I’m not quite sure when it all started with the Kühlhouse in Bremerhaven. It must have been at least 20 years ago. Before that, people who would later be associated with the Kühlhouse used to organise house parties at venues such as the water tower on Langener Landstraße, where Phazz used to DJ. At the time, I was involved with a group of people who had been organising techno parties in Bremerhaven for ages, and we looked on enviously at these parties in the water tower. Our parties were rather mediocre, while theirs were noticeably more exciting. Later on, there were also parties in Lessingstraße, organised by Tas & Phunk, and the Löschbetrieb, but that’s another story.
Kühlhouse quickly established itself as a serious venue for house parties in Bremerhaven and appealed to ‘new’ people in particular. Not just scene-goers like me. That was refreshing because it meant the expectations were different.
It was also nice that it took place with a certain regularity, especially in a city like Bremerhaven, which didn’t really have a scene and where nightlife was generally a bit difficult. The Alte Bürger was struggling, having previously been the go-to place for nightlife in the city. There were a few discos that appealed to a different clientele, but they also had their problems. The Kühlhouse stood out. It was small, intimate, played good music, and people met there for a good time in a relaxed way.
At least that’s how I remember it. You tend to remember the good things!
There were plenty of good things going on. I organised a party with Matthias, who rented the halls to the left and right of the Kühlhouse. There was a guest list of 110 people, we took practically no admission fees that evening, but the bar was proverbially drunk dry. It was a lovely evening, Tas & Phunk were there too.
Later, I often DJed there alongside Kolja Bäcker, who was a resident DJ at Rosigen Zeiten in Bremen. After that, Dimi & Loco from my DNMK roster, if you can call it that, did a lot there, and I was occasionally involved. My time as a DJ, especially in Bremerhaven, was very much influenced by Kühlhouse.
Years later, I met Marc at the Alte Bürger Festival. I had been living in Hamburg for a long time and didn’t visit Bremerhaven that often any more, but I immediately asked him about the Kühlhouse. ‘Sold the joint, couldn’t be arsed any more.’
It broke my heart a little, but I understood.
Not only have people like me been moving away from Bremerhaven in increasing numbers, but perhaps the momentum for such things has simply run out at some point.
I think it was in 2018 or 2019 when I wanted to see what was still going on at Kühlhouse, so I looked it up online. I was feeling a little sentimental and curious. I wanted to see what was happening in my old home town.
The URL kuehlhouse.com was not linked to any website because someone failed to renew the registration.
Almost reflexively, I registered the URL and almost immediately had the idea of making an homage mix. With records from that era or records that I particularly liked at the time.
Side note: With my history in the techno scene and not being tied to just one genre, I was always the DJ who didn’t quite fit in 100% at Kühlhouse. I adapted at times, but I also, let’s say, tested the boundaries. Around 2008, I was really into bloghouse, which was influenced by French Touch. Great music, but not always suitable for Kühlhouse.
So, the idea was to make an homage mix with a selection of records. It took me this long because I’ve always found it very difficult to record mixes at home. My mixes were always worse than my sets, partly because at some point I needed the trigger of seeing people’s reactions to my music.
Because I ended up selecting over 60 records for this mix, it was impossible to record it at home with my bias against home recording. When dj.studio* came out a while ago, I knew immediately how I could finally record this set outside my comfort zone, and I’m glad that piece of software exists. Without it, the idea would have died!
Long story short, here is my homage mix, which at least reminds me of a good time at the Kühlhouse. Maybe you too?
I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it.
Direct link: kuehlhouse.com
* Affiliate link: if you purchase dj.studio through this link, I will receive a small commission.
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