I don’t go to festivals nowadays. Normally. I’ve been to ADE, Sonar, among other big ones and I enjoyed it a lot. Truth is that now I don’t have as much energy nor time to stay a couple of days partying 24/7. Also, within time they all got way more commercial, and as a consequence – super expensive. There are 3 local Berliner festivals though I can’t think of skipping: CTM, Krake and Atonal. Next week, the second one will take over the city (Friedrichshein, to be precise, or Urban Spree area):

I am looking forward to the amalgamate of art, sound and good ambience. One of my very promising dark techno sound evangelist & artist friends, Enclave, showed me last year’s edition from Suicide Circus and I was amazed. I really liked the anti-festival vybe, meaning that instead of pricey tickets and hype about first two or three big names listed, there will be a mix of more or less unknown, but ambitious rising hopes of the electronic music scene. Here’s a documentary showing bits and pieces of 2014 Krake edition together with the ideology behind the venue:

So: where, when, what? Next week, starting from Monday 3rd August till Sunday 9th, Urban Spree area (together with Kantine am Berghain and Suicide Circus) will be taken over by the art of techno. You can check the detailed programme here. I am so much looking forward to the Friday and Saturday nights, alongside with the art exhibition and 29th Nov films. There’s an ongoing discussion in Berlin about how the electronic scene could reinvent itself, and move away from the overtly mainstream trend, while coming back to its very own alternative roots. Not sure why, anytime I think about the dying scene, and techno being a superficial platform, I always feel like this humanoid from this brilliant videoclip.