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FriCTM 2019’s opening club night is launched together with Bassiani. Persisting amidst a tumultuous political climate, the Tbilisi-based venue and crew have earned a formidable reputation in the worldwide club scene for their excellent music programming, for uniting a passionate community that strives to counter injust politics, and for creating one of the rare spaces for the LGBTQ community in Georgia.
After being shut down by local authorities for politically motivated reasons, the club became the catalyst and center of widespread protests that brought tens of thousands of young people to the streets, and garnered an international solidarity campaign and extensive press coverage that went so far as to positively affect the country’s restrictive politics. In a celebration of the power of dance to unite, residents HVL, Zitto, NDRX, and Kancheli will be joined by Iranian noise techno duo Temp-Illusion; Anastasia Kristensen, resident of Copenhagen’s Culture Box and queer party Mainstream, who will offer the international premiere of a new live set; fervent yet playful techno producer Machine Woman; Buttechno appears with a live set just a few days ahead of his debut on Anthony Naples' Incienso label.
Resident at Copenhagen venue Culture Box and queer party Mainstream, Anastasia Kristensen is a DJ and producer that has taken dance music by storm since appearing just a few years ago.
HVL is a DJ and producer based in Tbilisi, Georgia, and part of the Bassiani crew. They will be taking residency at Berghain for the opening night for CTM 2019. Beginning his musical career as part of Okinawa Lifestyle in 2009, HVL went on to become one of the most successful producers in the Georgian dance music scene.
Zitto is a Georgian DJ and part of Tbilisi’s Bassiani crew, along with HVL, Kancheli, and NDRX, among others. Influenced by hypnotic techno and the Detroit sound, Zitto’s responsive DJ sets reflect the desires of the his audience, perfectly balancing the context of the room. CTM is pleased to host Zitto as part of the Bassiani night for the opening party at Berghain.
Prolific, playful Machine Woman is a self-described “tech-hau$ producer” and “loop packs connoisseur.” She’s known for ecstatic bangers such as “Camile From OHM Makes Me Feel Loved” and “You Give Me Bristol Bass I Give You Bristol Cream.”
Buttechno is Pavel Milyakov, a young music producer from Moscow’s suburban Orekhovo-Borisovo district and one of the leading voices in the local rising underground scene. He is one of the founders of Johns’ Kingdom, a label and self-described “group of pretty unknown artists” from the Russian dancefloor avant-garde advocating anonymity (“untitled united”) and an anti-ego approach to music as fundamental principles of creativity.
Over the past ten years, DJ and producer Giorgi Kancheli graduated from drumming in the Tbilisi Jazz Band to becoming a techno stalwart in his hometown. Part of the Bassiani crew, Kancheli will be taking residency with HVL, Zitto, and NDRX as part of CTM 2019’s opening night at Berghain.
Since starting to explore electronic music as a teenager, Bassiani resident NDRX has ventured across the terrain of ambient, experimental, electro, drum and bass, and, of course, techno.
Temp-Illusion are Shahin Entezami (otherwise known as Tegh) and Behrang Najafi (or Bescolour). The two are an experimental electronic duo hailing from Tehran, Iran, active since 2011.