Christina Majcher

Rave Culture: Aliens, spaceships and cosmic adventures

Posted on December 21, 2025 Leave a Comment

You might have noticed that mainstream culture has turned its gaze towards UFOs, aliens, and possible parallel universes in recent years. But as always, ravers are decades, if not eons, ahead. Rave culture is PACKED with references to space travel and aliens and has been so since day one.

In this old pic, I’m wearing a classic space alien tee from the 90s, glowing in the dark (I still have it!). We are at the Silo Bash in Copenhagen. Picture by Jonas.dk.

Liquid goes for a slightly darker t-shirt vibe, wearing ghosts in space suits.

When it comes to space suits, here’s Drop, going in a completely different sci-fi direction: This silvery garment is less cartoonish and more in the style of ‘Foundation’.

If you don’t know, Foundation is a tv-series based on the novels of Isaac Asimov, chronicling af band of exiles on a journey to rebuild civilization. As such, a great and appropriate choice for Fusion.

Some ravers decide to go with a space-referencing name, like Rumpistol. This is Rumpistol himself at the Strøm Festival opening night 2025, after the show, outside Bremen. (The entire band wore space mechanic boiler suits on stage, of course).

You can also ink the aliens right onto your body. Here’s a space invader tattoo at Boom, 2022.

The space invader crew, next to the mainfloor at Boom – 2022.

In psy-culture, the Boom Festival itself is referred to as the ‘mothership’.

At Boom’s gigantic main stage, the Dance Temple, described as the festival’s *power source* and a futuristic portal to the tribal community, the tribal symbolism are mixed with space and alien fantasies (and the wildest high-tech light and sound technology). This is another pic from Boom, 2022.

The entire festival looks like it’s packed with alien species and technology, like this:

Or like this, which looks like the inside of an alien spacecraft:

And here are two actual aliens, popping up at a random spot on Boom and playing some space tunes for the sunset crowd.

Fun time-jump: Here’s a map over the Boom festival in 1997 (this is the centre spread of the 1997 Boom flyer). Notice the alien dj’ing in the middle!

Here’s the Boom Festival lineup anno 1997, with a strong Danish (and UK) presence:

So many fun details here. Like ‘The line up order is not fixed’. I also have a strong feeling that Tristan and James Monro have been to the Boom Festival every single years since this one.

Boom booklet flyer, 1997: Here’s the cosmic front page. “A three day open air psychedelic goa trance extravaganza’. Oh my, has Boom grown since then.

The alien imagery in psy-culture is supported by the music’s sound samples from science fiction movies and other similar sources, often about daring cosmic adventures in alternate dimensions, such as “OK, space cadets! Prepare to hurtle through the cosmos!” or “There are hundreds of universes of intelligent energy inside your body”. This is the S.U.N. Festival, 2013.

Here are some more psytrancers dancing in front of some more alien technology at Free Earth, 2024.

And it’s not just psytrance. As any junglist will know, drum’n’bass and jungle are filled with sounds, rhythms and samples that sound like they origin from outer space. Too many tunes to chose from, from Predator to Satellite Type 2, so let’s just go with Planet Dust by Bad Company. Also: Is this pic from a space ship or just Værkstedet in Christiania? You will never know.

Here’s a Jungle Fever flyer (from Copenhagen in the 90s) that has gone completely to space.

And here’s another jungle flyer from the 90s, with the classic alien head on front. Check the lineup! Check the entrance price!

And yes, there’s more. Much more:

For the mighty Fusion Festival, the logo and landmark representing the entire festival is a space rocket:

Here’s a collection of Fusion tickets and programmes, featuring ‘Die Rakete’ through the years. ‘Die Rakete’ can be found on posters, websites and printed programmes and serves as a metaphor for the festival as a whole: The marvelous rocket that sends all participants to another universe – once a year, for one week.

Here’s the physical (and original) rocket itself, once bronze-colored, on top of one of the Fusion hangars, at Fusion 2012.

The rocket, up close, on top of the hangar, at Fusion 2018. Slowly getting filled with stickers.

One of the things I really like about Fusion is their sense of humor. It’s not a very pretentious festival, let’s put it like that. A LOT of Fusion’s festival deco is humorous and playfully absurd. And even though the rocket is the beloved icon of the festival, you can find it in various states across the festival grounds: One year, I saw a large rocket installation at one of the smaller music stages depicting the rocket crashed, half buried in the ground (nose first).

Rockets, space ships and submarines: The transportation theme in Fusion’s decorations playfully emphasises the liminal state that festival participants should ideally remain in throughout the week while the rocket flies: Beings-in-transit, in transition between their previous and future states, outside the normal rules of society. In 2018, The Tanzwüste stage had a strong ‘stranded ship’ theme, as you can see in this pic. Be Svendsen is behind the decks, inside the stranded vessel.

Components from planes, rockets and spaceships, as well as other means of transport such as hot air balloons, submarines, stranded ships and old, rusty cars overgrown with plants and grass form a prominent part of the festival’s decorations. Here’s a yellow submarine, Fusion 2018.

Here’s what the rocket (and the hangar) looked like at Fusion in 2007. Eighteen full years ago. No stairs on the hangars back then!

And this is what Turmbühne looked like in 2007 – as seen from the rocket. On a peculiar un-busy afternoon.

Obviously, Turmbühne did get massively packed back in 2007, too. So fun to revisit these pictures from back then. Check out how the main tower (to the left in the pic) looks like a half-finished DIY project, wrapped in plastic, but not quite. And how people use the set-up (the wires stretching from the main tower to the deco screens) as clothes lines or coat hangers, LOL.

Obviously, Turmbühne still looked magical at night in 2007, even though the daytime look had a bit of a (charming) DIY vibe. I don’t have any proper night time photographs of it, though, because my digital camera back in 2007 simply couldn’t process night time sceneries. So this is all I have.

This is what Turmbühne looks like at night with a much better (phone) camera, anno 2025. Look how the tower in the middle of the floor (to the left in this pic) has grown.

Another look at what Turmbühne and its tiny DIY tower looked like in 2007 (with Sune in front).

And this is what the Turmbühne tower (and the crowds) have grown to now. You can pretty much do what you want at Fusion, but you can’t hang your coats on the Turmbühne deco anymore, LOL. Too high up! (This is 2016, so nine years after the previous photo – and nine years ago. Linear time is weird.).

More time travel: This is the Trancefloor, anno 2007! (spot the Danes – there are at least nine in this pic, possibly more).

Another pic from the 2007 version of the Fusion Trancefloor. Aaaaaw, everyone’s super young. Spot all the Danes, part II!

And here’s what the Trancefloor looks like today. This is from 2024. (Spaceship bonus: If you zoom, you can see a tiny space rocket on a stick, dancing two meters in front of us.)

Yes, the genuine experts bring their own space ships to Fusion:

Here are two expert level space cadets, casually carrying their own space rocket from the camp to the Trancefloor, at Fusion 2025.

The space rocket has landed on the Trancefloor, ready for some cosmic action.

TIME JUMP! This is what the rocket looked like a year before, in its previous incarnation, on the Trancefloor in 2024.

And this is what the upgraded rocket looks like now. This is at the Sonnendeck, Fusion 2025, the night between Saturday and Sunday.

At night, the entire Fusion Festival looks like a strange planet, with flying aliens, otherworldly creatures, glowing planets and glittering stars everywhere.

But to be fair, you don’t have to go to Boom, Ozora or Fusion to feel like your eyes have entered a space ship. This is an underground party in a military bunker on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

OR you can just close your eyes and float, smiling, into the vast cosmos of your own mind, as Andreas does here at a Rumpistol concert on Refshaleøen.

Are we in space? On another planet? Or at an underground party at a secret location outside Copenhagen? Who knows.

Do you crave more raver photos? Dive in:
For more flyers: How to be a Junglist: Flyers, flyers, flyers everywhere.
– If you want more old flyers from the 90s (and really really old pics from Copenhagen and London)

For more junglistic sci-fi: Jungle Feelings: The Blade Runner Special
– in which I dedicate three full (A4) pages in my6 teenage diary from 1992 to Bladerunner – Director’s Cut.

For more old pics from Fusion (etc.): The Sunglasses Special, part II
For more t-shirts: The T-shirt special, the extended remix
For classier raver clothes: Blasts from the Past: The Well-dressed raver
More endless enthusiasm: How to be a Raver: Hands in the Air
Want to be stealthy? Read How to be a Junglist: Camouflage

Find all seasons of the calendar here: JUngLEkalenderen.

