Ismus bring 'a new approach' to Scottish clubbing

Originally from Fife, Josh Dunlop recounts how Berlin’s club scene was ‘pretty stale’ when he first ventured there in 2014. What’s now considered the techno capital of the world was much more minimal back in 2014. Dunlop ironically imagined a Berlin with Scottish club energy, conceptualising Ismus – co-founder Lucia Markich formulated the early art direction and themes for the parties. With influences of manga and anime, artist Nick Cocozza has been at the forefront of creating monochrome album art. Ismus’s artworks are Easter eggs giving snippets of the label founder’s dystopian life experiences, Dunlop teases "which may one day be released as a story."

‘Ismus’, the German translation of ‘-ism’, referring to the prescriptive naming of collective identities to be found in the rhetoric of social and political movements, the external elements of one’s identity, is reflected strongly in the naming of club nights throughout their first three years – Futurism, Anarchism, Eroticism, Organism.

Not too long after Ismus’s first party in 2015 at Arena Berlin, Jonathan (Jonny) Carroll joined Ismus as label manager. Having worked at Soma Records, and running his own nights in Glasgow, Dunlop and Carroll hit it off after meeting at a party in 2017. The pair had similar ideas when it came to music, sharing a love for harder music genres like trance. The idea of starting a label while being a party soon became a reality for Ismus. Throughout the pandemic Ismus nurtured the label side of the business – event and label bookings have always been closely linked. Inclusivity and fairness are central to Ismus’s ethos. Dunlop and Carroll have always championed giving smaller artists opportunities to play in Berlin and beyond, across Europe at a multitude of parties they’ve previously hosted. Says Carroll, "Curation at Ismus aims to cultivate the harder dance genres, while presenting artists that completely differ in sound from each other."

Photo by Florian-Kroll

Dunlop and Carroll reflect on their time in Berlin and how often they felt blessed to run parties in a city where so many people had knowledge about electronic music – from 2017-20 Ismus ran parties at the now-closed clubbing institute Griessmuehle. A negative reputation persists for imposing harsh door policies at Berlin’s night clubs, but this was something Ismus chose against implementing in the city. Their nights at Griessmuehle often imposed a "light-hearted door policy", Dunlop describes "creating an atmosphere accessible for everyone, we offered an alternative to many nights in Berlin."

One of Ismus’s watershed parties happened back in May 2018, during the city’s annual May Day celebrations. Dunlop tells us: "We got this guy from Munich who had built his own soundsystem, he’d spent something ridiculous on it. It was festival-sized, he brought it up in a tiny van to our flat in Berlin. The next day we put it in a park at 6am and decided to shove loads of locals on our lineup and our now residents Clouds. By the end of the day there was thousands of people in the park. This was a massive turning point for Ismus, we were noticed after this."

Ismus has its first ever party in Glasgow on 5 March at Room 2 – its lineup includes seven DJs, split equally between local talent and international heaters. Dunlop and Carroll plan to encourage Scotland’s already thriving scene, by uniting it with some of their party ideals seen across Europe. An introduction to Sunday day parties is the aim of this venture, the golden standard already seen across Europe’s techno scene. Safety is paramount to the duo and for the duration of the parties in Glasgow on Sunday a no-phones policy will be adopted, to give queer bodies and guests the safety to dance and express themselves. Ismus also has their staff trained in harm reduction, a policy which will help sustain a safe space for dancers. Ultimately, Ismus’s return to Scotland looks to see the transformation of traditional 3am club closures and provide the opportunity for local DJs to experiment with longer set times, a club model which has long desired reform.

Outwith Glasgow, Ismus’s headquarters will remain in Berlin; Dunlop and Carroll tentatively leak the forthcoming plans for the label and party. "Berlin is our bread and butter. We have an amazing team based there, helping us run parties not only in Berlin but across Europe, as well as our label. There’s a lot planned for 2023. We are happy to say we’ll be doing parties with RSO.Berlin, I think lots of people will be really excited for this as it’s the team behind Griessmuehle and of course we have a lot of history there. We’ll be in Paris, Budapest, Cologne and back at FOLD in London. We’ve also added two new residents to our roster: Tommy Holohan and Høleigh, which is so exciting – they both bring such different sounds to Ismus."

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Keep up to date with Ismus on Instagram @ismusberlin

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