Digging through May with Pablo
When Pablo Gardú joined our team of light operators at Ankali few years back, we remember how, each time on a shift, they used to squeeze in a couple of minutes of practice in the DJ booth before we opened the club. They have come a long way since then: co-directed last year’s Grid revival, co-founded hereandthere and became a versatile DJ and skilled light designer. Knowing they’re in for a treat, Pablo asked for this month’s Digging and we happily agreed.
It’s that time of the year! Ankali celebrates 6 years of existence this month. As always, looking at the program for this month got me excited after seeing a few names that I recognized, and a whole lot that I didn’t.
Starting off with this upcoming weekend: if I didn’t live a 4-minute walk away from the club, I would heavily consider sleeping there, since I’ll be spending both nights there from start to finish.
Marie Pravda – local hero and total sweetheart – is behind Transcendanz, alongside Kosmic Skaut. As it usually goes, I don’t really remember how or where we met for the first time, but I remember hearing Marie play for the first time with Claudia at the 4th anniversary in the Karlín Jungle and being immediately captivated from the moment they started their set with some tribal-ish, cumbia/reggaeton infused, percussion-heavy tracks on the slower end of the BPM spectrum.
I’m still a sucker for slower music, but at the time, it was all I was listening to. One of the artists that got me hooked on it around then was the star of the evening – A Strange Wedding. I first came across his stuff that same summer while digging through the Worst Records catalog on Bandcamp. His productions have everything that rubs me the right way in slower music: an eerie vibe, natural-sounding percussion, sleazy bass and heavily-effected vocals. This one is one of my personal favorites.
The rest of the line-up looks amazing as well. Main floor opening duties will be taken care of by Malachi Constant, another local connoisseur of shamanistic slow burners and unorthodox sounds.
The newly-revamped listening room will be taken care of by Ankali resident Eva Porating, who makes it extremely difficult to resist the urge to run to the booth and ask for at least one track ID every time I get to hear stuff from the weirder section of her record bag, and London-based Avsluta, whose ambient productions full of beautiful synthesizer soundscapes have had a permanent spot on my USB since I found them a few years ago. They’ll both be bringing both records and synths, so when I’m not pushing buttons in the light booth, you can be sure I’ll be recharging in the corner of the listening room.
P.S. I am writing this bit a couple of days later, after going to a meeting in the club to talk to Marie about her plans for lights and decorations, and let’s just say everyone’s in for a huge treat.
I’m a bit biased here, but I think this one is gonna be a fun one. This is the third edition of Pinkies, this time with Steffi, whose sound ranges so widely that I’ve gone back to edit this paragraph a solid 5 or 6 times. One thing is certain though: the queen of Panorama Bar has been around, and if there’s one thing that’s consistent with her it’s the quality of her selections.
Balto, though, I’d never heard of, and listening to the first couple of sets that came up when I searched his name on SoundCloud got me even more excited than I already was for the night. I tried the first one, one for United We Rise from about a year ago, and heard some minimal house perfectly suited for an afternoon in the Wildt garden (R.I.P. 😞). Although I’m sure that’s not at all the direction he’ll go in this Saturday, hearing that kind of range from a DJ is always a good sign for me.
Closing the night will be Lika and Yalin, two long-time friends of mine who both taught me a lot about DJing. Both are incredibly talented artists and producers, and they’re deliberate in their approach to both. I’m really curious to hear where their middle ground will be.
Fun Fact: my first ever “light gig” was during one of Ly Sas’ gigs in Chapeau Rouge four years ago. There was a small light controller secured near the ceiling next to the DJ booth, which I awkwardly and drunkenly reached up to and pressed the blackout button over and over.
Over in Planeta, patricccio and myself will be taking care of the music for the whole night. We’ve bonded a lot over music of all kinds, so having this chance to explore every corner of our USBs for 6-8 hours in our favorite DJ booth (and for our favorite dancefloor) will be quite special for us.
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For the sake of not making this blog post into a novel, I wanted to pick only one of the two events happening the second weekend of the month to write about, but I also wanted to give an honorary mention to one of the artists on the lineup for Lunchmeat Teknologi – Steffen Bennemann – for playing this gem at the third anniversary in Karlín and destroying the dancefloor with it, a moment which I remember very vividly to this day. It was raining pretty heavily, I was shuffling between bushes to refill the smoke machine, and between the soaking crowd, someone danced with a clear plastic umbrella outfitted with battery-powered Christmas lights.
If my gut feeling is right, though, I think he might go in a more atmospheric direction, judging by the standout name of the lineup, Aleksi Perälä. Bennemann’s ambient sets were among the many nice surprises I found while writing this.
My first experiences with underground music happened in a D.I.Y. venue in Denver called Seventh Circle Music Collective, which at the time was known primarily for their punk and hardcore shows. Almost 10 years later, I still have a huge soft spot for that music, and seeing the graphics that WRONG puts out always brings a smile to my face and reminds me of the badly photocopied show flyers at the entrance of that place.
Mind|Matter is a name I was not familiar with, but upon further inspection, I found some of their releases on Detriti Records, one of my favorite finds from the past few months. The label puts out a crazy range of music, ranging from industrial heavy-hitters to gentle post-punk and coldwave numbers, similar to another name on the bill: Ester.
Too many great artists to talk about in-depth on this one, but my #1 pick would have to go to Koruth. I haven’t had the chance to hear her music yet, but if her painting/sculpture/installation work is a good indicator, I think there’s a good chance she’ll transport everyone in the room to a magical realm.
26/27–5–2023 Ankali 6th Anniversary
Going in alphabetical order, and sticking to guests, the first name that made me do a lil’ shimmy in my seat out of pure excitement (besides everyone’s favorite amphibians) was:
Alicia Carrera. Her Dreaming Is A Private Thing mix series was the soundtrack that a decent portion of the Emergency Store orders was packed to, and revisiting them just now is bringing back warm summer memories.
Azu Tiwaline, who has sound design chops that can be heard on more than one Livity Sound release and will most definitely wake up some kind of animal inside me the moment she steps up to the booth.
Bambounou – I don’t think I need to explain myself here.
Durt808. Picture this: the sun is beaming through the Planeta skylight, God abandoned us long ago, mimosa in one hand, and dirty 90’s Memphis rap blaring through the speakers.
Mary Lake. Her Boiler Room set from last year’s Dekmantel festival grabbed me immediately, with minimal techno grooves that are impossible to sit still to, but this track sold me. I will (gently and politely) shove my way to the front right of the dancefloor for this one.
Sabla. I knew them already from this release, which I was both blown away by and surprised at the small amount of plays. But after checking their Soundcloud just now and seeing an upcoming collab with maestro Donnato Dozzy, this is one I’m not gonna miss.
Toma Kami. Legend says if you play his Dekmantel podcast and wait long enough, you just might hear a Playboi Carti vocal over a fat 808 with the Gypsy Woman chords slowed down in the background, followed by a backspin into his usual jungle (as in the ecosystem, not the music genre) vibes. I’m not sure if these are the kinds of left turns he’ll bring to Ankali, but either way, I’ll be at the front right for this one as well.
This month is gonna be a doozy, so rest as much as you can, eat a healthy meal before going out, and wear your earplugs! Bad hangovers and hearing loss can both be prevented, but only one of them can be cured.
See you all on Friday! 🦦
Check the full programme of May here.
Artwork for May 2023 was made in collaboration with Briscard Club.