Ravers are the Experts: Career Advice from Unexpected Places

Posted on December 14, 2025 Leave a Comment

Rave culture is so fun and amazing, you never want to leave. So how do you stay inside the fun house forever? By turning raving into your career. Here’s how.

CAREER CHOICE: BECOME A DJ AND/OR START A RECORD COMPANY
This is the obvious choice. And many have succeeded. Even if we limit ourselves to those who have built successful international careers, there are too many friends of JUNgLEkalenderen to mention here.

But if I should pick just ONE (who has made a great career out of becoming a dj, starting a record company AND having tons of fun in the underground along the way) I would mention Emok aka Dalge, co-founder of Iboga, going strong since the 90s.

I wish I could find a photo from 1996 or 1997, when Iboga Records was founded, but this pic will have to do for now: Here’s a babyfaced Emok, enjoying Elektronisk Karneval in Fælledparken in 2010.

In my mind, this exact moment happened not-too-long-ago, but it’s been ten years, LOL. Here’s Emok on stage, at the Ozora mainfloor in August 2015.

THIS is recently, though. Here’s a semi-current Emok, just before reopening the mainfloor at Free Earth 2024.

CAREER CHOICE: OPEN YOUR OWN TECHNO CLUB
There was a time when Copenhagen DIDN’T have several club nights to choose from every single weekend and when opening a regular techno club at a fixed location focusing on the underground was a really big deal, so to honor that, let’s focus on the opening of Culture Box in January 2005.

I haven’t got any pictures from the opening night of Culture Box on January 15th 2005, because on that very same night, I was in Vega doing the 4WARDSHOW with CITADEL (featuring Culture Box, of course, as the concept of 4WARDSHOW was to give awards to completely new places and people that we thought would become big tings in the future). Yeah, so no pictures of Culture Box from January 2005, but here’s a pic of Ned Flanders (who opened Culture Box with Loke), in 2005, at RAW.

And here’s a sweaty pic from Culture Box anno 2005 on the night when Richie Hawtin was playing, six months after the opening (July 2005).

It was extremely packed and we were extremely happy.

More sweaty happiness on the dancefloor.

CAREER CHOICE: MAKE YOUR OWN FESTIVAL
For some people, a club is simply not spacious enough, so they make their own festival. And some of these festivals grow into global-scale phenomena and life-long projects, like Boom and Fusion and Ozora. These posts are filled with pics from those magical locations, so let’s enjoy a much rarer scan (of a festival that didn’t turn into a career but is still the stuff of legends):

For some people, one festival is enough. Here’s a shot from the legendary Camp Electric, the summer of 2001.

CAREER CHOICE: WRITE ABOUT THE MUSIC
This is what I did. I have been writing about electronic music for many years, with great enthusiasm. I’ve been writing about many other things, too, but writing about the rave scene was always a personal pet topic for me. And the number of people actually writing about the scene has been very small – and it is much needed. So I have always felt I was on a mission.

To be fair, many sensible people would probably warn against ‘writing about music’ as a career for anyone these days – unless you are extremely dedicated and stubborn, because all the newspapers and magazines and all other media platforms that used to pay you for writing are struggling more than anyone could have imagined back in the day, or at least struggling to pay anyone writing about art and culture and music.

Currently, I write a lot less about music than I used to, at least on print, so I miss the music curation aspect of it. Which is one of the reasons why I started dj’ing. Which is a fun plot twist. Or a full circle moment. Or a time traveling trick, level 1000.

To honor the time traveling aspect of all this, here’s a pic of me behind the decks, decades ago.

WHY TAKE CAREER ADVICE FROM RAVERS IN THE FIRST PLACE?
You might not associate rave culture with anything career related. This is a mistake, of course. As I have explained in a previous post (The 7 best things about being a raver), ravers a superhumans, optimized for the demands of modern life and the challenging tasks of the future.

To summarize:

1) Our burning passion for the music is a superfuel
It’s not just an inconvenient hobby that forever barricades us from ‘normal’ life. It endows us with the Endless Enthusiasm Superpower which is extremely useful in all aspects of life, because Endless Enthusiasm is the fuel for any real progression and the superfuel you need to solve any impossible task.

Here’s Nufie enjoying the Endless Enthusiasm Superpower at Culture Box. Pic by Miss Popo.

2) We never ever give up.
Even if it rains.

Here are three ravers at Fusion 2011, not giving up. If we forgot to bring rainboots, we just wrap ourselves into something. Secret bonus info: It’s Evil Economist to the left, disguised as a Fusion hippie.

3) We have endless stamina
No physical challenge is too much for real ravers. This comes from thousands of hours dancing into the dawn and way past all reasonable physical limits because the set is just so amazing and it’s your DUTY to dance to it and express it, because otherwise the magic will be lost, somehow.

Okay, so onwards with the career advice from more succesful oldskool ravers:

CAREER ADVICE FROM RUNE RK AND JOHANNES TORPE, ANNO 2005: FEED YOUR BRAIN AND DON’T GET TOO COMFORTABLE

In the October Issue of the CITADEL magazine in 2005, I interviewed Rune RK and Johannes Torpe, brothers and business partners.

At this point in time, Rune was dj’ing and producing, they were running the ArtiFarti record company together, and Johannes had had the international breakthrough designing the NASA nightclub in Boltens Gård (Johannes actually started out as a light designer and, after that, a graphics designer, making flyers, which is quite a rave’y way to start your career).

As per usual, the brothers had many other projects cooking, and in this section of the interview, we focus on their industrial design direction for Skype. The entire article is packed with career advice, but this section in particular (English translation below):

Translation:
“Over the past six months, the brothers have also served as so-called industrial design directors for Skype – the clever internet telephony service that was recently sold to eBay for 16 billion Danish kroner. When new products are developed, such as handheld phones or other gadgets for Skype’s current 54 million users, Rune and Johannes are among those deciding what they should look like.
So have all these projects made you fabulously rich?
Rune: “You can’t become fabulously rich in Denmark. It’s the world’s most efficiently run communist society.”
Johannes: “The people who really make serious money don’t live here.”
Rune: “But we could always move.”
Johannes: “Honestly, I’m just waiting for Rune to say, ‘Right – let’s get out of here.’”
Rune: “The Danish tax authorities are so aggressively authoritarian that you’re basically not allowed to make a living from creativity without getting punished from every possible angle. If they went after Mærsk McKinney-Møller the way they’ve gone after me…”
(Rune, in a bone-dry, squeaky tax-office voice):
“I don’t really understand this receipt… it’s a record?”
“Well, I’m a DJ. I play records for a living.”
“Yes, but you could also listen to it at home. That won’t do.”
“Well, you can also write at home with the ballpoint pen you’re holding – I assume you can’t deduct that either?”
“Oh no, that’s different!”
“There’s no flexibility. No room to breathe. No space for creativity. You can have a safe job with a fixed salary at Nordea, buy your B&O sound system, your Arne Jacobsen chairs, and your Citroën Berlingo, and live quietly and comfortably if that’s what you want. But if you want something else, there really isn’t much room for it in this society.”
Johannes: “Copenhagen is a small city. You end up knowing everyone in every possible way, and then it becomes comfortable. And comfort isn’t healthy.”
Rune: “And besides, hardly any of our business actually takes place in Denmark anyway.”
Is it possible that you might become overstimulated in bigger cities – and more creative in a ‘boring’ place like Copenhagen?
Rune: “Some people believe you have to isolate yourself completely and make sure nothing influences you if you want to be creative. I don’t believe that at all. The more stimulation you get, the more inspired you become. It’s really just about feeding your brain with impressions.”

The entire article is filled with career advice, and I would highly recommend listening to the words of Rune and Johannes anno 2005, considering their career trajectories since then. Below is the beginning of the article – ending with Johannes saying:

Johannes: “People are too passive. They wait for others to make the first move. They stare at their phones, waiting for the call. That gets you nowhere. You have to approach people yourself and say: “Let’s do this.”
You’ll get nine ‘nos’ and one ‘yes’. And that one yes is enough.”
Is that how things worked out for you?
Johannes: “There’s still a very long way to go before I can lean back and feel satisfied. I always want to move forward and experience new things. Don’t you know that feeling, when your whole body is simmering with the need for something new? Something has to happen. You just have to keep going – forward, forward, forward.”

CAREER ADVICE FROM THE ROLODEX
In another CITADEL magazine from October, but this time, the October 2006 edition, we find some similar career advice from the headliner at the upcoming DNBZone party: John Rolodex.

