30/01/2012

Top 10 Tartu nightlife venues - current

These are the top 10 venues I go for the nightlife in Tartu. (This was posted in 2012 and sadly the top three venues have since closed and not many new ones have taken their place)

10. Illegaard - a (former) Jazz club and allegedly the first gay venue in Tartu. A few concerts and events take place there and it's probably the only bar where you have to pay for tap water. The layout is cool though and there's room, if not to sit then at least to move around.

photo of illegaard from likealocalguide.com

9. Illusion - a former cinema and the prettiest commercial club in Tartu. there's music from retro to D'n'B and if you want to go clubbing then Illusion is the way to go. Girls flashing legs and guys getting drunk with a great light show and bass. Not much to do except for browsing the meat market, unless there's a special appearance.

A really good overview once again from likealocalguide.com

8. Teine Maailm -  used to be just Maailm before new management. Occasional alternative events take place, but otherwise it could be considered a mini club. Hosts dubstep and commercial nights and occasionally the likes of "Neljapäev with lazers".

Legendary "Neljapäev with lazers" night , classy shot by Mr Whip.

7. Möku - I would say it's the offspring of Zavood. It was my favorite venue when it was opened an it was ran in a fresh way. The best part was that it turned Rüütli street into a never ending festival with up to hundred  people drinking and socializing and hooking up. Now the local police has destroyed that scene by constantly patrolling the street and fining people for public drinking.

The crowd in front of Möku which is by the umbrella.

6. Zavood - the father of  alternative Tartu nightlife. I remember looking in through the windows when I was 11 and getting thrown out of there when I was 13. It used to be a obscure smoky student bar. Now it's an end-of-the-night spot with cheap beer and super drunk people dancing on a square meter at 3 am. Not much to do there before midnight.

I couldn't leave this photo of Zuks in Zavood out :D

5. Pirogov - hardly a venue, but a picnic area, the only place in Estonia where it's legal to drink in public. From the first warm of days of spring, it turns into a non-stop festival of drinking (minors), tanning and an occasional fight. You should know which side of the park to stay on and not to pick up any empty bottles, as both of them might end up with an ass kicking.

Didn't find the author to credit or a photo depicting the night-time madness.

4. Genialistide klubi - for a long time Genclub was the only place to go for an alternative concert. The biggest alternative venue in Tartu. It's also a theater and a cafe with a wide variety of events happening on it's two floors. It's a culture central and possibly a way of life for the people working there.

A concert in Genialistide klubi

3. Nälg - the most recently opened venue.
This restaurant/club/boutique has a flashy design  with it's custom made Dj booth and the light fixture. The dancefloor is one of the smallest in Tartu, fitting around 20 people side by side. It's still being established and we'll see how long their appeal lasts.

Last time I played in Nälg.

2. Nott - now reopened after court hassles with the neighbors. It's the best venue during summertime with it's outdoors terrace where the party goes on until 6-7 a.m. The beer and cider are cheap and the goers are cool. The drinks are reasonably priced and the bartenders usually have great taste in music.

Blurry Nott terrace 


1. Kink Konk - former Plink Plonk indie club, is now an electronica club. Ran by real music lovers, the venue is well organized and firendly. It has cheap prices for beer, cider and long drink. There are lots of couches for sitting and a reasonable dance floor. The nights include house, techno and hip-hop, usually the Thursdays are free.

Photo of Kink Konk by Märt Kose

Check out also the top 10 of past Tartu venues here. Which would your top venues be? Leave a comment.
See you on Friday at Von Krahl in Tallinn.
Barthol

27/01/2012

Top 10 Tartu nightlife venues of all time

Welcome back!
During past 10 years I have been to hundreds of parties and most of them were in Tartu. These are in my opinion the all time best nightlife venues in Tartu. Feel free to comment and contribute to this list in the comments. Which one was your favorite and what happened there? I'll post the list about current top ten soon.

10. Sõbramaja - now the student house. It's been a popular place for holding student parties. It has two rooms. The big stage on the first floor is really impressive and can fit a lot of people and a couple of my youth's hip-hop parties also took place there. The other room is in the basement and it has couches lining the walls and a cool mirror ceiling genuine 90s Estonian provincial glamour. I got away with playing Atari teenage riot to my fellow students there.

9. Pärmivabrik - the old yeast factory functioned as a culture center for around two years. It was always cold, but nonetheless birthdays, student parties and even a wedding was held there. I think their room has been the biggest in Tartu.

Photo probably by Priit Salumaa.

8. Maailm - a youthful cafe/club. The walls and tables were covered with magazines and photos from the parties. There were swings hanging from the ceiling and the infamous double toilet. The birthplace of the Neljapäev with lazers night that's still going on.

My live at Neljapäev with lazers in Maailm.

7. Kruusaauk - only went there twice. It was on the outskirts of the town and it was an abandoned house in a valley, a totally surreal place. One time at a birthday there 10 blondes in red shirts showed up out of nowhere and we never knew why. Inga describes it as: "a very magical place in the valley especially in the moonlight. In winter you could just sleigh to the door, there were burning stoves awaiting and everyone there became your friend."

Only photo of Kruusaauk, the house there. By Rein Urbel.

6. Damtan Dance - never went to a party there, because I was too young, but my older cousin and friends were always talking about it. It was an illegal house venue and a contemporary art gallery. Every time the police showed up the guy at the door had to run away with the money. It later involved and became a part of Eclectica festival. [I found no photos, but if you have any then send them to me.]

5. Varjend - a former nuclear shelter, how cool is that. It played an important roll in the emerging electronic music scene in Tartu around 2000. It was mostly about the DnB and house scene but they had also Metal and Hip-hop parties. There was no mobile signal inside and the walls were covered with graffiti and graphics (done by a now well known tattooist).

