Kraftwerk Berlin
As a cathedral to techno music this ex-power station is unbeatable: some DJs conjured epic sounds through its huge structure. And those that didn’t wore wigs
If garage rock is at home in a cramped dive bar and an orchestra in a sumptuous opera house, then techno belongs in Kraftwerk Berlin. This decommissioned power station on the banks of the Spree is like Chartres rebuilt by a machine race, with a staggeringly vast nave flanked by concrete columns. Where the Goths and Romans built their monuments to God in points and curves, this secular cathedral is rendered in right angles, a grid on to which techno maps itself.
And once a year, the techno faithful gather for Berlin Atonal, a festival whose music often lives up to its name. These are performances where noise looms from the speakers, where the invitation to dance is often a barked command rather than a beckoned finger, and where transcendence is tempered with mortality – the candyland of European dance festivals is rendered in black and white.
Continue reading...by Ben Beaumont-Thomas via Electronic music | The Guardian
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