I suggest dressing up black coat and going to X-tra ti Gothic party DDD

It depends what you mean by alternative.

One kind of alternative: Micachu and the Shapes at Zukunft last night. Excellent quirky music, nice venue . . . small and intimate.

An alternative alternative: Kalkbreite, the squat. Everything from punk to hardcore to metal to industrial to the arty end of electronica. Catch it before it's redeveloped as flats (by these chaps, http://www.dasdreieck.ch/)

Bugger, wanted to go see that, but forgot, I kind of like her album, I wondered what they'd be like live

I've heard of this but never been.

I wasn't convinced by some of the Youtube performances I'd seen, but it was a really good live show. The stage in Zukunft creates a nice space, you're close to the performers and you think you're witnessing something special. Micachu herself has a strange but charismatic presence and the performance really got the crowd going. My only complaint? It was a slightly short set.

Hi Cyrus,

Helsinki Sunday night band Trio from Hell are playing at the Stand up Comedy on Friday.

But it looks like everyone predictibly equates alternative to some type of rock despite your above points of reference.

I think for a different scene you'd need to check out another dirtier less sanitised city. I went to a Drum n Bass night up in Basel last month and chatted to a few local people there. One of them told me there's regular dub events up there, I'll contact the guy I met to find out more and PM you.
Or Berne perhaps.

But Moods has some interesting gigs on occasionally, but not a regular night obviously and DJing would already be arranged for the big gigs, saw US3 a few weeks ago.

Matahari was a bit indie / rock commented on by Depeche from the first weekend drinks.

Acupulco is a little bit experimental sometimes.

Music at IQ bar at Escher Wyss Platz is varied but has no DJ.

Last time I was at Babalubar the guy behind the bar was playing some cool tracks and was really helpful and enthusiastic when I asked him what the tune was that was playing. I reckon you could ask in there if they'd be interested in a one off trial DJing. www.babalubar.ch Worth a try.

Finally you've got the ski season coming up and those snowboarders certainly know how to Dub.

Keep us all posted if you find somewhere to DJ, sounds interesting.

Cheers,
HB

Bar 59 in Luzern recently let me play in their bar, and that went down well, they said they might have some more nights for me. This is what got me thinking about expanding a little.

BTW in Luzern, some places to check out.

Bar 59 have a great variety of nights, a good crowd and quite captivating interior.

Schuur put on some good gigs and nights too, though sometimes the crowd seems a little young. International and local bands/DJs.

Metzergerhalle on baselstrasse is good place for punk, rock and other metal things. They also occasionaly have bands, mostly local, the ones I've seen there have been really good. The place is tiny so you get right up close.

Sedel is a bit far out of town, but it's pretty much the centre of the alternative music scene. It used to be a prison and the cells have been converted into practice rooms for local bands. Also a very good variety of nights.

Treibhouse is supposedly good too, but I hardly ever go there, it's mostly for students and they make me feel old.

Magdis, or st Magdalene is a great place, but not so much music orientated.

"Coooooool" (said in Bart Simpson voice).

The Sedel is also an artists collective. It has a very, very interesting history. They released a book with their anniversary a few years back, giving the history. Unfortunately, it is in German, but it was very interesting.

My favorite part are the cows next to the car park.

Hi Cyrus,

I sent you a PM of the info from my dub (& DnB) contact in Basel but thought I'd post this night that's coming up in Berne on Friday.

Sounds like Berne is jumpin'.

DnB may not be your cup of tea but Roni Size is on and a plethora of other non Swiss DJs (not that Swiss are inferior but it shows the scale of the festival's line up).

