Last Friday we headed off to Wuppertal, a city in Germany close to the well known Ruhrgebied, centred in the area marked by the cities Düsseldorf, Köln and Dortmund. It wasn't for just a weekend out and about. It was for ear pleasure! Supposedly, Wuppertal gives home to a club with the best sound ever. Always seeking for high quality sound at festivals and clubs, I had to get the experience myself. Last Friday a good friend was booked to play his tunes, giving me the best opportunity to dive into the underground music scene of Wuppertal.
Destination: the club Open Ground.
Our journey started Friday afternoon. Four hours away from meeting the Open Ground team for dinner. Beautiful winter sunny day. Temperature: around freezing point. Three plus hours driving the highways. Just in time we made it to the bar on top of the club, our meeting point. A drink we skipped in favour of a tour through the - yet - empty club. While people running around preparing the place for a long night and morning of pleasure, we were led through a maze of hangout areas and hallways to the the second room and after that to the main room. In both soundchecks ongoing.
I was impressed!
The story told to us by the owner/manager - before the first sound waves exitted the speakers - the club was modelled and shaped after a music studio. With sound absorbing walls. The theory: No reflecting sounds. Our thought was: "This is going to be too dry; Let it not be dead sound!" Fortunately, this was not the case as we noticed a handful of minutes into the first soundcheck. While the walls absorbed sounds, it didn't eat all the sounds leaving some reflection to happen still. Funny feeling when leaning against the wall. Totally trembling. The material itself kept it from producing its own sound.
What an amazing clear sound we heard!
All frequencies sounded crisp and clear. High frequencies didn't hurt the ear. Mid frequencies wasn't pushed backwards as is often the case. The bass didn't cause the club to resonate preventing unwanted side noises. They cemented in the bass speakers! Literally! Never ever I've seen such. But always a first for everything 🙂
Half an hour in, we were led to the backstage area where dinner was awaiting. Vegetarian. Home made. Vegetables from the owners own garden. Vegi curry and savoury pies. The taste: Delicious!
While enjoying the food and drinks (coconut water for me, since I decided to stay totally sober for the evening, night and morning), I was happy to hear some other DJ - Olgica - is living in Graz, Austria. We shared something other than the love for good music.
About half a year ago, I spend 5 days in this beautiful and laidback city. Meeting up with fellow HIVEans for a special HIVE meetup - also known for HIVE Open Days and HIVE Buzzparty. Inside the main mountain in Graz 'Dom im Berg', an event place - club - is located. A few times a year Techno parties are held right in the center of this little mountain top. Back in May, no such luck. But, one time when we walked from our meetup location towards an afternoon education slash sightseeing tour, we passed through a street filled with ravers and loud electronic music. The sound: somewhere between Jungle, House and Techno. I danced for like 1 whole minute. Couldn't stay since the group didn't even stop. Bummer!
But let us not get sidetracked...
image: digital flyer of club event (source)
Since my friend started to play at 7 in the morning, we decided to embrace the after dinner dip. Slept for 6 hours, we found ourselves in a chock full mainroom with Ben Klock playing his last hour solo set. Minimal techno with sonar bleeps to give some liveliness to the deep basslines. The type of Techno to put the mind into trance mode. Or? When preferred meditation mode.
An hour later, Sterac aka Steve Rachmad broke the sound with what he does best, warm but minimal-ish melodies, sometimes with his own beat, sometimes on top of Ben's tracks for minutes and longer. He changed the whole experience while keeping the pace and power. In one word: 'NICE'
At sunrise - totally missed it since no daylight in the room - Steve continued solo. Three and half hours of ear pleasure. Perhaps a bit seeking in the first hour, the last two where amazing! I found myself more than doing my usual wobbling exersizes. Most would say: "Edje was dancing." Didn't know I had the energy. I suppose, the music transmited it into my mind and through that my body 🥳
During all this, four times someone asked me: "Do you work here?" Never ever in my whole club and festival life, I was thrown such a question. Uhm, perhaps a bit exaturated, could be I was asked before. But when so, just one time. Not four times. In a handful of hours. Four times! Why? How? Where? Mostly in the inner courtyard, outside the bunker, in daylight. The spot where nicotine damps where allowed. On the dance floor, some girl asked me if I feel particular young in the mids of a room mostly filled with young adults.
