Given that time inevitably moves faster as life goes on, it shouldn't have come as any surprise that this year's C/O Pop would seem to both arrive and conclude with unprecedented velocity. Accordingly, upon turning up at the festival's headquarters, it seems like only a few weeks since our visit to last year's event, the densely-wound spires of the Dom cathedral welcoming us back less like long-lost friends, and more like familiar acquaintances returning from a brief sojourn.

In fact, some would say that Cologne is the friendliest of Germany's cities, and certainly, its music and people are certainly far removed from the stern clichés that surround both German techno, and German culture in general. Cologne exudes a laidback warmth that manifests itself not only in the gregarious charm of the festival's attendees, but also in the city's distinctive approach to techno, a playful sweetness that has little time for the nihilistic abstraction and beige-tinted neo-deepness that's currently deemed attention-worthy elsewhere. With this in mind, we hit town in search of a taste of that irrepressible Cologne flavour.

Wednesday 13.08.2008

Sadly, we can't quite find said flavour on tonight's line-up, so the first stop on our epic five-day mission is for neo-beige's men of the minute, Johnny D and Sascha Dive at Westpol. Having defiantly refused to succumb to the appeal of either in the face of recent unrelenting hype, I'm unable to restrain my Emperor's New Clothes-esque cynicism during the pair's performances. Dive lays down one functional, weary-sounding bumper after another, while Johnny D's sterile live set leaves me looking for any traces of risk or wildness amid the conservative grooves and predictable arrangements. I'm clearly on my own in my search, though, because everyone else in the place appears to be going apeshit. Either way, with tomorrow's Kolsch hangover looming large, we call it a night and saunter back to base.

Thursday 14.08.2008

The family that plays together... Paul & Fritz Kalkbrenner

Thursday sees us trekking in the wrong direction for hours before finally locating the Westcafe, a new addition to the programme that consists of a hut, some decks, a park and a clutch of both emerging and incumbent DJs. Areal's Ada does a particularly fine job, her inclusion of the Steve Bug mix of Jeff Samuel's "Knob" prompting the crowd to break out into a broad array of summer-tinged smiles. She's followed by Popnoname, whose strident melodic pomp sounds even grander in the flesh than it does on his undervalued White Album for Italic.

But we've got bigger fish to fry, and having been impressed upon that our invitation to the premier screening of Berlin Calling is a mightily exclusive affair, we hotfoot it over to the vast cinema in the Mediapark. We've been informed that the film is a fictional account of the "life and troubles of a touring DJ," starring BPitch Control's Paul Kalkbrenner. But sadly, that's pretty much all we can tell you, because someone had apparently forgotten to bring the English-subtitled version, rendering our typically mono-lingual Brit pack forlorn, frustrated and soon enough, fleeing for the exit. The opening credit sequence is pretty cool, though, in a goosebumpy, E-flashback kinda way.

More instantly accessible, for us at least, is the film screening afterparty at Bogen 2, a mid-sized, stylishly industrial venue that's a fitting space for the BPitch boys' thumpy hijinks. Younger brother Fritz Kalkbrenner is stirring the throng when we arrive with an engagingly melodic, rumbling set, interspersed with a back-to-back DJ session between Sascha Funke and Zander VT. But tonight, it's all about Paul, and being a fan of his no-nonsense, peak time boom, I hold fairly high hopes for his live set. As it turns out, hearing one PK anthem after another seems to dilute the individual power of each component—as fist-punchingly well-received as belters like "Ick Muss Aus Dit Milieu Heraus" and "Gebruen, Gebruen" are, I find myself thinking about the limitations of a solo live act versus a tight, varied DJ set. It's a question made all the more pertinent given that Berlin Calling is being marketed as a movie about a "DJ" when in fact, it's the story of a "live electronic music artist who manipulates his own tracks in ways comparable to that of a modern laptop DJ." Doesn't quite have the same ring, huh? No wonder Kalkbrenner's character turns to drugs if he has to listen to the same old tracks every single weekend. Isn't that why Luciano stopped playing live?

