The Copenhagen Report is a great place to start any artistic exploration of the Danish capital. Tim Anderson is one of Denmark's most prolific bloggers, with an archive well worth flicking through - The Guardian
Now that was a party! The Copenhagen Distortion Festival was crazier than ever this year with an estimated 90,000+ participants roaming the streets (and clubs) of Copenhagen from Wednesday to Sunday last week. It really was something to experience.
We did our part which can be seen in Episode #54 of MyDenmarkTV.com - besides lots of party footage from the streets, we actually managed to film a 10+ minute interview with Distortion Festival Founder and Visionary Thomas Fleurquin WHILE CYCLING. You really couldn't have dreamed a better scenario for an interview in literally the middle of the party.
Every year I look forward to the first few days of June when the Copenhagen Distortion Festival hits the streets. This year it's from June 2-6, 2010. If you are living in a hole or a similar dark space in Copenhagen and somehow missed the party in the past few years, understand that in 2009 there were over 60 events attended by nearly 40,000. It really is a hell of a party - though obviously the weather has a big impact on how it all plays out. My personal favourite 2 days are the Nørrebro and Vesterbro street parties, which I never miss if I can help it.
We're filming an episode of MyDenmarkTV.com in during Nørrebro Distortion on Thursday, and we've even lined up an interview Mr. Distortion himself, Thomas Fleurquin, who is the mastermind behind the whole thing - from when it was a tiny little bit of madness attended by a select few party people back in 2001 to now. I'm really looking forward to chatting with him about it.
Do yourself a favour and check out the party at least one of the nights.
June 2 - Center of city
June 3 - Nørrebro
June 4 - Vesterbro
June 5 - Final Party
June 6 - Chill out in the park
This time we check out Rust Nightclub (one of the most consistent clubs in Copenhagen, if you're looking for a non-mainstream good night out) and meet Sven Houlberg the club's Event Manager (and one of the faces behind Villains Club, which happens most Thursdays at Rust - and on special occasions elsewhere in the city as well).
And our new Host, Toi, investigates VerdensKulturHuset in Nørrebro ('The World Culture House'). It really is an amazing place, used by some 250 ethnic organisations in Denmark representing nationalities from all over the world.
no shortage of street level promotion around town...
It's become something of an annual institution in Copenhagen, The Distortion Festival. A 5-day extravaganza of fantastic underground electronic music. And it all starts tomorrow evening.
It's also a classy demonstration (clothed in wonderfully trashy garmets) of just how to keep what has now (after 9 years) become a gigantic, hyped and much-talked about annual festival, as uncommercialised and underground as possible.
The formula remains pretty simple. While the promotional efforts are fairly intense, the line-up can never be accused of being even the slightest bit mainstream. During the festival each year, no venue gets used more then once, and each night, the events of that evening are concentrated into a different area of Copenhagen.
I've had some excellent Distortion evenings evenings over the years - one of the best was three years ago at Halvandet, which I mention as this year, this also happens to be the venue for Distortion's big Saturday night party. That's promising.
And I'm looking forward to wandering around Nørrebro on Thursday night to check out the local Distortion events of the evening - just a short stroll from my flat. I'm sure they'll be some good stuff...
The latest video from Denmark's Trentemøller, for his track Moan, can only be described as weirdly fantastic. It also happens to be a brilliant track to boot.
The first time I heard the track, it was at about 4AM in a rather underground club in Berlin some friends and were directed to during a recent visit last month (located not so underground on the 15th floor of an office building...). An appropriate way to be introduced to this one, I can assure you.
Somehow Trentemøller's international stature has grown significantly during 2006, he's still pretty 'local' in Copenhagen, the only difference from past years is that now he does solo shows that sell out, rather than low-key club appearance on keyboards (alongside his DJ buddy Tom Von Rosen).
(please forgive the grainy low-quality mobile phone pictures...)
Digging deeply into Copenhagen's underground electronic music scene has its rewards. It also has its challenges, since though it's out there, its extent is relatively limited - particularly the further below the surface you try to get.
If you're into electronic sounds, the various arrangement put on by Komponent (www.komponent.dk) are about as deep as you can get in Copenhagen - both in terms of music and venues. At least that is my belief after 6 years of exploring. They are well worth getting into, in my own opinion.
Komponent's usual venue of choice is Lab, a space that could not possibly be any less pretentious. Lab is hidden away in the courtyard at Vesterbrogade 107b (http://lab.107b.dk - site in Danish), and it would take about 3 minutes to convertit into a motorcycle repair shop.
The term 'underground' or 'underground scene' is not terribly revealing in itself, given that the range of activity that can fall under it's broad remit are as majestic in scope as the range of activity that could be said to be 'mainstream' (and that's a pretty wide range). As I see it, about the only criteria for the tag 'underground' to be applied to an something, is that it can only have attracted the most minimal amount of 'mainstream' attention (i.e. press/media).
In other words, by definition, music that could be termed underground is no longer underground once picked up by 'mainstream', even though, in itself, the music may remain unchanged. To put it another way, music doesn't necessarily have to be 'weird' to be underground, as many tend to believe.
That said, the events staged by Komponent tend to fall within the remit of the more 'stereotypical' association that is made with the term 'underground'. They can be somewhat 'weird'. Sometimes in a very good way, sometimes less so. Attendees at these events range from hooded, pierced and tattooed types, to those of a more nerdy appearance and disposition. Very few of them would be likely to be asked if they had just come from a classical music performance or an opera.
The music of Komponent performances mostly consists of two elements: an assortment of computer generated/manipulated blips, beats and growls and a visual element - oftentimes an equally idiosyncratic series of video or photo projections.
The visual elements are notable creations in themselves, often astoundingly original and well-suited as accompaniment to the eccentric music at hand. All of which one may find eclectically brilliant or just outright strange, depending upon your particular sensibilities.
the trusty Mac computer - a staple of the underground music scene...
the vj at the back responsible for the visuals and light, giving life to the music...
In terms of my own tastes, I find Komponent events at their best inspiring and refreshing. At their worst, I'm out the door pretty quickly. When a sort of beat eventually emerges during the sets (and it doesn't always, believe me), or there is some sense of progression to the music (and ideally some portion of it that could be said to be 'danceable'), they are fantastic - even if it's not the sort of music I typically listen to at home. Since a good chunk of the music being played is homemade by the DJ's themselves, one must appreciate that there is a degree of artistry involved that goes well beyond simply pushing buttons and matching beats.
More importantly, these are the sort of audio and visual performances that can provoke a person to dig into certain emotional corners in a way that just doesn't happen while watching reruns of 'Friends' or listening to 'U2' (though I happen to have my occassional moments enjoying both of these, as well). They are, in that way, an acquired taste with an oddly compelling appeal.
indeed, that's a truck cab hanging off the ceiling...
visuals on every wall...
yep, a Macintosh computer, circa 1984, displaying the drink menu at the bar...
jump outside for a quick breath of fresh air...rather cold winter air on this particular night
This article was also published on Shortcut - A European City Blog. Wanna see it? Click here.
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