From Berlin to Paris

Before relocating the TEA offices back to Australia I thought it would only be fair to take one last trip to my two favourite citys in Europe. Berlin & Paris.

First on the agenda, Records. And first stop Hardwax. Hardwax is located in Kreuzberg near Kottbusser Tor U-Bahn station. You'll find it on the 3rd floor of what looks to be sqaut from 90's Berlin. Graffiti laden walls, dank aromas and mysterious echos.

The first piece of graffiti I recognised was a texta scribbled ED BANGER stopping me to think...Does Vicarious Bliss still exist? I continued up the flights stairs to find a bolstered door with a small paper sign reading "open 12:00 - 20:00". I entered and thankfully it was Hardwax and not someones lounge room (or even worse). I spent the the next 2 hours sifting through records and eventually walked out with these.

Darkness was falling and I was in need of a disco nap if I was to survive the night ahead of me. This nap turned into a techno coma and I didnt leave my hostel until 1:30am.

First up was Watergate, in my opinion the best club in Berlin in terms of a freindly and knowledgable crowd. Yes its full of tourists (such as myself) but dont let the trendy trousers fool you as everyone is there to do one thing. Dance.

After waiting in the freezing line with a couple of drunk Scottish lads talking all things Innervisions, I entered the club at 3am just as Christian from Ame started, perfect. This followed 3 hours of nothing but LED lights and shoe shuffling. Next stop was Berlins techno mecca Berghain, or in my case Panoramabar as it was a friday night.

Getting my coat checked in the same time as Marcel Dettmann only added to the excitement off seeing him play a cultured 8-11am set. I managed to catch the last of Ra.h an Italian that kept things nice and thuddy with some smooth techno & dubstep cuts.

Next up was Marcel and by this stage time had lost itself. Dettmann made sure not to overstep the boundaries of Panoramabar techno with Berghain techno, keeping things more melodic then stripped back. Ben Klocks dub to Kerri Chandlers Pong being a highlight.

Amongst his set I found myself chatting all things MCDE with a bloke from Stuttgart, talking Robert Johnsons with a group from Frankfurters and reminiscing about Chris Leibing and Speedy J classics with a Berliner, all the while cheering any bass cut, beat drop or hook.

Succeeding Marcel into the late hours of the morning was Soundstream who felt happy enough to play track for track rather then set a mood, something which didn't sit too well with me but I was happy keep dancing and chatting the day away.


As the body began to tire I succumbed to the need for sleep and ventured out into a -6 degree snow white day. As if it wasn't already bright enough.

The only place in the world that could possibly make me say "im techno-ed out" did exactly that. Luckily the worlds friendiest DJ was playing at Luzia on the satuday night, a lovely bar located in Kreuzberg.

The man behind Balihu 'Daniel Wang' kept us dancing once again into the early hours of the morning, continually taking requests, chatting to anyone that would listen, as well as sharing dance floor with us over the last hour of his set. Earlier in the day i'd had a discussion about Madonna lucky star and to hear it played that night was hilarious!

Thanks Daniel for Quincy Jones Razzamatazz last track!

Next up was breakfast and one more quick record binge before i left for Paris to make sweet love and eat as much cheese, bread & wine as possible.


Here are 3 more records I purchased that morning.













Danke schön Berlin and see you soon.