- It's difficult not to get nostalgic when talking about Tresor, especially when the person you're talking to is the club's founder, Dimitri Hegemann. Having spoken to him on numerous occasions, I've learnt how hard it is not succumb to his romantic, elysian Berlin of yore, even pine a little for that long-lost time around the fall of The Wall, when techno wasn't just music but a "movement… a soundtrack for a city… a symbol for a new Generation…"
More than two decades later, the city, the club and the music have all changed dramatically, but as Will Lynch recently found out, Hegemann is determined to preserve some of that fading West Berlin spirit—an idealistic, non-conformist sentiment that valued creative freedom over commercial gain, and birthed fierce and forward-thinking modes of expression. But while today's Tresor club is perhaps more of a mausoleum to such ideals, its revived Atonal festival is arguably as fresh-faced and freethinking as it ever was, despite its lofty 30-year legacy.
The first Atonal Festival took place in November 1982 at SO36 Club, then a premier melting pot of punk, new wave and visual art, enough to rival New York's infamous CBGB. Hegemann says that the festival aimed to provide a platform for artists to experiment beyond their normal parameters, providing the space and setting to push creatively into the unknown, to deliver something new and wild. Now in the hands of a youthful troop of 20-somethings, this idea nevertheless continues to be at the core of Atonal's modern incarnation.
There may have been a distinct lack of the body painting and breaking through walls with power tools that defined Atonal's earliest manifestations, but there were plenty of audio and visual spectacles to behold. Like last year, the core programming once again took place in the impressive "concrete cathedral" of Kraftwerk. Over the festival's five days we were treated to countless artists debuting new projects (such as James Ginzburg performing as Bleed Tourquoise on Saturday, or Samuel Kerridge and OAKE playing as UF on Sunday) and intriguing site-specific pieces (like Dasha Rush's "Antarctic Takt" performance on Friday). The hypnotising AV accompaniment to Fis' performance and French outfit DSCRD's repurposed CCTV materia are both worth a mention. Tim Hecker's blackout performance stunned us all into a stoned and awe-struck stupor. Then there were the various 4D performances, which opened each night. I only managed to catch Murcof on the Thursday, but was impressed by his compositional aplomb, fractured across the 16 outlets, morphing from oppressive doom-scapes into bleepy sci-fi scenes and back again.
But for many, this year's pièce de résistance was the much touted return of Richard H. Kirk performing solo as Cabaret Voltaire. As promised, he delivered a nonlinear and totally "no nostalgia" show. The result sounded like early '00s bass culture circumvented through an industrial net. The total jaw-dropping, skank-out moment was what can only be described as a drum & bass reprieve, and probably my hands-down highlight. It certainly summed up what I took away as Hegemann's ultimate raison d'être for Atonal, and even Tresor the institute as a whole: an unexpected reinvention of history into something timely, provocative and at best culturally relevant. And on that count, I can't commend Atonal enough.
As Kraftwerk closed its doors each night, the festival sprung into after-hour mode in Tresor's basement, the upstairs Globus room and the OHM club next door. Despite being comparatively normal club nights, the lineups still had a distinct Atonal flavor, with the likes of Pinch, Millie & Andrea, Shapednoise, SHXCXCHCXSH, ADMX-71 and many more. Highlights here would probably be the Sendai Soundsystem showcase at OHM, which supplied a less compacted and surprisingly killer soundtrack to Friday's otherwise fairly straight-laced Tresor affair.
But as far as whole-day programming goes, Atonal's concluding bill, again dreamed up by Contort (Berlin's "NOT just 'another' techno/house party") provided the whole package a send-off that no one really expected: a blistering jungle set from Jim Baker as Source Direct. Will I be attending next year's installment? Most definitely.
Photo credits: Camille Blake (header, dazed couple, Vessel), Theresa Baumgartner (video screen)