My answer? ... uhm ...
Let me ask you: "What do You Think my Answer was?"
Recordings
all images by edje unless stated otherwise
Your answer: Of course I am young, my mom is only 45 years old.
😁
Almost! hahaha
Are there people that stay there all night to party? That seems like the old school sort of "rave" sort of atmosphere, which would have been my only exposure to something like this. At one of them I left the club at what was now a Sunday morning and there were people going down the street carrying on with their day, some of them on their way to church and it kind of made me feel like a gooner being so wasted as the birds were chirping and what not.
The sound engineering is so important. I went to a show in Bangkok many years ago and I don't think they put any thought into the sound because everything was just super loud. This was the only time in my life that my face hurt and I could feel the pain running down from my ears down the side of my neck from the force of the sound that I had endured for something like 6 hours at that point. I bring ear protection to shows now to protect what hearing I have left.
You could call it a rave indeed. It was one of the Extended nights this club has license for, from 11PM till 12PM. And yes, some to more people enter the club to stick around till the end. Most of them with the help of some 'medicine', xtc, ketamine, coke and whatnot. Perhaps me being sober helped them asking me the question if I was working in the club 🥳
Yes indeed, sound engineering is soooo important. Ear protection is in my honest opinion not optional, not even in clubs with good a good sound setup. Wearing them already since the mid 90s. When one heard the top of what is possible with sound setup, almost any place has a bad setup. The older I am getting, the more I heard, the more specific and critical I get. Womb in Tokyo, has a fantastic setup, at least when I visited it back in 2005/2006 time frame. Fusion Festival in Germany has a great setup of sound on all their stages, but one stands out, year after year. The story goes that the inventor of the much used Function One system does the setup himself for that particular stage. Must say the sound at Open Ground is in the top of my list! For sure I need to get back to that place. Perhaps I shall also mirror the crowd a bit more next time, ie not staying sober 😂
If you ask me, I would definitely ask the same question... "Do you work here?" 😃... Or that, or if you are some kind of a "clubbing spy", or a secret agent collecting information about techno clubs around Europe!
And regarding your answer to the question about feeling young, I would say that your reply was: "I AM young!" 🙂
Good to see you back on HIVE posting... Your mojo was missed... 😃
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You get me curious: Why you wouls ask same or similar question? Because of my biological age?
Your suggestion for my answer: You Are Darn Close. My answer was to the lines of: "Regardless if I am here or somewhere else, Regardless with what (age) people I surround myself, I feel young. The biological age doesn't matter!" The response I got was a questioning face, a face that clearly showed she thought about my response, however no further reaction on this topic. So I decided to leave the topic like that and talked a little about Techno back in the 90s.
Hmmm... Maybe I assumed that I saw you in some other clubs which were filled with teenagers and youngsters... So, the answer is your biological age... But, I have 0 experience in those places, so my opinion isn't really relevant... 😃
But, I do admire your energy... Said that dozens of times after our hangout in Hamburg... lol... Which is another lesson for me, to recharge my batteries and not be half-dead... lol... You are a good inspiration for that!
Hahaha nice, thank you. Let's take the next step, join in! In two weeks, Berlin, 2 clubs. Nooo not in the same night, spread over two days. Easy. With sleep, and food in between them. Perhaps a little bit of music next year in Alicante during the HIVE thingy?
Hehehehe... Thanks for the offer, but... As my financial situation is directly connected to cryptos, the current situation isn't favorable for any trip soon... So, we will have to postpone it for Alicante in May... 😃
Alicante 🥳
Post reviewed by ecency curator.
Thanks 🙏