MELT! Festival 2007 (Germany)

1.5 hours SW of Berlin brought us to Ferropolis "City of Steel," the remains of an abandoned strip mining operation and the grounds for MELT!, an annual outdoor music festival. Advertised as "Electronic meets Rock," we came for the incredible line-up of electronic musicians.

Many rusting hulks of machinery brought an industrial aesthetic to the experience of the site, their silhouettes always marked the surrounding skyline. Most of them were washed in projected light, adding more dimension. Both nights were clear and the sky was filled with stars.

With 6 stages playing simultaneously we had to pick and choose; most of our time was spent at the Gemini & Big Wheel stages. Some of this year's highlights (click names for video):

Friday:

• Mathias Kaden vs. Onur Ozer
• Alex Smoke (killed it)
• Apparat & Band (short set we missed most of :(... were over at the Big Wheel Stage) Video of Apparat, Alex Smoke, and Troy Pierce
• Troy Pierce
• Autechre (amazing.. their performance is hard to describe... percolating and rumbling sounds / beats that build in asymmetric rhythms... very imaginative... brought waves of associations when listening with closed eyes)
• Tiefschwarz
• Marc Houle
• Dizzie Rascal (hilarious and energetic "imma champion and a victor prick ya!" "he's jus a rascal, Dizzie Rascal!... he's jus a rascal!..,"
• Magda
• DJ Koze (Germans love their Koze... he rocked the stage!)
• Ritchie Hawtin
• Wighnomy Brothers (after seeing them at Mutek in June, we decided to ditch their 5AM set ;)

Saturday:

• Booka Shade (Body Language, anyone?.. great live performance... lots of energy, seemed like everyone was dancing!) see video here
• Michael Mayer (always puts on a good set... this one was almost 3 hours!)
• Trentmoller Live (incredible stage presence.. varied between tranquil melodic pieces and more intense dancing)
• Digitalism (MAD!!)

We really dug this festival... there was a lot of focus on great electronic musicians and the crowd seemed to be in it for the music and dancing (and drinking of course!). Maybe it was just being in Germany. We couldn't remember the last time we stayed up until sunrise listening to music.