He says: “If you’re completely satisfied with what you’re doing and where you are, you probably aren’t working hard enough”.

On that note, let’s enjoy some pics from the Rolodex DNBZone party at Culture Box, October 2006:

A group of oldskool junglists, working very very hard on the dancefloor.

Back on the dancefloor, everyone’s vibing.

And on that note, let’s move on to more Vitus and more career advice:

CAREER ADVICE: HOW TO DRESS (FEATURING VITUS AND CHRISZKA)
Always wear clothes that can go straight from the dancefloor to any other occasion. Yup, this is not easy, but it’s doable.

Vitus solves this by showing up in suit and tie when everyone else show up for the rave in jungle t-shirts.

Even though he’s dressed to impress, surrounded by ravers in sportswear, Vitus can still get the work done.

These snapshots of Vitus’ suit and tie style are from the warm-up at Drop’s jungle hut before Drum and Bass Klubbens Easter Rave at Culture Box.

Everyone else at the warm-up wear raver t-shirts and camouflage neck gaiters, junglist style.

Well, almost everyone. Like Vitus, Chriszka looks ahead and wears a dress. And just like Vitus’ suit and tie, this dress can go anywhere. That’s the clever part. Here’s Vitus and Chriszka, dressed up for power moves, surrounded by raver t-shirts.

Here’s the dress, a bit later in the evening, behind the decks at Culture Box, matching the interior.

Here’s the set I played on the evening, if you need some tunes:
https://soundcloud.com/chriszka/chriszka-at-drum-bass-klubbens-easter-rave-at-culture-box-darkside-tunes-from-1993-to-2024

To showcase the flex of this dress, here it is on national television, explaining stuff about psytrance rave culture. This was Go’ Morgen Danmark on TV2, Oct 1st 2022.

MORE CAREER ADVICE: NEVER STOP GEEKING OUT TO THE MAX
Speaking of talking about psytrance on Go’Morgen Danmark, here’s some more career advice from the oldskool ravers: Never stop geeking out to the max. Someone needs your wisdom.

As a prime example of this, here’s a very young Frederik Birket-Smith aka dj 2000F aka (in this instance) Jungle Professor Birkvit-Smith, standing in front of oldskoolsound equipment, geeking out about synths and sound effects. He still does exactly this, personally and professionally, 24/7 365.

Here’s Frederik Birket Smith, three decades later, now CEO of Strøm and co-founder of Lydskatten, still geeking out about old synths.

CAREER ADVICE FROM TRENTEMØLLER: STAY GROUNDED
Here’s some advice from another fellow synth enthusiast: In the October 2006 issue of CITADEL, Peter Albrechtsen spoke to Trentemøller who deals with the weirdness of screaming fans and bodyguards by keeping his feet firmly on the ground and slowing down: “I come from the countryside, and I’m pretty grounded.“

Here’s the article in full (in Danish):

As you can see, another career advice from Trentemøller is living in a cold climate: “I’d like to move somewhere for about half a year, and Simpson and I have talked about buying some land in Thailand. But with the heat in Brazil or Thailand, I’d become lazy. I like the atmosphere in the Nordic countries, with rain and wind. Autumn is my favorite season.”

CAREER ADVICE FROM THE BURNING MAN
Let’s go somewhere warmer, fast! Here’s some excellent career advice from The Burning Man posse anno 2006:

Here’s a pic of Martin, Tatjana and Lotte at Burning Man, ready for business. I interviewed Martin and Tatjana in the fall 2006 after their trip, and Tatjana said this about her festival experience:

“You can do whatever you want. And you’re surrounded by people who are doing the same thing – or something even more crazy. I found that to be a valuable learning experience. You genuinely become a more open-minded person by expanding your boundaries in that way. My goal in going to Burning Man was to broaden my outlook on life, and it really did shift something. It should be a human duty, really: To make sure you’re thoroughly shaken out of your everyday context for at least one week a year, or, if nothing else, just once in your life, so you can be reminded that everything could be put together in a completely different way.”

The Burning Man photos are by Martin, Tatjana and Lotte – and were printed in the November issue 2006 of CITADEL.

SOME GREAT (ANTI)-CAREER ADVICE FROM SON KITE
I interviewed the Swedish trance duo Son Kite in 2014, and it is still one of my favorite interviews ever. We talked for hours, and I ended up writing two articles because there was so much material.

The first article was for Weekendavisena, about digital sound and streaming: (“Den store maskines illusion”)
The second article is this one, packed with great (anti)-career advice: Dancing is a very important ritual.

Here are three excerpts:
“Many people have lost their connection to why we are here and what we are doing here as human beings. Hunting for money, fame and achievements is what we learn in school, and it’s very easy to just get lost in this hunt without even being aware of why we are not happy doing it. That’s why it’s so important to get into the dance ritual and let the the stress out”, Marcus says.

“When Son Kite took off we were playing at underground parties all over the world. Then we started Minilogue which became very popular on the techno and house scene, and we began playing with superstar dj’s like Sven Väth and Richie Hawtin and got to see all these huge clubs in Ibiza and big festivals all over the world. Obviously I really enjoyed it to begin with. But I lost myself in it. The ego was building up, hunting the money and the fame, and I lost the connection to why I was doing it in the first place. It took me a while to realize this. It was a real eye opener,” says Marcus.

“It’s very difficult to stand in front of an audience of 20.000 people who wants this nervous energy and not be seduced into giving it to them. But we really believe that the task of a good dj is to help the crowd let go of that restlessness and the ego and get into the trance”, says Marcus.

As you can gather from all of the above, career advice from oldskool ravers is definitely not about chasing status. So let’s end this post with a fun pic of people lining up for Chase & Status (hidr hidr) at Roskilde 2013 (with the Metallica line next to it).

Do you crave more phots? Dive in:
More suits, ties and dresses: Blasts from the Past: The Well-dressed raver
More endless enthusiasm: How to be a Raver: Hands in the Air
Want to be discreet? Read How to be a Junglist: Camouflage

Find all seasons of the calendar here: JUngLEkalenderen.

Here are a few links to some of my writing about underground rave culture:
1) My article about Fusion Festival
2) My article on Son Kite and the illusions of digital efficiency: Den store maskines illusion
3) My article on Boom 2012: Inner Travels

How to be a Raver: Party Animals – the extended mix

Posted on December 7, 2025 Leave a Comment

Ravers are friendly people, and no-one loves animals (and aliens) with more intensity than us.

Dancefloors with sound systems built to make your entire human body vibrate are not optimal places to bring your favorite pets with sensitive hearing, though. But you can bring your inflatable animal friends instead:

Here’s a grown-up man squeezed tight by his friendly inflatable giraffe and also wearing a shamanic flute in case more spirit animals have to be summoned. Trancefloor at Fusion, a place of much fun, 2013.

Here’s animal lover and animal protector Joel Rowdy, bringing a tiger to the dance floor at Fusion. Turmbühne.

Hjeppe Mann simply wears cats at the Somewhere Festival 2017.

Chriszka dj’s at Storketræf, surrounded by many animals: Unicorns, cats, peacocks, storks, jellyfish, flamingos.

Fusionists dance below the iconic dragons at Turmbühne.

Afterparty people gather by the iconic octopus arms – at the Distortion afterparty, 2024.

Thyregod roams free in his natural habitat, the outdoor party, wearing full body animal print. Storketræf 2024.

Yes. I am inside a white rabbit costume at Strøm Festival 2023. We needed someone to lure the massive crowds from the Trans Metro Express train to the afterparty on the rooftop terrace at Alice, so obviously we needed a white rabbit to do that. Alice, white rabbit, get it? Someone HAD to do it. And I was, surprisingly, the only one at the Strøm office who didn’t mind jumping into the costume.

Another great day at work, many years earlier. I am inside the bear to the left! I wrote an article in Berlingske about Rosa Gjerulff’s new show at Nørrebro Theatre, and we needed a cover shot for the front page, so I jumped into an icebear costume along with the PR manager from the theatre, Karen, and we did this photo shoot on Nørrebrogade. Rosa’s show was called ‘Rosa in the Rhythm Forest’ which is a very raver-style title.

This is me, acting like a sad ice bear in the corner of the dressing room of Nørrebro Theatre. SUPER FUN WORK DAY!

Someone wears an inflatable giraffe on their back at the dancefloor at Free Earth festival in Greece.

This guy always wears an elephant on his back – at Roskilde, July 2010.