Party in Varjend in the 90s 

4. Illusioon - this is a former cinema and before it became a commercial club, it was a dump. Despite that trashy look it hosted one of the coolest parties I used to frequent as a teenager - Hip Hop Hooray. It was a must-go for teenagers at that time and the people organizing it were underage as well. It once took me there 80 minutes to get in and I was on the list: another time I tagged along with the organizers as they counted their earnings on a nearby basketball court.

16yo me and girls in Illusioon at Hip hop hooray

3. Old Genclub - it was a small, dark and old house with a lot of people in there it doubled as a blackbox theater. There was an extra stage in the dirty basement with dripping pipes overhead and underground music. People who wanted to get in for free sled under the gate and got caught by the security guards, but the masters climbed over a house to get in.

DnB producer Inztance clubbing at old Genklubi

2. Kellele ei meeldiks Johnny Depp - "Who wouldnt like Johnny Depp". I worked there as a barmen during my first year in University. Ran by the musician Chalice and the owners of Maailm, Noku, Truffe and Werner at the time. There has never been a club in Tartu that would have had such an impressive line-up every week. There were bands 3 days a week playing there and good Djs to enjoy, but that's probably why it didn't last.

View of Depp by Evert Palmets


1. Sadamateater - 1st party I ever went to. I was 13 years old and it was a D'n'B party. After that I went to numerous nights there with cool people and a great atmosphere. The venue is interesting as there are so many places to go: the elevated seats around the stage, the backstage goes through two floors and occasionally you could get on the roof (sometimes there was an extra stage there).

A stage on the roof and a clown giving out ice-cream in Sadamateater.


Add your suggestions and ideas in the comments. Your favorite venues of the past and what happened there. Soon the top 10 of current venues in Tartu.
B

22/01/2012

Gang plans for 2012

My mom told me that to get into a gang girls have to have sex with all the members, and I'm definitely not doing that.

Welcome back!
We've formed a fresh gang. Check out the other gang members over here - B gang on Facebook. We'll be partying hard, dancing the night away, sharing good music and doing whatever else we want together. Send us a photo of you doing a B gang sign to join - bartholmusic [at] gmail [dotcom].

Joining the gang

I've been working on the plan for year 2012, setting goals and taking the first steps towards accomplishing them. Expect more tracks, gigs and new topics on Fluon. We're going to make this year count. I'm coming up with new ideas for clothes and stuff and I'm getting help from other people. If you have ideas or you want to help then don't hesitate to contact me. The same goes for remixes and propositions.

Zuks and Bebe enjoying a night in Kink Konk.

On the 3rd of February I'm playing a beastly show at Von Krahl with Mart Avi, Firejose and others. It will be the premiere of Jet set rebels + Molotov spray tan E.P. I'll be giving away free tickets to Cheap&Chic so stay tuned and like Barthol Lo Mejor page on Facebook to know what's going down.


We've been going through the video clips from the studio live with Redlip. As soon as we come up with the concept and edit it there will be a video. I plan to make more videos in 2012, some of which will explain aspects of my music others  will take you backstage.

Nott is open again and we're celebrating.

Things continue to get better. I'll be back soon with good news and the progress with the E.P. My camera has seized to work at the moment, but I expect to get it fixed asap.
See you soon!
Barthol

13/01/2012

Release with Steve Aoki

Cool space disco + old italo rave, the spacial feel of the sound and all the bell sounds are great! Sounds mostly fit for a party.

Welcome to post 100!!!
As it's a new year I've decided to do something new and review Steve Aoki's coming album Wonderland. I hope you already listened to Molotown off my coming E.P. in last week's post.

Girls getting trashed

I have been giving "Molotov spray tan" E.P. the finishing touch for another week. I've already gotten good feedback on the tracks, like the quote by Berk Vaher in the beginning of the post. For me these are tracks that you would want to listen to over and over again and I left out a lot of tracks from Jet set rebels + Molotov spray tan E.P. Once it's out I'll do a post that explains each track, the influences, time being and the story behind it. I hope you are as excited as I am about it!

Album art from Steve Aoki's Wonderland

Steve Aoki is an artist that I've respect for quite some time. His new album Wonderland is about to drop on the 17th of January. Here's my short review. The overall sound is a bit too LMFAO popish for me. The best tracks from the album are Steve Jobs and Ooh, which sounds like Eminem has grown some balls and is rapping in a foundry (it's actually feat. Raimon Roy). Cudi the kid feat. you know who & Travis Barker is the most eclectic track, but I'd have hoped more from that collaboration. You can hear influences of Swedish House Mafia and Calvin Harris all over the album and the sound is rather classical than new. One or two of the tracks might become this summer's anthems. All together it's not that bad, but I'd have expected something harder and fresher from Steve Aoki like his track Wake up and collaboration with Bloody Bettroots. Well give it a go anyways, at least once.
08 Steve Jobs feat Angger Dimas by steveaoki

Mihkel under the christmas tree.

I'm going to play a show in February, I'll let you know more as it approaches and things get cleared up. It will consist mostly of the new E.P. tracks and there might be a couple of surprises.
See you soon!
B

08/01/2012

It has been three years!

You're going to help me with writing this post

Welcome back, for the 3rd year!
Happy birthday to Fluon. It all started three years ago. Have a listen and download Molotown from the coming Molotov spray tan E.P.


Crowd celebrating with Fluon

As it's Fluon's birthday, it would be great if you'd write in comments about your experience with Fluon. Which one was your favorite post or photo? Have you learned anything from Fluon? What would you like to change? Take a moment and remember how you first came here and what has happened since!

See you soon!
Barthol