- Berlin's Яeturn is a semi-regular club night organised by the Solid AM booking agency, and hosted at Hoppetosse (formerly at Renate). As well as drawing from the agency's considerable roster of talent, Яeturn's blockbuster lineups offer a rare opportunity to catch the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Daniel Bell and Zip outside of Get Perlonized! or Club Der Visionaere. This December's instalment didn't have quite as many heavy-hitters, but for many—myself included—it proved an attractive alternative to Berghain's 10th birthday party.
I arrived just before 8 AM and headed to the lower deck, where Onur Özer was firing out dark and druggy breakbeats to the crowd's delight. The bleary-eyed and slightly shambolic vibe on the dance floor seemed to mirror the shabby surroundings of the club itself, which came into sharper focus as the steely winter sun started creeping in through the windows. The Mole picked up the reins at about 9 AM, delivering a more linear selection of upbeat house favourites (Portable's "A Deeper Love," 100 Hz's "Shoot The Bar"). These bouncy and playful vibes stood in stark contrast to Özer's previous set, and I couldn't help but feel that he was playing it a little safe, given the circumstances.
I headed to the upper deck for a change of scenery, only to find Brothers Vibe missing the mark somewhat (epic tech house remix of Radiohead, anyone?). Back downstairs, Vera took to the decks at around midday and headed straight for the jugular, churning out delightfully twisted minimal fare alongside electro-tinged bangers. Villalobos' 2003 classic "Theogenese" was the highlight, which, in all its woozy, nine-minute glory, was received with rapture by a modest but attentive audience.
As the party rolled on into Sunday evening, Fumiya Tanaka was indulging his love for all things jagged and stripped-back on the upper deck. His selections were gripping and the mixing was surgical, but truly remarkable was his ability to exercise restraint: only after hours of loopy, barebones techno did he dare to release the tension and shift gears into real crowd-pleaser material. 20 minutes or so from the end of his set, the untitled B1 track from K. Hand's recently repressed Project 5 EP whipped the dance floor into a screaming frenzy—I don't think I've ever seen a crowd so grateful for a female vocal and some skippy hi-hats.
Tanaka kept things housey right up until his last track, passing the baton over to Herr Franzmann with the warm and plaintive chords of Kerri Chandler's "Rain." Spliff in hand and wearing a coy smile, Zip conducted a four-hour set in his usual fashion, impeccably moving through swinging US house, tripped-out minimal (always at least one Perlon track) and a smattering of techno. And of course, a couple of curveballs—Anquette's 1986 Miami bass anthem "Throw The P" provided a welcome respite three hours in.
D'Julz followed up with some admittedly solid tracks (opening with Next Evidence's "My Music"), but the drop in energy levels was palpable. Faced with a five-hour wait before Binh's 3 AM set, I decided to call it a day and head home while I was still smiling.