace.com/kallekalectro and www.soundcloud.com/kalle-kalectro .
Q4 where have you played in the past besides Beriln?
A gig outside of Berlin is always a very special thing because you never know what to expect. TilI today I just had a couple chances, I have been to Potsdam, Cologne, Bielefeld and Thessaloniki.
Q5) some months ago you played together with Tristen at a party organized by our crew in Thessaloniki can you please tell us a bit about your experience/evaluation from that party there ?
The gig in Thessaloniki was very memorable because it was the first time I played abroad. We enjoyed the greek hospitality and got to know a lot of interesting people. The party was great because we had the chance to play a 6 hour set what gave us the possibility to really bring close our sound to the greek party people.
Q6 You are involved in a couple of projects in Berlin. Do you want to tell us something about them?
As a DJ you are always trying out new things; some work out and some don´t. My favorite project is “guns n arts” a berlin underground party label. The idea of “guns n arts” is to turn lost and forbidden spaces into dancefloors for one night. On the search for new innovative locations we are passing through old lofts, factories and warehouses.
Q7 do you have your own studio? what kind of equipment do you use?
For my own productions I use Ableton Live as sequencer but since I am not a real fan of mouse clicking and computer keyboards, I fall in love with the intelligent Midi Controler from Novation (SL Mk2). For programming drums I use the Korg padKONTROL. I really do like the feedback I get from the illuminated pads. Even if Ableton is a very complex software I adtionaly use Korg grooveboxes as support (Electribe AMK2, EMX). Since I feel more creative with the hardware I presceth my tracks using the Electribes and transfer them to ableton. Most of my tunes I produce at my little homestudio but since 2 month a friend and I started developing our own studio in an industrial area where we are able to be as loud as we want.
Q8). House , techno and generally dance music scene is incredibly big in North European metropolis , such as Berlin , London etc.. how you feel your connection to this? Is there any progress on those music styles ?
I am really happy to live in Berlin because we have a good merge of clubs, artists and labels. This results into new projects and ideas concerning electronic music. These innovations are spread around the world by the labels and the artists. And yes of course Music is always in progress.
Q9 and… any future plans ??
I am currently working on a live project together with the friend of mine I started the studio with. So right now my main goal is to get this project started beneath improving myself as a musician.
Q10 What other djs and artists inspire you ? any shootouts and recommendations ?
There are a lot of good DJs and producers out there. So I get my inspiration in Berlin´s nightlife as well as websites like whatpeopleplay.com .
