The Zurich Lowdown

Leave your preconceptions at the door; Zurich's reputation for finance and food may precede it but it has much more to offer. Berlin may be celebrated for its clubbing reputation, Love Parade, and generally being a hub of creative activity, but Zurich is keen on asserting its own prowess. With more clubs per head of population than any city in Europe, late licensing hours and its very own techno festival, the Swiss city is looking to expand its horizons.

Ok, so they've got the liberal attitude, and clubs stay open to 8am, but how has this come about, where is it going, and what does it mean? Like most well-established cities, Zurich has undergone a continuing period of regeneration, but rather than demolishing disused factories, breweries, and shipbuilding areas, they've figured out how to make the best of what they have. Imaginatively, they've given birth to a clubbing district in what once was the centre of industry. Nearby, old metal containers stand stacked on top of each other to form the Freitag shop, a Swiss must-have accessory company making products from salvaged truck tarpaulins. Places of note in 'Zuri West', as it is known, include The Hive and the Schiffbau-Hall (shipbuilding site), and further afield lies Rohstofflager at Duttweilerstrasse and Rote Fabrik in Enge. Another district leading the way is Langstrasse, which is home to Zukunft. The Skinny got the chance to check out Zukunft, Rohstofflager and Rote Fabrik up close and witnessed the fitness of these venues and the talent playing.

Rote Fabrik forms three huge renovated buildings, and it played host to the yearly two-day Lethargy Festival while we were there, with an eye-popping line-up which included Model 500 (live), Appleblim, Perverlist, Louie Austen, and The Emperor Machine. With the time and freedom to visit a few different venues each night, club-hopping is a tradition, not one too familiar to Scotland. There's no problem turning up at 3am to go partying and no surly bouncers stopping the queues at 1.30am.

The festival attracts people of all ages, including the over 60s rocking out to techno and dubstep - the clubbing market is no longer solely aimed at a particular age group, and is famous for its music and party attitude for all (with alcohol comparatively expensive, there are less annoying drunks than in Scotland). But you shouldn't just take our word for it - when the credit crunch is a distant memory (fingers crossed or we'll have to sell them for medical research) it's a good idea to visit the place yourself. Until those flights are booked however, best we hear from the people making moves in the music industry there.

Cio, a Zukunft resident and former label manager of Switzerland's Spezialmaterial, is an active member in the Zurich music community. “Spezialmaterial is a label for electronic music with great graphic design with handmade sleeves and so on, putting out releases and promoting nights in Zurich. We have new releases from Feldermelder, Solotempo, Intricate, and hopefully a Japan tour next year, more great nights at Zukunft, such as Plaid in October, Sonic Boom in November, and Tikiman and Scion in December."

Next we meet Swiss producer Zwicker, aka Tweak. Spinning and composing a mixture of disco, house, electro, and funk with deep and futuristic vibes, his music soon found its way onto Get Physical compilations and his now regular outlet, Compost.

Zwicker lists Zukunft as one of his favourite Swiss clubs, along with the Hive - "I like playing at those clubs because the crowd really wants to dance and/or listen to music, and not just be 'seen' and pose around" he explains.

After his performance at Cabaret Voltaire later this month, Zwicker will be concentrating on his new album, Songs of Lucid Dreamers, out on Compost in January, featuring guest vocalists such as Jamie Lloyd and Heidi Happy. "To tell the truth, the more I DJ the less I want to produce dance music, that's why I did an album with songs. But still, I love playing dance music: it's a paradox! My influences range from early Yello, Talking Heads to Neu! Anyway, it's an electronic listening album, done with a lot of patience, passion and love."

Zwicker has performed with our next interviewee on a number of occasions - meet Kalabrese, co-owner of Zukunft and respected artist in his own right. Kalabrese has been one of the guiding hands behind the successful club, while simultaneously garnering his own rave reviews from DJs such as Laurent Garnier and Rainer Truby for his disco-funk release, Hühnerfest. In between DJing old and new techno, house, afro, disco and funk, he followed it up with 2007's Rumpelzirkus album, ably helped by the Rumpelorchestra. Its organic sounds blending house and folk with the jazzy sounds of brass has fuelled the recent tip as an artist to watch. Indeed, he'll be back in Scotland in 2009 for a performance with the Rumpelorchestra at Optimo in Glasgow - just in time for his new album, which he describes as "very funky, organic, and mystic in a way, elegant future dance music - something romantic and very deep and soulful.