Copenhageners enjoy the sun underneath the flamingos at Kaj Din Ven I Solen, June 2021. This might be a hint to Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking-Glass’.

In the newest incarnation of the Tanzwüzte stage at Fusion, which has a shipwreck vibe to it (including actual shipwrecks and a stranded yellow submarine) the crowd dances beneath circling pirate birds. You can spot three of the black birds above the crowd here, behind someone’s ‘find-me-on-the-dancefloor-flag.

At Boom 2012, everyone at the Dance Temple danced beneath the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl. According to the Mayans, Quetzalcoatl would return around 2012 and mark the beginning of the era of The Sixth Sun, a sun of darkness. This era, followed by the long reign of The Fifth Sun (a sun of light, dominated by the masculine and science) will be characterized by the rise of the feminine and of irrationalism, reality gaining a dreamlike quality. (The Aztecs were very frightened by the coming of the Sixth Sun and indulged in some human sacrifice rituals to avoid it – or maybe ease themselves into it).

Here’s a proper look at one of the heads of the feathered serpent, before the dancing crowds arrived.

Someone ALWAYS brings a unicorn to the dance floor. This is the Distortion Final Party, 2022.

Someone brought crocodiles and elephants to the rooftop party in Kødbyen of Copenhagen, August 2010.

This captain guy brought an octopus to Fusion. 2019.

This just reminded me how much dubsteppers love deep sea monsters. Re-read my text about the Kraken release party (which happened around March 2007) here: Gigantisk dybhavsmonster indtager Stengade.

More glittery animals: Dancing beneath a unicorn at the So Verbot one day festival, Copenhagen 2022.

So yeah, this is me, loving animals from an early age. This is my first cat ever.

And here’s my current one, her jungle cat Tybalt, lover of (and destroyer of) plants.

Since we are already talking about Tybalt, and since this post is about our love for animals, I think everyone should know that my hyper-intelligent jungle cat has learned to play fetch. Here’s proof.

Dj Dröj mixes tunes by the flamingo at Storketræf, 2024. More animals: Spot the yellow bird.

Fred Alert has dressed up as a Dalmatian and goes hunting with Tybalt.

DJ Drop spins some dangerous tunes at the bike shop, wearing a shark.

A mouse arrives at Dollars’ Campingvogn Party, August 2007.

A monkey and a pink elephant show up at the Trancefloor on Fusion, 2013.

People relaxing on a unicorn by Bachstelzen at Fusion.

Sofus the Shape-shifter embodies the spirit of the dead pig at the Hifly Pigfest, July 2010.

Who remembers the crowdsurfing panda? This is the Distortion street party in indre by. The photo accompanies an article I wrote in Berlingske in May 2013 titled ‘Party Photos – No Thanks’ – about party organizers who “have had enough of cameras everywhere” – featuring Linus Ellesøe Ditzel (Ghettobass) and Kristoffer Buck Bramsen (Pumpehuset) – amongst others. Panda photo by Kenneth Nguyen.

Here’s the article:

Rudkjøbing wears a bat on his chest – at O Days, waiting for Chase & Status, august 2024.

Alex is being very French and casually prepares a grilled lobster in our camp at Fusion, 2014. I am still impressed with this accomplishment. He even went on a search for garlic butter in our neighboring camps – and found some!

Garridge Bwoy features a dinosaur on his t-shirt – at Mariii’s garden party, July 2006.

An inflatable unicorn rests by the scenic sea stage on the last day at Somewhere Festival, 2016.

Baby-faced Chriszka discovers some surprising animals on sticks at a food market in China, 2004. Check out the seahorses.

Ravers relax inside the mouth of a dragon at Fusion.

Chriszka embodies Anubis with the jackal head, the ancient Egyptian god of the dead.

A dear bunch of colorful raver musicians throw an energetic concert in front of the giant deer, created by Hackstage. The head of the deer is right behind Steen Koerner, electric boogie’ing.

A butterfly thinks Chriszka’s colorful raving shoes must be flowers – at Fusion, 2007.

Someone wears a bird on their head – at Roskilde Festival 2010.

Chriszka brings her jungle t-shirt to the Chinese lion at the Forbidden City, 2004.

Someone wears actual wings (or has grown actual wings, who knows) at the Bachstelzen stage, Fusion.

A zebra overlooks the Øen Ved Siden Af stage at Distortion, 2022. For extra points: Spot the dragon.

Rowdy wears a friendly dragon hat in the middle of a sandwich hug by Alex and Emok at the Trancefloor on Fusion.

Morten glides elegantly across Fredens Eng at the Strøm Peace Party wearing dangerous animal print.

A unicorn watches from the wall as Lux repairs the shoe of Louis Jarto (Random Koncerter) .

Someone brought their own nighttime dragon to Fusion.

Chriszka wears animal print to the people zoo of Stella Polaris.

If you missed the beginning of this year’s JUngLEkalender: Ravers are the Experts: Surviving the Long Dark Tunnel

More Sunday scrolling? Dive into some selections from previous JUngLEkalender years:
Season 2020: Blasts from the Past. Forbidden Pleasures
Season 2016: The Birthday Bash III: Raving is like Deep Meditation
Season 2015. 5 problems only ravers know about
Season 2015: The 7 best things about being a raver
Season 2014: How to be a Junglist: The Hand Signs Special

Find all seasons and all episodes of JUnGLEkalenderen here (long scroll): JUngLEkalenderen

For the geeks out there who wants to dive even deeper into the magical lands of rave culture, so filled with mythical creatures like dragons, unicorns, white rabbits and deep sea monsters, I wrote an entire thesis on the subject: ‘Festivaler, flowmaskiner og fabeldyr’ (in English: Festivals, Flow machines and Feathered dragons’):

Link to the thesis: Festivals, Flow Machines and Feathered Dragons

Ravers are the Experts: Surviving the long, dark tunnel

Posted on November 30, 2025 Leave a Comment

Junglists ought to be the species most fit to survive the Scandinavian winter, being “long dark tunnel” creatures and all that.

But every year, once November hits, I end up in the same vicious circle (pun intended):

All of a sudden, it’s shockingly cold and dark, which makes me feel tired in the morning, which makes me skip yoga class, which makes me feel more tired the next morning, which makes me skip yoga class again, and on and on it goes, unless I intentionally stop it.

As any raver (and any yogi) will know, the only way out of this vicious circle is movement. I am very aware of this, and that is why I WILL be back on the yoga mat on Tuesday. And why I force myself to exit goblin mode and leave the house in the darkest month, even after sunset, not just to go to work or to yoga, but to join the annual julefrokost obligations.

So here I am, successfully out, surrounded by fellow junglists, at this year’s Julebass Julefrokost – an annual time travelling event.

(If you would like to listen to the ‘long dark tunnel’ sample before you read on, just to get in the mood, you can listen to ‘Valley of the Shadows’ by Origin Unknown right here).

Here’s another pic from the table. Notice Vitus, a rare guest, in the spotlight to the left, as he will become very important later on in this post.

This year, after the main course, we dove into the gift-stealing dice game terningespil.

And I won this glittery masterpiece of a printed oldskool jungle t-shirt, made by Vitus himself, featuring a gold-lettered print of Nis, Caspar, JimmyF and MCHypa (a very oldskool lineup):

This is not just a t-shirt. This is a time portal.

So let’s use this golden occasion to revisit the past and dig up some winter survival wisdom: How did we cope in the long dark tunnel of November, say, 20 years ago?

We can’t google this or ask ChatGPT, because stuff we did back then is NOT ON THE INTERNET. Fortunately, as per usual in JUngLEkalenderen, we can dive straight back into the past using magical time travelling objects like

1) my extensive selection of super old raver photos
2) portals in the floor, or
3) an old issue of the monthly Citadel magazine.

So, what WERE we up to back in November 2005, 20 years ago? How did we struggle through the longest month of the year?

Opening the November 2005 edition of Citadel, a copy of the magazine that is EXACTLY 20 years old, we find this article on page 24 (text by me, photo by Vitus, LOL. Time travel is such a trip.)
Zoom to read:

Evidently, I am COMPLETELY pumped by the most recent DNBZone booking (Temper D) – and heavily promoting the next DNBZone event at Nadsat.

So, let’s do a deeper time traveling dive into these very events: First some snapshots from the Temper D party at Culture Box (October 2005), and then, some pics from the DNBZone party at Nadsat (November 2005).

