a project by Andrea Mi
in collaboration with Intooitiv

City Mix is a journey among the 'hot-spots' of contemporary electronic creativity. It is a journey among those cities that by nature and vocation have become artistic hotspots: the dynamic hubs of a map in constant expansion. In the ever-growing panorama of multi-media electronic techniques, some cities seem more capable of grasping, motivating and giving space to the productive energy that unites experimentation and high quality production.
The voyage had to begin in Florence, in whose underground new energies and projects are moving, capable of renewing the legacy of the pioneers Pankow and Alexander Robotnik.  Next it passes by Amsterdam and its kindred spirits, stops off with the rapid advances of Bucharest and Frankfurt in the east, moves onto the fervid activity of an ever-more global Barcelona, and returns south as always to a bewitching and absolutely up-to-date Istanbul.  The journey finishes in the city that has done more than any other to build the European electronic landscape: Berlin.... To watch the sky above and the music beneath.

City Mix > BERLIN

Few can remain in any doubt that the German city is the true epicentre of the seismic shocks that have rocked the electronic scene in the last few years. This not least, because more and more international artists choose it as a place to live. The once-divided city has continued to revitalize its scene which continues to mature through the devoted work of labels such as Scape, Bpitch Control, K7, Shitkatapult, and festivals such as Transmediale and Pictoplasma, which serve as inexhaustible reservoirs of ideas and artistic connections. Berlin has succeeded in responding to the legacy of Krautrock and the cosmic sound of the 70's with an innate avant-garde energy which has made it into the home ground of electronic dub, of new techno-minimalism, of electro... in other words of all the principal strands of the new club culture. Berlin: a symphony of a city in constant acceleration.

Jan Jelinek _ live
Jan is one of the key figures of the international electronica scene and a perfect example of the DJ/producers who have created Berlin's musical history. He is also known as Farben and Gramm, pseudonyms under which he has released fundamental house and electro-minimal records. He founded and made forays into the minimal scene, flirted with jazz (with Triosk on a fine record [1+3+1]), acknowledged his debt to krautrock, and has, in short, synthesised everything into an completely personal formula: a new standard, a sort of innovative fusion between glitch, jazz and refined minimalism. Intensity of execution is the hallmark of his live performances, in all-enveloping, elegant sonic explorations. Jan Jelinek must be considered one of the most innovative and intelligent artists on today's electronica scene. He will enchant all those who can see the thread linking Can, To Rococo Rot and Jeff Mills.

Phon.o _ dj set
Carsten Aermes, the "guy with the full stop in his name", began producing music in the early 90's in the old East Germany. In 1997 he turned up in Berlin, where he established his reputation in 2000 with the release of his first disc on the techno label Cytrax. Next he joined the Shitkatapult crew, the Berlin label founded by T. Raumschmiere, for whom he also designs covers. His latest release Burn Down theTtown (Shitkatapult and Tigerbeat6), with Funkstörung and Kit Clayton on board, confirmed him as a top player on the German electronic scene. It led to appearances from Detroit to Japan. Live, he invites you on sonic voyages made up of vocal samples and obscure sounds, showing the influence of hip hop, dub, dancehall, breakbeats and techno.

Virgilio Villoresi _ vj set
Virgilio Villoresi is a visual artist devoted to experimentation, who works in real-time montage, live media and musical projects. His performances grace the programmes of some of the principal Italian electronica festivals (Audiovisiva, Netmage, Station to Station). In 2005 he set up OTO with Marco Puccini. This is a project combining glitch sonorities with experimental video, deriving from the aesthetic world of Vasulka, Brakhage and Kenneth Anger. He has made music videos for Etre, Populous and Hot Gossip. In his performances he brings together a passion for abstract cinema and animation, the acknowledged influence of the historical avant-gardes, and "found footage" techniques. His set, alongside the two German artists, will be a tissue of quotations, flitting between expressionism and rationalism, about the imaginative urban world of Berlin.