Grovskopa (MORD, Token, Sandwell District, Warm-Up Rec.)
Stanislav Tolkachev (MORD, Semantica, Token)
Rebecka Sekelius (DJ)
Adèle Tornberg (VJ)
Spåra Collective (dancers)
The world has become meaner. Techno has become cleaner. Polished into content, flattened into lifestyle branding. Somewhere along the way people forgot that techno isn't supposed to comfort you. It's supposed to rearrange your nervous system. So Grovskopa returns.
Before Rivet became Rivet, there was Grovskopa. A pressure valve. An outlet for anger. Industrial techno built to leave dents. Between 2001 and 2011, Grovskopa was a key figure of the industrial techno movement that grew out of Birmingham – a scene that redefined techno through pressure, repetition and function. Along the way came collaborations and long-standing relationships with artists such as Surgeon, Regis and Oscar Mulero.
Then a motorcycle nearly killed him. Or vice versa. Recovery changed everything. Grovskopa was put to rest and Rivet emerged – less interested in blunt force, more drawn to groove, tension and storytelling. Now Grovskopa returns, not as a revival but as necessity. The return also marks a new chapter, with an EP landing on MORD this October.
There was only one choice for this night's guest. Ukraine’s Stanislav Tolkachev, making his Swedish debut. His first record came out on Grovskopa’s Pohjola Records in 2006. Twenty years later he remains one of techno's most uncompromising voices. No detours. No compromise.
Also joining is Malmö's own Rebecka Sekelius, a selector with an exceptionally deep understanding of techno's past, present and future.
On the floor, Spåra Collective – the queer dance collective of Bella Khanamidi, Klara Pertmann and Ethan Sammons Ericson – will blur the line between club and performance. Working in direct exchange with the DJs, Spåra create spaces for alternative modes of existence and freedom, allowing bodies, movement and sound to collide in real time. Not a performance in front of the dancefloor, but one unfolding inside it.
Visuals by Adèle Tornberg, who also created the artwork for the forthcoming Grovskopa EP and the visual identity of this night.
Let's party like it's Bratislava 2002.