Yup, it is a fact: This is the headliner of the night, Temper D, behind the decks at Culture Box. **On the mainfloor. This is what Culture Box looked like 20 years ago.**

More proof: This IS what it looked like. Here is Nis, on the decks before Temper D. Obviously, the entire scenery looked more festive IRL, without the blitz from the camera, LOL. But still. Lots have happened since then.

A glimpse of the mainfloor of Culture Box, 20 years ago. Check out the monitors! The disco ball! The white walls! At the front, Sofus the Shape-shifter and Advokatorex engage in some time travel magic.

Just to calm some of our most shocked readers down, this is what the mainfloor ACTUALLY looked like at Culture Box 20 years ago – without the blitz from the digital camera.

As it often happened back then, we threw a DNBZone pre-party at Svingsen’s Jungle Hut.

Being wise, and knowing what it takes to survive in the long, dark tunnel, we made sure to eat plenty of sushi-sourced vitamin D first. And adding bubbles, for sparkly fun.

As per usual, Nis doesn’t care about our refined taste in wines and cremants and champagnes and has brought his own drink. Option two: He might just be staying sober for his upcoming set.

Here’s a small selection of the pre-party people, getting ready to leave: Nis, Mariii, June, Asger, Mugge.

Walking to the party from Svingsen’s Jungle Hut. Evidently, my personal strategy for surviving the impending doom of the incoming November in 2005 (apart from bubbles and sushi) was to just keep wearing clothes fit for summer, which means BARE LEGS. But obviously, this is also a strategic junglist move: I know we’re going to bust some moves on the dancefloor, which means sweating, and Svingsen’s Jungle Hut is a two minute and thirty-one seconds walk from Culture Box. Who needs leggings.

Twenty years ago, carrying the vinyls to the party was just part of the deal. Here, somehow, Svingsen landed the task and doesn’t seem bothered by it at all.

If you want more awesome pics from the Temper D party, jump to my Blasts from the Past: Temper D post from the JUngLEkalender anno 2015. (Whauw. Jumping from post to post in JUnGLEkalenderen has become time travel in itself now. I knew this would happen, but still).

Blasts from the Past: Temper D

Our current JUngLEkalender post anno 2025 will move on from Temper D to the DNBZone party at Nadsat, November 2005.

This is what the dancefloor looked like at Nadsat, during a DNBZone party in 2005. We all look really happy which means we have cracked the code of November survival: MOVEMENT. *Photos: Miss Popo*.

Consider the magic of this twenty-year cycle: in late November 2025, I win a glittery time-travel T-shirt featuring the name *JimmyF*, made by *Vitus*. And here they are: JimmyF on the left, Vitus second from the right, in November 2005, exactly twenty years earlier.

Spot your oldskool raver. DJ Drop himself! Nico DeFrost! Sakena!

Fun intermezzo! – featuring Vinyl Troubles of the Copenhagen Electronic Music Scene anno 2005.
Nadsat was a very new venue in November 2005: Bezz opened Nadsat in the summer earlier that year. And here is an article about the opening of the Ameoba record store in Nadsat – from the October 2005 issue of Citadel – featuring Bezz and Martin Decara:

Amoeba opened after three of the biggest vinyl stores of Copenhagen, including the legendary Loud Music, had closed, and Martin Decara had this to say about the Amoeba opening:

“I’m convinced that [a record store] has a positive, ripple effect on the entire city’s music scene and evolution. You could say I did it partly for the sake of the electronic community, but also because I have a personal interest in staying connected with other DJs. That’s something I really value.”

Back to the dancefloor where everyone is jamming, creating our own energy system to blast our way through the Scandinavian winter, looming ahead.

Donna has definitely found the right joyful vibe through the long dark November tunnel.

And CRS, warm and happy, has definitely found it, too.

Two Long Dark Tunnel creatures look optimistically into the future. Photos: Miss Popo.

So, to sum up: This is how we survive the darkest time of the year:
1) MOVEMENT, first and foremost. Keep raving, keep dancing, keep yoga’ing.
2) Get enough vitamin D (and drink some bubbles)
3) Learn from the past (we have survived November before. We can do it again).
4) Stay optimistic (legendary stuff (like record shops) die – but new stuff emerges).

Do you need more survival strategies for November, the darkest time of the year?

5) Once more, we go back to November 2005! What a month for Copenhagen junglists. Watch how we not only survived, but THRIVED, on November 5th, at the legendary Ohoi! party at Stengade, featuring Hype: Dancefloors, moshpits and junglistic crowdsurfing. SWEATY TIMES! Here’s an appetizer from the iconic photo selection – once again by Vitus:

6) Listen to my newest mix, an hour of carefully handpicked darkside jungle and drum’n’bass with eerie horror vibes and lots of movie samples, perfect for the shocking November darkness – from my last visit to CRS’ Random Friday show:

7) Stay warm and cosy with some more raver knowledge from last year’s JUngLEkalender: Ravers are the Experts: Keeping warm at all times

More time travel?
Dive into the world of rave t-shirts: How to be a junglist: The T-shirt Special – Extended Remix
Read more about dj Nis: “I get goosebumps on my legs thinking about that party”
Scroll through all JUnglekalender entries ever made: JUngLEkalenderen

This is the way. Fearlessly pointing into the long dark tunnel.

Bonus material from 2025:
Here’s a longer video of what went down at this year’s Julebas-julefrokost table, early hours (after winning the legendary t-shirt, my filming stopped).

The Dark Stranger mix: Darkside jungle and drum’n’bass with eerie horror vibes – from 1993 to 2024

Posted on November 10, 2025 Leave a Comment

When I immersed myself in the jungle scene in London at 19 and became instantly obsessed, the big darkside anthems were packed with (horror) movie samples, and I was completely fascinated by that. I still am.

So: Here’s my newest mix, an hour of carefully handpicked darkside jungle and drum’n’bass with eerie horror vibes and lots of movie samples, perfect for the shocking November darkness:

The mix includes some of the biggest darkside anthems from 1993: ‘The Dark Stranger’ (Boogie Down Productions), ‘Predator’ (Shimon) and sprinkles of an absolute favorite of mine: ‘Scottie’ by Subnation. Mixed with new and newish favorites, from ‘Fire Is Our Friend’ by @4amkrulondon (2024) to ‘Valyrian Steel’ (Congo Natty and Jaguar Paw, 2022).

Every single track in the mix is selected because of its dark and moody atmospheres and horror samples.

The only track which is not decidedly dark is the second one, ‘Bubbled’ by @lovell.wav – BUT it’s from his album titled ‘Gasping, Dying, But Somehow Still Alive’, so it qualifies.

Back in the 90s, it was practically a whole hobby within the hobby to figure out where certain samples came from — The Evil Dead, Gremlins, Predator, Goodfellas, and so on. These days, it’s a bit easier to track that stuff down thanks to the internet, with whole facebook groups dedicated to sample-hunting.

For the curious: ‘The Dark Stranger’ vocal is sampled from a documentary about Dracula. The voice is Gary Oldman’s. The samples in ‘Scottie’ are from The Evil Dead. And Predator… is obvious.

Ravers are the Experts: Keeping Warm at All Times

Posted on December 22, 2024 1 Comment

Dedicated ravers know this: Rave culture can keep you warm through the coldest and hardest of times. Because the heart of rave culture is the dancefloor. And the dancefloor is the place to go for (re-)heating up our hearts when life freezes over.

Here’s an extremely hot dancefloor reheating up all the junglists. Look at Nico De Frost’s jungle shirt. And the shiny faces of Chriszka and Mariii. DNBZone, Infiltrata 2006.

Here’s a close-up of the sweatiness at the Infiltrata party. Photo: Miss Popo.

The pros bring a fan to the dancefloor to regulate all the heat generated from within. This is the Distortion afterparty 2024.

At Boom, everyone is a pro and everyone brings a fan to the dance floor (and wears as little clothes as possible).

Lux is always a pro and prefers to never wear a shirt on the dancefloor. This is the Trancefloor at Fusion, and it is almost 22 at night and it is STILL warm. Proof that thousands of pro ravers have warmed up this particular miraculous universe completely.

Le just decided to wear a bathing suit and swimming goggles and a towel to the dancefloor at RAW 2006.

DJ Matightazz keeps his shirt on and sweats decoratively on the dancefloor at DJ Assault at Culture Box in 2006. Picture by jonask.dk

Check out the dedication of the ravers by spotting their SOAKED t-shirts! We see you, Nufie on the left. This is the DNBZone Infiltrata party at Culture Box. Picture by Miss Popo.