Joshing aside, if we'd heard the same boomingly triumphant set at the other end of the festival, maybe it would have been a different story. But we didn't, so we decide to head off before the impending weekend onslaught.

Friday 15.08.2008

DJ Koze and his mysterious trumpeter

Friday is dozily spent hanging around at the C/O Pop Affair, snaffling up what promos we can and pretending to pay attention to industry panel discussions. Before long, it's time to scoot over to Statdgarten for a headphone "concert" featuring Vladislav Delay (tonight performing a soundtrack to the early '90s film I Hired a Contract Killer), supported by a performance from DJ Koze's Adolf Noise project.

Again, our language limitations prevent us from fully appreciating the latter's set, peppered as it is with a mangled slew of mainly German samples and soundbites. Joined by an accomplice in some kind of antique army hat, Stefan Kozella's animated presence nonetheless conveys at least some of the joke, which appears to be holding large portions of the crowd in continual hysterics. And musically, the duo's unpredictable lullabies manage to supersede a fair whack of what's lost in translation.

Similarly, I Hired a Contract Killer appears only with German subtitles, but this time it really doesn't matter. The film itself is told in such a didactic, visual way that you'd have to be pretty dim not to work out the story. More importantly, Vladislav Delay's music is so infinitely excellent, I could happily listen to it for days on end, film score or otherwise. One of our number comments that Vlad's score has only the barest relationship to the film's narrative, claiming that "he could have played the same thing to Star Wars and it wouldn't make any difference." But I beg to differ; those instantly recognisable tumbling echoes, granular vocal inversions and eerie yet strangely blissful harmonic slivers neatly complement the detached emptiness of the film's lead character. Synching "happy" sounds to "happy" moments in the narrative, or vice versa, would be something of a contrived approach for an artist of VD's avant-gardist pedigree.

But there's no time to indulge in pseudo-intellectual analysis, because we're already later than planned for the biggest party in town—Kompakt's Total blow-out. Immense queues prevent us from catching Thomas Fehlmann (who's excellent, apparently), and we arrive about half way through the debut live set from Supermayer, who are larking about with kazoos and wood blocks over slightly overdriven renditions of tracks taken largely from their divisive Save the World LP. Suffice to say, if you're one of those who think the album sucks, you'd probably not change your mind after seeing the pair live; but if you find their knockabout style a refreshing break from maudlin techno convention, you'd doubtless be entertained by Mayer's dramatic gesticulating and Superpitcher's effete postures. They're largely well-received by the home crowd, especially when they stretch out the intro to "Two Of Us" for what seems like about 20 minutes, and while they've got a way to go before their live act skills come anywhere near those they possess as DJs, they look like they're having lots of fun.

Ewan Pearson bangs it out business casual

The Cologne hyperspeed time warp takes effect again, and before we know it, we've raved to Ewan Pearson's unexpectedly banging DJ set, pumped vigorously to Maxime Dangles's steaming oompah-techno and spent more time drifting between rooms and talking rubbish than we care to recall. We try and get into DJ Koze's set in the main room, but the cramped conditions and furnace-like heat of the Expo's catacombs send us scurrying for the lighter delights of Tobias Thomas next door, who's eliciting some of the biggest cheers of the night with his rolling mix of clumpy Cologne classics and tender techno charmers. He finishes with Gui Boratto's "Beautiful Life," sending the crowd into paroxysms of pleasure, but the record's flow is twice interrupted, first by Reinhard Voigt's wild arm movements, and secondly by an unidentified female who, in timeworn style, appears to be attempting to grab her bag from under the decks. Tobias takes it on the chin, and soon enough we're packed up and ready to hit the afterhours.

