Rating: 8.5 / Format: CD / Label: Ostgut-Ton
In recent years the focus of Berlin clubbing has shifted to the cavernous Berghain club and its little sister Panorama Bar, situated in a former power station. The Berghain CDs reflect the massive scale of the venue – Marcel Dettman’s Berghain 02 was one of last year’s most acclaimed mixes, in no small part due to its booming, reverb-laden kickdrums, its snares that seemed to echo off sweat-drenched shutters, the sheer growl and roll of it all.
But for me, Len Faki’s Berghain 03 leaves it in the shade. This is techno writ large, and Faki’s command of atmospherics means that unlike Dettman’s, his mix never tails off – even when the pace and drama seems to slacken, there’s always that feeling that something significant is right around the corner. The mix peaks with Faki’s own incredible ‘BX 3’, and winds down with a clever, surprising selection of tracks: Basement Jaxx’s ‘Fly Life’, Laurent Garnier’s ‘Man With The Red Face’, and the Burial mix of Bloc Party’s ‘Where Is Home?’.
Tom Lea