Here’s a pair of glittery-sweaty hippies keeping extra warm with both hugs, sun, beards and fur at Fusion Festival.

And here’s Cibo, keeping warm with ultra-furry boots in 2006!

This is an article from CITADEL, February 2006, written by Atle. Enjoy!

FUN INTERMEZZO!
On the same page in that same CITADEL, I have written about the upcoming DNBZone: Vicious Circle party at Culture Box. I had completely forgotten that it was in the preparations for this party (and the writing of this text) that I heard the “Thrillseekers” track for the first time. Read the text, LOL.

18 years later (!), I was still mesmerized by the darkness of the “Thrillseekers” track, in the spring of 2024, when I decided to include it in my first mix uploaded to Soundcloud: The Darkside Jungle Mix: Shaping the Future

Yup, “Thrillseekers” is dark, with a sample that almost needs a trigger warning (if you’re into trigger warnings), but as I explain in the text, these kinds of tunes create the most HAPPY VIBES on the junglist dancefloors. I start mixing “Thrillseekers” in 26 minutes into the set.

Okay, back to the warmth and the sunlight and the heat:

A true pro enjoying the heat at the magnificent So Verbot-party at Odds and Ends in 2022.

Mariii enjoys the sauna heat at the dancefloor in Culture Box.

Sometimes, it’s harder than that to keep warm, but ravers manage anyway:

Lea keeps warm at her most marvelous garden/birthday party (yes, it was midsummer, but not peak warmth on this particular day). Notice the pineapple deco.

Chriszka, Claus and Lux keeping warm during sunrise. A critical point for all pro ravers.

Chriszka looks sweaty at Svingsen’s Jungle Hut after the Jeff Mills party in 2006.

Holger looks extremely sweaty on New Year’s Eve 2003.

It is, of course, possible to sweat more discreetly than junglists on the dancefloor. Here, Svingsen sports a discreet shine in the corner of the photo.

Ronin sweats discreetly behind the decks while Nicka keeps his cool – at Mambo, Ibiza 2006.

ONE MORE FUN INTERMEZZO! LET’S GO TO IBIZA!
I was offered a very short 24 hour trip to Ibiza back in 2006 to join Ronin for his sets at Mambo and Pacha – and write an article about it. And that’s a fun read.

It starts out like this:

“The reason for this sudden 24 hour express trip to the party island in The Balearic Sea is our local dj hero – Ronin. Ronin won the Danish round of Heineken’s Thirst competition in 2005; then he went all the way to the top of the European rounds, too; and he ended up winning the whole lot at the Heineken Thirst World Finals in South Africa.
This global triumph lead to a flow of foreign gigs including several Heineken events. And this Wednesday evening in July, Ronin is playing a set at superstar dj Erick Morillo’s Wednesday Bash, the Subliminal Sessions at the top club Pacha – a trump on any dj’s CV. This clearly has to be documented – and someone has to sacrifice themselves and do it. So: passport, sunglasses and an extra dress is thrown into a bag, and off I go.”

I was very happy for Ronin and his success, and I was thrilled to get to experience a small part of Ibiza during my (very) short and luxurious stay. But I have never been too keen on the more mainstream’y parts of club culture, and it shines through in the text.

“The sun is sinking, and people are networking heavily in the dj booth. Ronin is playing, and Morillo, the constantly smiling, friendly-looking Ibiza superstar is getting ready to take over. And then the dancing girls materialize, like twilight creatures, in lime green hotpants and not very much more. Ibiza is not a subtle island; almost every flyer flashes moist porn lips and bare breasts, and if you don’t find the pumping house rhythms and trembling basslines sexy enough in themselves, the surroundings and visual inputs will help you: if there is a dj around, there is at least two scantily clad girls as well, twisting their young bodies seductively to the music with lots of happy onlookers.”

“It costs money to park, it costs money to use the deck chairs, and it costs money just to relax on the deck chairs, too, since you can’t actually lie on them without eating or drinking. A steady stream of promotion teams in skimpy outfits trawl the beach continuously, leaving a slipstream of flyers, free passes and drink coupons amongst the sunbathers. Ibiza has been a party island for decades, and things are systematized. People come here with money to spend, and the party factory knows how to sell its goods. Pacha girls in tiny red bikinis parade alluringly along the beach with their juicy Pacha cherries, and gigantic billboards advertise club nights with names like ‘Rich and Famous’, ‘Xtravaganza’, ‘Filthy Gorgeous’ and ‘Silicon’. (Okay, so there’s a night called ‘Stink’, too… and obviously there MUST be a more low budget underground scene somewhere on the isle, but I don’t see any glimpses of it anywhere during my short n00b visit.)”

Okaaaaay, let’s hurry back to the underground! Literally!

One of the sweatiest of all sweaty rave experiences is the Trans Metro Express during Strøm Festival in Copenhagen. 700 ravers in a moving metro train.

Have another look at this t-shirt. That is sweat, not water. Proper heat! This is from the Trans Metro Express during Strøm Festival 2023.

Thomas Knak and one half of Lyra Valenza endure the Trans Metro Express heat by sitting down like grown-ups. Look at the windows. That’s raver sweat, not water.

This is a video of the raver dedication that has made everyone sweat so much:

Lyra Valenza at Strøm Festival 2023: Trans Metro Express.

Another video from the same train ride, about an hour earlier. The Atikka duo providing the trancey vibes. <3

Sometimes, all this intense raver heat generated requires the Raver Skill of Cooling Down:

Here are some true pros cooling down at Løgtenborg Slotskur, July 2013.

Andreas cools down elegantly in the shade at the Henry’s Dream festival.

A whole group decides to cool down at Løgtenborg Slotskur while the grownups watch from the shade.

As a junglist, Chriszka takes things to extremes and cools down in a chest freezer.

Cooling down in the shade at the Distortion Afterparty 2024.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the dancefloor, another group cools down in another shady spot.

Three psytrancers decide to cool down in mud – at the S.U.N. Festival, 2013.

And once again, the junglist prefers the harder approach and cools down in a massive bowl of ice cubes.

Do you want more sweaty and happy faces?
Jump right into Jungle Feelings: The Love and Kisses Special Round III

Do you want more heat? Don’t miss out on Trance Tales: The Ozora Adventures
Read more about Ronin here: The Secret Junglists
For more expertise: Ravers are the Experts: Slowing Down in Fast Lives
More about why outdoor parties are the best here: Ravers are the Experts: Our Natural Habitats

Scrool through all JUngLEkalenderen posts ever written here: JUngLEkalenderen

GLÆDELIG JUL, JungLists!

Jungle Feelings: The Bladerunner Special – round II

Posted on December 15, 2024 Leave a Comment

This is my jungle set from the Tunnelsyn party in Copenhagen in November 2024.

The party was in a tunnel, so I had a lot of fun mixing in ‘Valley of the Shadows’ here and there, because hearing the ‘Felt that I was in this long, dark tunnel’ sample while partying in a tunnel is a must, obviously.

The oldest track in the set is from 1994. The newest from 2024. As always, time jumps are essential.

There are also two Bladerunner tracks in the mix, and in the most joyous of synchronicities, Bladerunner himself visited Copenhagen this weekend and played on Culture Box on Friday night, December 13th.

Two days ago, the Junglist crew getting ready to leave for Bladerunner at Culture Box. Bigups to Fred Alert for the group photo skills.

In another joyous time clash, I did a Blade Runner special exactly 8 years ago (well, 8 years AND 4 DAYS ago to be exact) in JUngLEkalenderen: Focusing entirely on Blade Runner (the movie) – and favorite Blade Runner samples used in jungle and drum’n’bass tunes.

You can read the entire thing here (guest stars: Harrison Ford, Keanu Reeves, Rutger Hauer, Dom & Roland and ESPECIALLY Jonny L): Jungle Feelings: The Blade Runner Special

I dedicated three full pages to Blade Runner (the movie) in my diary in December 1992 (after having watched the Director’s Cut at the MGM Cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue in London on Monday, 7th of December 1992).

My jungle adventure hadn’t started yet, then – but it would exactly one year later: On my birthday, on December 3rd, 1993, at The Paradise in Angel, Islington.

You can read more of my first impressions of the jungle scene in London in the mid-90s here: The Jungle Diaries: The Meaning of Life

Back to the present time, to the Bladerunner evening on December 13th, which was ALSO my birthday celebration.

