- Set back from a torpid canal opposite Hallesches Tor, Horst Krzbrg's exterior cuts a modest prospect. Yet, once inside, the ex-post office sheds all trace of municipality, replacing it with beat-up sofas, sticky walls and the kind of sound system that ensures you feel the bassline in your chest cavity. Offbeat and away from the tourist trail, Horst presents the perfect spot for a future-gazing label like Hotflush Recordings to stage a takeover.
There was a strong sense of camaraderie at the label's most recent party. Representing something of a US showcase, the opening hours saw Machinedrum and Praveen Sharma flank Lando Kal as he crafted a pan-era party set that felt energising rather than disorientating. Displaying the same aversion to predictability that colours his own productions, the diverse and stylish crowd cheered loudly when he dropped Adonis' "No Way Back." There was even a singular lighter held aloft for Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman," which could, even should, have been horrifying, but felt perfectly acceptable.
By the time Machinedrum stepped up, sleeveless t-shirt present and correct, the crowd's mood had plateaued into a state of woozy exhilaration. Playing live, he exhibited the same infectious energy that he brought to his recent set at Chez Jacki. Bobbing between laptop and controller, hair slick with sweat, he tweaked tracks on the fly until they were taut and primed for optimum club efficiency—"Now U Know the Deal 4 Real" seemed to hit harder when the chopped vocal sample was deployed like shrapnel. You could hear licks of tumescent bass from the street, but, inside, the finely tuned system allowed the nuances in swung beats and tweaked vocals to breathe without being hamstrung by low end.
Of course, it was the cuts from his recent album Room(s) that elicited the biggest crowd reaction, the flexing footwork syncopations simply making even more sense when they have a club to fill. Even so, his juke-flavoured edit of "Jungle Squirrel" from the Ecstasy Boom EP was met with equal fervour, prompting gun fingers to break out across the dance floor. It takes incredible skill to keep a crowd with you through charging BPMs—particularly when daylight is creeping in—but dozens remained around the DJ booth until his own remix of "Sun Ra" brought the set to a close. Praveen Sharma then joined him for a kind of encore, a taster of the forthcoming Sepalcure album. It wound the set up masterfully, with a burst of skittish beats and drunken synths to salve wobbly limbs. It eventually fell to Roko to keep the party going, and he did so valiantly with, in his words, "A little techno for the Berlin crew, a little garage for the London crew."