- Get Perlonized! is one of Berlin's longest running parties. Held at Panorama Bar on the first Friday of every month since the club opened in 2004, it's amassed a dedicated following, with dozens of diehard regulars (along with a few hundred extras) attending each edition. The reasons for the party's passionate fanbase are obvious. For starters, founders and residents Zip and Sammy Dee have become known for a specific yet expansive sound. Bouncy, weird and usually obscure, it's music for listeners who can do without the more populist elements (big breakdowns, loud melodies, drum rolls) so common in house music. It's not for everyone. First-timers unsure of what to expect usually arrive early when Panorama Bar is at its fullest and most uncomfortable, and immediately start waiting for something that's not going to come: big, obvious moments.
From the mid-'90s to the mid-'00s, minimal was the fresh sound in dance music, even though many of the tracks its DJs were playing were already years old by then. For a period, Zip and Sammy Dee's less-is-more approach was widely considered forward-thinking, but this is not the case today. For better or worse, Get Perlonized! is now regarded as a bastion of purism and tradition, loved by people who like their house music lean and loopy. In addition to Zip and Sammy Dee, there's usually an extra DJ and live act at each event, and they've usually been around for a while—in order to play Get Perlonized!, you have to have a record out on Perlon, a label known for its close-knit roster. It's therefore rare for the guest to be on the cutting edge of the wider dance music world. Most are experienced, un-flashy DJs (Sonja Moonear, Vera, Fumiya Tanaka) with record collections built up over many years. As such, ears prick up anytime fresh blood is brought into the fold.
This month, that person was Binh, a Berlin-based DJ who's been aligned with Perlon since he dropped his Visio EP in February last year (he's played at Get Perlonized! once before, but the awkward January 2nd timing meant that many of the party's regulars were either out of town or recovering from New Year's Eve). His sound as a DJ is alien and futuristic, constructed from slamming and often impossibly obscure house, techno and electro—tracks so good that you feel guilty asking him to ID to them, as you can only imagine how many hours went in to unearthing each cut. They're also functional and easy to dance to, which makes Binh an extremely effective DJ. It's this sound he brought to Panorama Bar on Friday, resulting in—for many people, myself included—the most enjoyable Get Perlonized! in a while (it helped that the party was returning to Panorama Bar after a two month hiatus due to schedule clashes with other events).
I arrived to the bleepy sounds of Sammy Dee wrapping up what was, by all accounts, a smooth, well-considered warm-up. Binh stepped in at 4 AM, playing a composed set that leant closer to techno than what most guests deliver. The beats were tough and rolling, but complemented by warped, hyperactive basslines and all kinds of crazy synth sounds zinging around on top—the Underground Resistance remix of Maurizio's "Ploy" and this weapon both got rinsed. Well paced and structured, it offered those living in Berlin a rare chance to catch Binh alone in a large club (he plays in the city often, but usually spins in more intimate settings such as Club Der Visionaere and Hoppetosse).
Maayan Nidam took over with her first ever live set at around 8 AM, dropping a pumping selection of bass-heavy, loopy techno. Nidam has been immersing herself in the genre lately (there's apparently a release on Nina Kraviz's Trip label incoming), and the results of this were on display. Her slot was up-tempo and driving, and provided a welcomed respite after Binh's more abstract selections.
Zip took over after Nidam. Dropping tracks old (Terrence Parker's recently reissued remix of DJ Slym Fas's "Memories" and DHS's "I Am Your Control") and new (Binh's "Buyout" and at least one cut from Fumiya Tanaka's forthcoming album on Perlon). Not long after midday, Binh joined Zip behind the decks for the expected—and much-anticipated—back-to-back. Binh pulled out his weirdest records, which only encouraged Zip to get even stranger. Back-to-backs are a regular occurrence at Get Perlonized! these days, yet they rarely go down as well as Zip's solo sets—most guests can't keep up with his surgical mixing or spot-on, late-hour selections. Not so with Binh, one of few DJs with a suitably deep record bag and an ear for what's appropriate this late in the night. The pair moved through gritty tech house, mind-melting techno (Minimal Man's "Stay On") and the odd Perlon cut (Thomas Melchior's "Meditation 5"), delivering the classiest few hours of dance music I've heard at Panorama Bar in ages.
Unfortunately, they were accompanied for some of this by the club's grumpy night manager who, like clockwork every month, enters the booth to impatiently remind Zip that the party's allotted finishing time of 3 PM is approaching. It's a strange ritual from a club that does everything else so well, as his borderline aggressive presence inside the booth sends ripples of negativity through the crowd. Seemingly undisturbed, Zip and Binh kept their stride, before Zip wrapped things up with another serene Thomas Melchior classic, appropriately introduced with what may have been the night's sharpest transition—no small feat, considering he'd been in the club for 15 hours. It was an appropriate soundtrack to an endearing image: the smiling, shaggy-haired master and his baby-faced apprentice, both too modest to have any inkling that they—along with Maayan Nidam and Sammy Dee—had delivered a party that's going to be etched into the memory for some time.