Bladerunner played an unexpected amount of rarely heard oldskool classics (like, the ORIGINAL Champion Sound), so the entire month of December has been filled with full circle time dissolving moments like this.

Photos are not allowed on the dancefloor of Culture Box anymore, so here’s one from back in the day instead:

And here’s a grand selection of dancefloor moments: How to be a Junglist: The Dancefloor Moves

More time travel?
Scroll through all the JUngLEkalender entries ever made here: JUngLEkalenderen

Blasts from the Past: Public Service and The First Strøm

Posted on December 8, 2024 Leave a Comment

Here’s a pic from the last day of the most recent Strøm Festival:

Chriszka and Fred Alert synchronizing their junglistic hand signs at the Strøm Festival 2024 Block Party.

Always trying to make sure that the time-traveling is elegant and on point, I thought this would be the perfect time to find a picture from the very FIRST Strøm.

And to my surprise and joy, the collection of photos I found in my archives looked VERY different than I expected: The first Strøm was a beach party! The Strøm Beach Afterparty 2007!

Not the sunniest of beach parties, but people seem to manage. Some better than others.

I would have forgotten about these following connections between festivals, had I not re-read old documents and such, but Strøm started out as an afterparty to the Public Service Festival.

Here’s an article I wrote about Public Service in CITADEL in 2006 (the year before the Strøm Beach Afterparty):

As it says in the article, Public Service took place for the first time in 2004 at Krøyers Plads, (ex-)home of Luftkastellet.

Here we are, wandering through the first Public Service 2004.

At the time of my article in CITADEL, two years later, the Public Service festival had moved to Ørestad Nord, and big parts of the area were ‘still a construction site’.

As you will see in the following photos, big parts of the Public Service festival area were STILL a construction site in 2007 (or maybe time just doesn’t exist, as per usual):

At Public Service in 2007, young junglists find their way through the tunnels of the construction site.

Signs show the way through the mazes filled with memories and other decorations.

After many maze moments, the junglists found the dancefloor.

This is what the dancefloor looked like through the lens of my super duper 2007 camera.

2xChr and Anne Julie look like they had quite the party already.

Other pros, less hardened by life, are sorting out some technical stuff.

And Chriszka met a fellow Fusionist and is happy.

Waiting in line in the hallways of this glamorous construction site is so Berlin.

Decara hides from the camera as per usual.

And after Public Servicing, beaching.

So here we are, back at the Strøm Beach Afterparty 2007, the day after Public Service:

There’s a lot of good stuff going on here, if you zoom. Look at this rare instance of Emok and Jean von Baden in the same photo. They are both caught in a thousand party photos through the years, obviously, but rarely in the same one. They just exist in different universes. But here they are, right next to each other.

MHM One is playing and Ned Flanders is networking.

And look how Jonas Jagd is in the centre of everything, as he would be today. Time doesn’t exist.

Andreas has managed to escape from underneath Jonas Jagd and points to the sun.

And Chrell manages the beach lounge, with all chakras aligned.

Everybody’s here, if we look long enough!

And that was the first Strøm (at least in my photo stream) – 17 years ago.

17 years later, people still sit on the ground, listening to music.

And Mariii is still happy and still wearing a jacket in the same color. Time doesn’t exist.

Want more?
Recommended reading:

Season 2022: How to be a Raver: The Sunglasses Special
Season 2022: Ravers are the Experts: We Love Machines
Season 2020: Blasts from the Past. Forbidden Pleasures
Season 2016: The Birthday Bash III: Raving is like Deep Meditation
Season 2015. 5 problems only ravers know about
Season 2015: The 7 best things about being a raver
Season 2014: How to be a Junglist: The Hand Signs Special

Find all seasons and episodes of JUnGLEkalenderen here (long scroll): JUngLEkalenderen

Blasts from the Recent Past: Birthday Bash Edition 5.0

Posted on December 3, 2024 Leave a Comment

Let’s set the scene:

Last year, I celebrated my birthday with a pop-up-vernissage that would slowly transform into a party and then into a jungle rave. It was a ‘Come and feel the energy of my latest paintings’ invitation, and the vernissage/party/rave was called The Phoenix (<– original info in this link).

Many of the paintings I exhibited are heavily inspired by the very best things from rave culture, so I was expecting them to send lots of cosmic rave energies from the walls and out into the room. A room which would then, eventually, turn into a dance floor. And then into a jungle rave.

And that is exactly what happened.

Al Lindrum feels the energy of the paintings.

I had the best time, obviously, which resulted in a JUngLEkalender problem: For the first time ever since digital photography was invented, I didn’t take one single photo the entire evening.

But fortunately, friends and family did, and these are some of the pics and videos from the night. Never published before.

The first part of the evening was about eating, looking at paintings, and drinking bubbles. And about family meeting friends. Here’s Drop telling interesting stories to my father.

And here’s Svingsen and me stocking up on energy before raving.

Svingsen just CAN’T WAIT for the dance floor to get started, while Mariiii pretends she can easily wait.

More eating and bubbles, while the first dj of the night arrives: Al Lindrum in the house.

More family. And photos start to get blurry.

Al Lindrum is on the decks, bubbles are flowing, Nygz arrives, Drop explains something to my older brother, and Elisabeth tries to convince Svingsen that time machines actually exist and no-one has changed one bit in twenty years.

Elisabeth decides to take a selfie to document the time traveling paradoxes.

And here, for reference, is a photo from my Birthday Bash eighteen years earlier.

My dad is thoroughly enjoying the vernissage conversations.

Let’s just enjoy another time jump to way back when: Same people, decades earlier.

Chriszka explains the rules of the party to superstar Sofus, while Al dances to his own mix.

Sune explains something to Chriszka.
(Fun fact: I know more than eight Sunes, and at least half of them were at this party. The Suner, the better.)

In the background, Nico DeFrost explains something to Janek.

A video from before things got rowdy. No sound on this one, sorry. But a LOT going on. Spot yourselves! I keep seeing new stuff in this clip.

“Så er der rave!”
This is where the vernissage ends and the party begins, caught on video. Al Lindrum sets the scene for the rest of the evening (“det blir’ faktisk bare vildere fra nu af”) , and Jokke takes over on the decks – for two marvelous hours. Spot yourselves in this video! – there’s a lot going on.

Dj NiS gets ready for his set, and we all seem totally involved in the process.

Sofia caught this entire scene from another angle. We are all really good at posing, LOL.

NiS is on the decks, while Drop and Nufie appreciates, and CRS wants to discuss something.

In this very moment, caught on camera, Sune Gamst happily realizes that 1) no, you DON’T have to grow up and it IS a trap! And 2) that jungle keeps everyone young. This has never been a secret, but you have to see it to believe it.

The cosmic jungle energies truly start to materialize on the dance floor. Specifically right behind Mariii.

Emok learns something about junglistic hand-signs.

Looong huuuugs and dancing. Spot yourselves on the dance floor, you have three seconds!

From 22.00 and onwards, all dj’s played jungle, and everyone lost track of time. I certainly did.

Footwear fact: I was so lost in all the fun I had, I completely forgot to change into more convenient rave shoes as the night progressed, so I did the entire jungle rave part of the night WEARING HEALS.

DJ Drop on the decks, hugs everywhere and hands in the air.

For reference, I have (apparently) always thrown my hands in the air in this way when talking to people on the dancefloor. This is my Birthday Bash, 18 years earlier.

DJ Drop makes the crowd scream with joy with his vinyls-only set.

DJ 2000F FEELS the bass and the complicated drum patterns behind the decks. Dance moves! Liquid certainly also feels this.

A late night snippet from the dancefloor. The BASS in this! (Fun fact: I lost my earrings three times on the dance floor during the jungle sets from 22.00 to 03.00. All three times without noticing, because I was in the zone. And three times, three different people found it and gave it back to me, LOL. Yup, don’t wear heels and don’t wear dangly earrings to a jungle rave. (But if you do, do it at a gathering like this)).

And THAT WAS (almost) ALL, FOLKS!

A big shoutout to the people who photographed and filmed during the night. Is is SO RARE that I don’t take any photos, and I really appreciate this selection of memories from the celebration.

———-
If you want MORE, here’s a selection of pics from the party and vernissage preparations (tak, Mariiii and Drop!): https://www.instagram.com/p/C0ox1ZiMTxy/?img_index=1

For more Birthday Bash entertainment, jump into this selection of VERY OLD AND RARE photos: The original Blasts from the Past: Birthday Bash Edition.

