Club Review: Ostgut Ton: The Sound of Berghain @ The Warehouse Project

Top dog label Ostgut Ton came to Manchester on December 16th to take over the Warehouse for eight hours of choice house and techno.

Jayne Robinson

Date published: 24th Dec 2011

Date: December 16th 2011

Words: Oli Byrne

Photos: Joseph Denyer

Top dog label Ostgut Ton came to Manchester on December 16th to take over the Warehouse for eight hours of choice house and techno.

Owned by the Berlin mega club Berghain, Ostgut Ton is home to some of the world's best DJs and producers. So having 10 of them under one roof in Manchester is a very special treat. This is the pick of this WHP season for underground electronic music lovers, so it was a huge shock to see it was the only one that didn't sell out weeks in advance. Oh well, more room for everyone else.

We arrived around half 10 to catch Tobias warming up the main room which was unusually lively for this time, even if it was nowhere near full. He wasn't messing around, playing the more party orientated of his tunes and not hesitating to jump in at the deep end with upbeat techno tracks.

We didn't stick around for long as we noticed that Prosumer & Tama Sumo were playing back to back in Room Two. Having thoroughly enjoyed both of their Panorama Bar mix CDs I knew we would be in for something special here. Mixing together new and forgotten gems from the past these two played a blinding set. Starting off with deep old school house vibes with the occasional bit of acid house thrown in, they picked up the tempo and certainly got everyone moving, even playing everyone's favourite; 'Blue Monday' by New Order.

At 11.30 we went through to the now full main room to check out Norman Nodge. As with all of the Ostgut Ton DJs Nodge has an array of tunes that is to die for. He played amazing techno tracks from all eras and much like Tobias he wasn't holding back at all, smashing out the peak time stuff. The main room was really going for it and it wasn't even midnight. There were smiles on everyone's faces - perhaps because of the sick tunes, or perhaps because they knew they had over six hours of this to go.

Next up is my favourite techno producer Shed, whose 2008 album 'Shedding The Past' is quite simply an electronic masterpiece. He started off with some of his more traditional techno with a track from his latest Equalised 12", carrying on from where Nodge had left off ,just keeping the energy levels up playing some really great tracks.

He then went into what we know and love him for which was a more broken beat sound. Really big raw drums with mind bending synths. He even played an updated version of an all time fave, 'Estrange', switching the drums up for a more dance floor orientated feel. He slowly mixed back into traditional drums, playing a few more Equalised tracks before the main men stepped up. This was definitely a set I wish was recorded, because I could listen to this every day and probably never get bored.

Techno's heroes Dettmann & Klock rocked up to the decks to a buzzing crowd. It's almost impossible to put into words how good these two were. They managed to amaze for three straight hours almost as much as they did the first time I saw them a few years ago. Their knowledge of how to work a crowd combined with their bottomless knowledge of underground records is immense. There wasn't a bad moment and the last three hours flew by far too fast.

This was by far the best Warehouse Project I've been to in a few years, and the fact that it wasn't quite a sell out played to its advantage. The room wasn't empty and was still going at 6am. But that extra bit of breathing room just allows the party to flow that little bit smoother. The crowd was great too, with everyone being really into it. It doesn't really compare to seeing these guys in their home club at Berghain, but there aren't many places on earth that can. Safe to say though, this is one of the best party vibes I've had in Manchester in a while in such a big venue.

Unfortunately we missed Andro's (One half of Manchester's AnD) warm-up set, which was a shame because he's a top lad and I was looking forward to seeing him play the warm-up slot rather than the peak time sets I'd seen. I did however manage to catch him at the after party and he didn't disappoint. After a hugely successful 2011, I can see 2012 being the year that AnD becomes a household name to underground techno fans around Europe.