Cheers,
HB

Friday, http://www.facebook.com/l/d1bf9;
27.11.2009 - UNREAL Drum&Bass Festival @ Grosse Halle (Reitschule) Bern

Andy C (Ram Records - UK)
Roni Size (Full Cycle Rec. - UK)
Blacksunempire (BSE Rec. - NL)
Optiv (Cause4concern Rec. - UK)
Axiom (Renegade Hardware - CH)
Deejaymf (UTM - CH)
VCA (Biotic Rec. - CH)
MC Dynamite (Represent - UK)
MC GQ (Emcee Rec. - UK)
MC SP (UK)
more tba

may be the kind of event you wanted to be informed about, LOOK at this LINE-UP =)

Krypta Bar in Basel....

www.krypta-basel.ch/index.php

ok, im not linking to programmes or websites, too much work as i wrote sh!tloads of pages in here already about club scene in ZH.
when i say electro i mean that as a general term that includes techno, minimal, house, electro etc. check websites, check myspace of them artists n get an idea whats up.

indie means mostly indie-djays or_live that they have live gigs on.
also check programme on websites of particular club.

some of them might dont have a website...keep yo ear to the ground n watch for most modest flyers: black_n_white copies sticked with glue.
the glossier the poster is, the more stiff, commercial and unbearable the crowd, club, music will be there to be found. its a simple measure that will never change n indicates where to go (except mascotte, but karaoke from hell and some live-gigs are ok)

bar=bar with low-fi crowd in terms of less people in banking leisure wear, blackberry overkill, maserati car keys on tables, escorte service chicks at hand. etc. about 99,9% "you are not supposed to meet your boss"-certificate

abart/indie
boschbar_provi treff/indie
el lokal/indie
exil/indie
hartholz_indie_live
binz/squat community
habsburgstrasse/squat/seasonal club...might be closed sooner or later_electro
zukunft/electro/indie/live
hive/electro/indie_live
cabaret/electro
helsinki/indie_live/electro
escherwys/electro/indie_live
rohstoff lager/electro/indie_live
razzia/indie_live
loops/electro
stairsclub/electro
moods/electro
bäckereianlage/indie_live/electro
alte börse/electro
alte metzg/metal
mascotte/electro/indie_live
bombay bar
mars bar
bling bar
longstreet bar
hafenkneipe bar
xenix bar
meyers bar

too many to list...

To those interested, I'm at Bar 59 on the 30th of this month (Jan), I'm in the bar and playing all night. The club is putting on a night called "Märchen Grotesk", from what I can tell is's a mix of thrash, electro, gothic and new wave.

I won't be going quite so hard (unless I feel the night's heading that way) with my own mix of alternative and electro pop, hip hop and some leftfield dance.

I hear the grotesk nights are quite something, entry to the bar is free, but there's normally a charge to get to the club next door, usually around 10-20CHF.

Hi-haha...I think you mite like to come to a party my friends are making for the 29thjan,my g firend is the feature dj and theres loads of fun to be had by all-sorry,not going to be a rock and roll revival nite-not that thats not going on somewhere else on the same evening,and also fun,i think-hehe
so,the address is culb revier,hohlstrasse 18,8004 zurich.live techno,porn tech and wicked dj line up. www.fluk.ch
come-its fun for everyone!

did you ask for a Pimms and lemonade?

I'm intrigued, what exactly is porn tech?

Even though Ive probably been listening to it for years already, what the **** is Porn tech?

Interesting thread. Anyone know of bars/clubs that play alternative music (ie not top40 Beyonce crap) in Bern?

This place is great, never had problems chatting to people there even when wearing normal clothes

Alte Metzgete can vary rather from night to night.

Hello there,

I'm pretty new here and it's the first time i'm posting. I recently moved to basel and i really miss the indie music scene of london and nyc, clubs and live shows. any advice on where to go? anybody I could join (none of the people i met here seem interested)? I realized that Editors played in Zurich the day after their gig and I am still bummed..

Thanks!

Ali

Darn it, I am away this weekend Cyrus. I hope it goes well (sounds like good sounds to me) so that you get to do it again. This'll be your 2nd time at Bar 59, so it appears you're going down well.
I will defo make the trip next time you're on. Any follow up sets planned yet?

Cheers,
HB