As a teaser, this is the first pic:

My Birthday bash, exactly 25 years earlier than the one we just traveled through. TWENTY-FIVE! Nis explains something to Rune RK, I explain something to someone on the floor, we still love jungle, I still wear sparkly and glittery and brightly colored clothes a lot, and I still love to decorate my walls with psychedelic stuff, so no, time probably doesn’t exist.

For this years first post, go here: Blasts from the Past: The Continuous Jungle Revival

For all the years and seasons and episodes of JUngLEkalenderen, go here (and scroll and scroll and scroll): JUngLEkalenderen

Some recommended and relevant highlights from different season:
Season 2014: How to be a Junglist: The Dancefloor Moves
Season 2014: The DIY Test: Is Your Child a Junglist?
Season 2022: Ravers are the Experts: We Love Machines
Season 2022: How to be a Raver: Flags and Balloons
Season 2022: How to be a Raver: Food of the Gods

Blasts from the Past: The Continuous Jungle Revival

Posted on December 1, 2024 1 Comment

Here’s a fun fact: If you’re obsessed with a music genre and you stay obsessed, you will live through more revivals of it than you can imagine.

Obviously, one could argue that your particular favorite subgenre probably never really went away but was alive and well the whole time somewhere out there. That’s how I feel about the psytrance scene (the proper kind), which has gotten itself a MASSIVE comeback in Denmark in the last years – but has been alive and well in other European countries for decades on the vibrant psytrance festivals.

But let’s focus on jungle today:

I have dived into the archives and realized that we’re not just living through a considerable oldskool jungle and drum’n’bass revival right now; we had a BIG one in 2005. And another one ten years later.

THE REVIVAL OF 2005
Let’s take a closer look at the one in 2005. Here’s the entertaining proof: I wrote an article about it in CITADEL in February 2005, titled ‘The Big Drum’n’Bass Revival’:

Zoom in, or read the translation:
“As early as September 2004, it became quite clear: 2005 will be the year of the long-awaited drum’n’bass revival in Copenhagen”, I write with conviction.

And continue:
“And February 19th is set to be the big day for all the bass-thirsty darkside jungle fanatics who’ve been sitting at home sulking, plotting, crying, waiting, crossing their fingers, and hoping that something would finally happen. February 19th marks the day when jungle is officially back in the capital.”

DJ Pyro at the DNBZone party. (Pyro is currently known as CTRLS). Photo: Probably by Vitus.

The article, continued:
“Drum’n’bass had a good run in Copenhagen from the mid-90s onwards, with highlights like the explosive party at Roskilde Festival 2000 (back when Roskilde still had the guts to take bold, exciting risks with the lineup in the techno tent — and on a Saturday night, no less!).”

“But by the end of 2001, the number of parties started dwindling, and the last couple of years have been a walk through the desert for the jungle heads of Copenhagen. An hour here and there just isn’t enough when it’s all about the flow. And it is all about the flow.”

“Drum’n’bass is one of the most fascinating genres when you’re into mixing skills, and on February 19th, enthusiasts with such priorities can finally relax and just enjoy the ride through the tunnel. The evening’s lineup guarantees mixing expertise from seasoned perfectionists who have been around since Copenhagen’s drum’n’bass scene was very young—it’s going to be dark, hard, and intense.”

The article, continued:
“All the junglist massive will definitely be there, but for all of you out there in need of a new experience in techno land (and who haven’t yet discovered this sublime and sense-bombarding genre) this event is highly recommended—especially if you miss those kinds of raves where it’s all about dancing until you drop, with plenty of smiles and enthusiastic shouts on the dance floor, and where the perfectly mixed sets are so insanely powerful and overwhelming that you don’t even have the time to hit the bar, and the only water you get are the droplets of condensation falling from the ceiling by the speakers in the front. Not to be missed.”

The article, continued:
“The sharp lineup in the main room — Vitus, Jimmy F, N.I.S, Drop, Pyro, and CRS & MC Nufound — will keep things at a constant boiling point for the truly hungry bass junkies, while Nico DeFrost, Casper LT, and Nathan Curry serve up simmering liquid vibes downstairs.”

More 2005 fun:
On the same page of the CITADEL magazine, right below this article, is ANOTHER drum’n’bass party – kicked off by dj Sakena (back when she was called SakenaRibena) with a liquid set!

Obviously, I immediately had two jump into my photo archives to see if there are any pics from these events, and lo and behold, I felt lucky! There were lots! From the 5th!

Or so I thought, but quickly realized that the ones I found were not from Feb. 5th at Culture Box, but from the 5th of MARCH 2005 at Culture Box: An OHOI! party with Mark One as the headliner. But we all look so happy in the pics that I’m gonna post them here anyway:

Getting ready for the Ohoi! party at Inge’s Jungle Hut. Some videos reveal that we were listening to Aida (yes, by Giuseppe Verdi) as the warm-up.

And then an hour later on the dance floor, we’re not listening to classical music any more.

Clearly a good hands-in-the-air-kinda-party.

A quote from Ohoi!s press release: “Stilen er hård, bassen er høj, og rimene er skarpe og præcise”.

THE NEXT REVIVAL, A DECADE LATER
Thanks to the hard work of DJ Drop , we had a good run with lots of drum’n’bass parties at Culture Box and Nadsat in the following years (Drop ran the monthly DNBZone club nights in Copenhagen from 2005 to 2009, booking everything and everyone from Future Prophecies and Rolodex to Vicious Circle, Temper D and EBK).

DJ Drop dj’ing at a one of his many DNBZone parties. Photo by Miss Popo.

But then came the next drought.

Until Mariiiii and Chriszka had enough – in 2014 – and kickstarted their own oldskool jungle revival by going back to London where said revival was already in FULL swing. Overwhelmingly so, in fact. We came for one oldskool jungle party, but ended up at three. THREE oldskool jungle parties in one weekend! They don’t mess about in London.

Here we are, enjoying the sweaty jungle revival at the Ribena Party.

You can read about our entire London adventure here: How to be a Junglist: Going to London

As per usual, London moves first – and it takes a few years for Copenhagen to catch up.

Drop in the middle of the first revival in 2005. Here at dj Hype at Stengade.

But DJ Drop called it again in 2016: The Jungle revival had hit the Danish capital.

And I quote (from an interview I did with Drop in 2016):

“What’s the best thing that happened this year?
“The jungle revival in Copenhagen! – kicked off by the first All Jungle party. The oldschool feeling is back, and it has hit Copenhagen, too. It’s beautiful! There were so many of the old crew at the All Jungle parties, and a lot of new faces, too, and then there’s the jungle stuff going on at Bolsjefabrikken, on top. To me, all this was completely unexpected. My faith in a healthy, thriving drum’n’bass scene in Copenhagen took a serious blow after giving up on DNBZone, so I’m really happy to se it.”

You can read the entire interview with Drop here: Jungle Confessions: It’s against all odds, and it’s fabulous

And you can read about the All Jungle revival party here (LOTS of good photos!): Present time: All Jungle

An inspirational quote from my text: “We want jungle. We want amen. We want complicated drum patterns.”

Here’s Nufie at the RumnBass party in 2006. No Nufie, no All Jungle.

The ten year revival cycle
So here we are, folks: A revival in 2005, one ten years later, and then the current one. Should we conclude that it ebbs and flows in a ten year cycle, or should we just agree that the jungle revival is now a permanent state?

I’m gonna end this here with some recent proof that the third(?) jungle revival is currently ON:

Proof number one:
My own birthday party a year ago (oldskool jungle all over).

So many oldskool ppl in this video: NiS (getting ready for the set), Chriszka, Drop, CRS, Sofia and Emok.

Proof number two:
DJ Storm doing stormy stuff at the Strøm Festival this summer:

…and the crowd enjoying it:

Lots of super duper oldskool junglist friends in this video – at DJ Storm, Strøm Festival at Fredens Eng 2024. <3

Proof number 3:
My own oldskool jungle sets, of course!
Find them and follow me on soundcloud.com/chriszka – I would be delighted!

And proof number 4: The Drum And Bass Klubben Bladerunner party that we should all attend on December 13th!

(AND as bonus proof: Two parties this upcoming weekend as well: There will definitely be some oldskool jungle vinyls at Breakbeat Therapy on the 7th! – (and probably at the Drum N Bass Night at Folkets Hus on the 6th, too).

JUngLEkalenderen revisited
For more time travel, junglism and deep dives into rave culture, find all JUngLEkalenderen entries ever here: JUngLEkalenderen (long scroll).

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