We hadn't visited Odonien, the afterparty venue, on any previous trips to Cologne, so we weren't quite prepared for what came next. Basically a rotten tin shack hidden along a dirt road behind Europe's largest whorehouse, the dancefloor is enclosed within a post-apocalyptic courtyard, replete with half-formed automobiles hanging from oxidised steel pillars, ominously surreal bric-a-brac scattered about the place and an ever-present suspicion that Mad Max might turn up in his yellow interceptor at any moment. In short, an awesome venue for an afterparty. Supermayer do their ping-pong DJ thing, before handing over to Matias Aguayo for a suitably tripped-out, pitched down amble into murky house territories. With the pressure off after the big show, combined with the fact that the sun is blazing at last, we eventually stagger out, feeling that for all Total's grand intentions, the afterparty was where the magic really happened.

Saturday 16.08.2008

Our intention to plough on through into Saturday night is unwittingly foiled when we suddenly wake at about 2 AM, having crashed at some undefined point earlier in the evening. Still, there's time to make it out to suburban Ehrenfeld for the Traum / Trapez / MBF party at Sensor, where a gaggle of Triple R's cohorts old and new have gathered for a kind of multi-label showcase. Last minute addition Renato Figoli is surprisingly taut and powerful, but our increasingly frail attention is reserved for Thomas Brinkmann's live set. He doesn't disappoint, laying down complex, idiosyncratic grooves that simmer with patented Brinkmann quirkiness. The crowd is less trendy than we've seen elsewhere, which is undeniably a good thing—trainspotting and shade-wearing seem much less important than dancing for this bunch. But with our body clocks out of synch, and Sensor's infernal heat making virtually any kind of movement all but unbearable, we depart before Dominik Eulberg's set to indulge in some much needed R&R before Sunday's closing celebration.

Sunday 17.08.2008

Ricardo Villalobos fending off the sun at The Pollerweisen
Photo credit: Andrew Lewis

Rested and ready for action, we trek out to Jugendpark in the afternoon, where Ricardo Villalobos and Sven Väth are headlining C/O Pop's outdoor mega-rave, Pollerweisen. Frustratingly, we only catch the last segment of Ricardo's set—having foolishly failed to remember that Sven would be playing for at least five hours. The Chilean demi-god is on good form, though, showing that classically-inspired house music, in the right hands at least, can indeed be one of life's finest pleasures. Papa Sven, meanwhile, is, well, like he always is, and while we can only muster up a modicum of enthusiasm for his bombastic macho-techno, the 3000 or so attendees lap up every single squeal, squiggle and boom. Always good to hear Maurizio's thundering remix of "Lyot," though.

For most, the party ends here, but there's one final treat in store, in the form of Westpol's closing party. As in previous years, the line-up is comprised solely of Cologne DJs and acts, and with the finish line in sight, we feel we can finally let rip one last time. We slink along to Treibstoff regular Rene Breitbath's pleasantly unimposing deep house, and we appreciate Robert Babicz's quartz-clear sound design, but the big discovery of the night—and of the weekend, perhaps—is Gabriel Ananda's DJing. Throwing down one churning, sinister monster after another, he's the exception to the perceived rule that seems to forbid most "name" techno producers having proper DJ skills. Forging a sound that's both menacing and inviting, the crowd roars with approval as Ananda marches us into some deeply alluring, primal oblivion. As Marcel Janovsky hits the decks with Dubfire's sacrilegious rework of "Spastik," we decide it's time to pack our bags and head, at last, for home.

For those of us with a deep attachment to the city of Cologne—its sounds, its people, its parties—C/O Pop now seems no less fundamental to the annual techno calendar than much larger events like Sonar. Despite its comparatively limited budget and lack of a single, self-contained location, the festival punches above its weight, and anyone with even a passing interest in quality electronic music couldn't fail to find something of interest—notable absences from this review include Patrice Scott, DAF, X.trak, Hercules & Love Affair, Suburban Knight, Norman Nodge, Touane, The Field…I could go on.

It's no secret that some of the city's biggest hitters are perhaps not quite as hyped as they once were, but in many ways, that's for the better—there's little of the swiping, biting and self-conscious posturing that trendier sub-scenes all too frequently attract. And more importantly, for this weekend at least, the city of Cologne proves to the world that it's still a prominent, passionate force in music, even after all these years. Like the ominously welcoming spires of the Dom, it'll still be there, standing proud, long after everything else around it has gone.