- FRIDAY
It's the night before the official Zurich Street Parade starts. After being advised from the locals not to even think of going on the streets during the day and to not expect much from the afterhour parties, I readily hoped on my bicycle and drove across the town. As we got closer to the Lethargy Festival at Rote Fabrik, improvised campgrounds revealed themselves on both sides of the street. People from all over the Europe had already settled their tents, installed their sound systems and started the warm up.
Expecting an insane line in front of the place and the usual "sorry, we can't find your name on the list" line, I was welcomed with a quick and efficient procedure in which they actually, within seconds, found my name in the computer system! I tried hard to recall the last time I saw a special "booth" and a computer at a party. And then I immediately remembered that this was supposed to be a three day festival with three stages. At least at first glance, this appeared to be a properly organized event. I stepped in the courtyard of the 3 huge industrial buildings, and bumped into the Burning Man kind of a décor, with light installations, pieces of cloths and plastics hanging on the ropes between the roofs of the buildings.
The first room I entered was the "Clubraum." A white tent-shaped canvas with symmetrical holes covered the ceiling area, while yellow, red and blue light streams lit the stage. The Emperor Machine aka Andrew Michtam, performed live and created unique and powerful sounds from his equipment, gaining the full support of an energetically dancing crowd. The crisp and forceful sound system emphasized the clarity of the basslines busy uplifting the atmosphere in the room.
In the main and the biggest room, native Swiss DJ/producer Kalabrese was in the middle of playing a muddy set of house music. High frequency melodies lacking in the bassline dominated the set. But, then again, one can not blame the guy. He had to play on a shoddy sound system, suitable for a room a third of its size. The visual effects setup, which managed to pool the entire crowd on one side of the room, probably didn't help: The crowd couldn't help but be fixated by the two skilled female dancers dressed in shiny white diving suits, simultaneously climbing up the two white sheets. The concept was to become one with the background—a video then projected different shapes and colors at them, creating an entirely new visual picture.
Soon, though, Model 500 took over the stage. With live vocals and keyboards playing their classic tunes, the group won over the crowd almost immediately. It could've been my narrow-mindedness and aversion to the poorly written lyrics and low sound level, however, but it was a demanding task to grasp the reason for the excitement.
SATURDAY
Was it the city or just the staff of the Rimini bar that got hit by the festive atmosphere and became excessively nice overnight? At 5 PM on a sunny afternoon on the day of the parade, it's hard to say. The party at Rimini was organized by the local label The City Fox. With the sun in my face and a drink in my hand, it didn't matter much who played. The line-up was mostly composed of locals, however, associated with the Mountain People label, with the promise of later sets from Bruno Pronsato and Daniel Bell. The locals stirred up the crowd's energy with the bass-y tech house and, as soon as the sun came down behind the buildings, the sound transformed into Afro and vocal house. One of the two announced guests did not show up, while the other was too busy chitchatting behind the scenes to honor us with crunchy, massive, ever-changing minimal set. So after having a few good dancing hours, I decided to recharge my batteries for the night parties.
The afterparty Gravity Is Dead III at Q, which also served as a Perlon showcase. Being at the club once before I knew what to expect. Q is a spacious, exceedingly impersonal space with impressive sound quality. And while we were expecting a lot of the night, we walked in the middle of Bruno Pronsato's interminable live set. Do all superb DJs/producers eventually adjust to the aloof club atmosphere? There was not much variety in Pronsato's sound effects throughout, and if there was a climax, I never heard one. Did he got sucked in the black hole of the uninspiring mass in front of him? Or is it just the time for me to accept the fact that DJs these days play something different, that something here being shallow high-frequented tech house. Sammy Dee, whose set I was also expecting a lot from, started off quite minimal-ish and bass-y until he got submerged into the vibe of the place as well. Not willing to stick it out, we fled before Akufen's live set.
SUNDAY
At 10 am we headed to Lethargy's closing outdoor party. As we arrived to the free event, I got hit by an instant adrenaline rush. The sun was shining and the DJ booth was set up right next to the lake. Powerful, crunchy bass-y, minimal techno blasted out of the speakers. And, although, it was an outdoor party, the sound system did not fall short. Sven Dhose skillfully drove the crowd for hours with crispy harmonies and rich rhythms. As the sun got stronger, I decided it was best to jump in the lake. With a view of the Swiss Alps looming in front, and a weekend of partying behind, can you blame me?