On Zukunft, he has this to say: "Our club has the perfect size (250 people) for realising our ideas of club-culture: a good club has a face and a heart... with visions and creativity, with lots of special effort, and with a lot of love for the people. You have to protect your club... our guests do the best marketing not the media."

The Berlin Topic

There have been hints that Zurich is positioning itself as rival competition to Europe's main centres of musical creativity through its clubs and artists, so we asked Cio, Zwicker and Kalabrese about how much competition that they think Zurich presents. "I don't think there is a need for Zurich to be in competition with Berlin," says Cio. "First of all, Zurich is a much smaller city and the history in general is different to what Berlin is and was. There is a long background of bands in any musical style in Zurich, but as for electronic music, it was pioneered in the 80s by Yello, for example" he explains. "There is a lot of creativity in and around Zurich but it is somehow easier to overview it as a whole when comparing to Berlin. I don't see that in a negative way, as actually I find Zurich more interesting because it seems more real and honest, whereas the hype from Berlin is a bit too much for me."

Zwicker points out that Berlin is a cheaper place to live, which makes it much easier to survive as an artist, but Kalabrese looks past the economics and sees more of a difference in the styles of music. "Compared to Berlin we have a small scene with different artists, and each of us doing something special. It's cool that it's more individual than Berlin: it's not only minimal techno-house. Leading the scene is Bang Goes, Styro 2000,Lexx-Kawabata, Alex Dallas, Cio, and Tim and Puma."

Switzerland and Scotland: Worlds Apart

What lessons do you think that Scotland can take from Switzerland in regards to clubbing? "Well, I think the question should be the other way around," says Cio. "I was introduced to the clubbing scene in Scotland around 12 years ago, and I can say that most of my knowledge of electronic music was learned from its great club nights and venues (Club 69, Pure, Optimo, The Arches), and acts living in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There's also perhaps the best record shop in the UK – Rubadub. In both countries the Scots and Swiss are mostly very friendly people, and both like to rave a lot! Closing times in the clubs could be a bit later in Scotland though - in Zurich a club night finishes at 7am or later.

"If people don't drink or take drugs too much, and the music is on the 100db level, then it's politically correct and fine [in Zurich]. But as you know, most of the time it's not like this, and the police, encouraged by politicians, did massive raids and closed down clubs, like the legendary Spider Galaxy. Also, Zukunft had a stupidly organised raid by around 40 policemen, stopping Chica Paula's concert. 200 people plus the band were searched for more than two hours. And if clubbing gets into illegal locations then, of course, they can also be very restrictive. But in general, we can go clubbing as much as we want, and for long periods of time, without too many restrictions."

Scotland has similarly been tightening its grip upon the drug industry, but we're yet to see greater tolerance for clubs (especially when they knock up plush flats next door and then complain about the noise!).

"Yes, we have a better situation," claims Kalabrese. "More liberal laws, good contacts in the government, but it is not always as easy as it seems to be. You have to be diplomatic and know the right people."

Switzerland's leading lights

Zwicker considers Kalabrese, Soultourist, Tim and Puma Mimi, Filewile, Mountain People and Quarion to be leading Switzerland further towards the front of the European electronic / dance scene. "I think these acts definitely bring back a certain warmth and originality into the faceless, mechanic house music of these times," he tells us. "I see myself more on the songwriting end of electronic music, together with Tim & Puma Mimi or Seelenluft. There aren't many electronic acts at the moment that actually write songs and dare to do many chord changes, or fill their music with concepts.

"But we definitely have an original Swiss touch. For me, the first in the tradition of this kind of music was Yello, which I grew up on. Whereas the Swiss may not have all the musical experience and marketing networks for music, I think they are really good at composing funny, warm and soulful music."

If your interest has been sufficiently piqued to entice you into grabbing a slice of the action yourself, put some serious thought into visiting the Swiss city around August (Lethargy, the Street Parade, and several special events in one month!), especially if you've been there and done that in Berlin already!