In a city where you can lose yourself in one of its many clubs for the best part of a day or more, it’s difficult to know what the hell to do with your time in Berlin. Luckily, the lovely Sasha from twisted dubstep outfit Jahcoozi is on hand to offer a truly underground perspective on the city she has adopted as her own.
Formed in Berlin in 2002, Jahcoozi’s continent-spanning line-up consists of vocalist Sasha Perera (Britain/Sri Lanka), producer/engineer Oren Gerlitz (Israel) and producer/beat-head Robot Koch (Germany). Crudely put, they make atmospheric, digital dubstep, but with a sound that encompasses techno, hip-hop, bassline and grime, held together by Sasha’s sharp and smoky lyrical excursions.
Sasha moved from Brixton to Germany ten years ago after finishing a degree in European Politics and German. After meeting Oren and Robot through mutual friends, they began jamming regularly and Jahcoozi took shape. “Berlin was much more understated back then,” Sasha recalls. “There was much less tourism and it didn’t feel as ‘techno Disneyland’ as it does now.”
But how has this transformation – from what Sasha labels as “the dark years”, to a hive of artistic activity – taken place?
“When the Russians were surrounding Berlin after World War Two, the Americans pumped loads of money into the city, because they didn’t want it to fall to the Russians. How do you make sure of that? You make it easy to hang out in. How do you get people not to leave? You say, ‘The rest of Germany has to have military service, but anyone who lives in Berlin is exempt’. What kind of people then move to Berlin? The kind that don’t want to be in the army – hippies, punks… So since the Seventies it’s been a stronghold for alternative culture.”
An important part of this culture is electronic music, with Berlin having long been regarded as techno’s pivotal location. In the early Nineties the rave scene exploded in both West Germany and the more underground parties of East Germany, and despite numerous changes over twenty years, it still resonates today, with clubs like Berghain, Tresor and the now defunct WMF seeking (and occasionally succeeding) to recreate the unique atmosphere of those early parties.
And although some of this counter-culture ideology is now inescapably entwined with tourism, there are still many hidden gems in the city. Among these, says Sasha, is HBC, an artist space housed in a former communist block. “It’s ‘communist chic’, but it’s really down-to-earth as well.”
This grounded approach can also be seen in the city’s music industry. “We’ve always been on Berlin independent labels” says Sasha. Indeed, there could hardly be a more appropriate label on which to release the sublime new album ‘Barefoot Wanderer’ than Ellen Allien’s eclectic BPitch Control. “People seem to behave in a certain way in Berlin. It’s not so much, ‘time is money’. And of course, time is money, but people here seem to have a bit more time and a bit less money, so everyone reacts in the same way.”
This is confirmed by Oren, whose charmingly bizarre description of Berlin is somehow entirely accurate: “It’s like a turtle who moves really slow… It’s not a fast city, everybody has time to do creative stuff.” Sasha concludes: “There’s parts of Berlin which are old and beautiful, and there’s also lots of eyesore architecture. But there’s often beauty in the eyesores. Not everything which glistens is beautiful.” A fitting summary not just of Berlin, but also of the dark, disturbing beauty of Jahcoozi.
Words by Tristan Parker.
Photos by Michael Mann
Jahcoozi – Barefoot Dub
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Miss Hecker
“You can’t find the address anywhere, you’ve got to be taken there by someone else. It’s smack in the middle of Mitte, behind one of the biggest shopping streets. It’s in a courtyard and it’s basically someone’s flat, which has been turned into an art gallery. They do obscure jazz concerts and weird electronic noise stuff. Not many people know about it and you can probably only fit thirty people in the room.”
Changing times
“Ten years ago the kinds of people coming to Berlin had to have some sort of understanding of what it was like out here. Now it’s a lot easier. I bitch about it in a funny way, but it’s good for the city. There’s 20% unemployment here, and stagnation is bad. It’s a different phase, but it’s out of ‘the dark years’ now. There were no renovated houses, everywhere was grey, there were bullet holes – it looked like a film set. Now there’s a lot more money here and although you don’t have the same atmosphere as before, it’s a great place to be creative in. And the world is coming to Berlin.”
Tea time and dancing
The Kazakhstan tea room is in the middle of town, in the back of a museum. That place is dope, there’s big carpets everywhere and they do weird tea ceremonies with vodka. Clarchens Ballhaus (‘Clare’s Ballroom’) is a little more well-known. It’s an original ballroom unchanged since the Twenties. It has a Blackpool feel downstairs, then upstairs in the actual ballroom joint they’ve got huge mirrors with bullet holes in. They do parties and you can eat in there as well.”
Clash’s A-Z of Berlin
Atari Teenage Riot
Important, thrashy digital punk band fronted by Alec Empire. Highly political, they explicitly rebelled against fascist and neo-Nazi ideology in their music.
Berghain/Panorama Bar
The cavernous, palatial concrete embodiment of minimal techno. Full of unabashed hedonism and some scary sights. If you ain’t played here, you ain’t no-one.
Currywurst
Fast food snack invented in 1940s’ Berlin – a sliced sausage drowning in curry sauce.
Delicious Donuts
Random little living room bar that never seems to shut. Full of weird and wonderful boozy characters.
Digital Hardcore Recordings
Alec Empire’s self-explanatory record label, now based in London but with most of its output recorded in Berlin.
Eckbert
Oren’s favourite restaurant, based in Kreuzberg. Serves traditional German food and has an old-skool atmosphere.
Ellen Allien
Renowned techno producer, clothing designer and founder of Berlin’s BPitch Control record label.
HBC
Artist space and party venue, housed in a former Hungarian cultural centre.
Kreuzberg
The boho area for the hip, young and thirsty, with an international feel and bars and clubs galore.
Modeselektor
Obscenely good tech-crunk-hop duo. Pretty much saviours of modern electronic music.
WMF
“The best club ever in Berlin, but it’s been closed down now,” says Sasha.
