My Love Affair with German Techno

I have never been a huge party person and most certainly never been a club person. Still, I knew that living in Berlin I’d have to try going to a Techno club at least once in my time here. This is the world capital of Techno music after all. So when my friends talked about going out I agreed to join them. 

My friends and I headed to Club Ost, a relatively new techno club in former east Berlin. Upon entering and checking our coats I was a little apprehensive. Nothing about the music pounding from the room past the bar seemed at all attractive to me. Still, we walked through the entrance and went to stand in the back. Immediately, I could feel the base roaring through my feet and into the rest of my body. It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about live music, the overwhelming sound of the base rippling through the crowd, and now I was standing in a room completely dedicated to that sound. I could feel my pant legs vibrating with it. The lights, mostly red cast, throbbed with occasional blasts of white beams streaking through cigarette haze. Other people were briefly distinguishable in the flashes but mostly the lights remained dim and the most consistent sight was the glowing ends of people’s cigarettes. I began to dance and fell in love with it. 

Techno music is absolutely immersive. It’s all-consuming and overwhelming. It’s definitely not everyone's cup of tea and I’m absolutely in love with it. Techno music for me is almost meditative. My mind is, for once, free of thoughts and I am simply absolutely grounded at the moment. The way the air vibrates with each thump of the base, the uneven floors underneath my feet (a lot of techno clubs are built in old warehouses abandoned during reunification, and moving to the beat of the music. Everything about it is about the sensation and love of the music at that moment. It’s absolutely freeing. 

One of the reasons I think I love going out to Berlin so much is because of the very particular culture that the city has cultivated. There is a lot of chatter online about Berlin being a pretentious club scene because of its ‘strict’ unofficial dress code and the fact that most clubs don’t let you record when inside (they even pass out stickers to cover your phone cameras with). But I honestly think it’s that selectiveness that makes me love Berlin’s techno scene so much. For one thing, everyone takes consent super seriously here. Almost no one will touch you without asking, so the storied history of having to deal with ‘creeps’ at the club has been entirely absent from my experience here. Most people just face the DJ and enjoy the music on their own. I’ve never felt safer on my own in a city than I do on those dance floors. For that time, it’s just me and the music. And I love it.