Klubb Kok - Axel Boman & Baba Stiltz

Klubb Kok, a musical undertone

What I already decided some weeks ago, when I entered the club for the first time, was to introduce you to the relatively new venue at Christian Michelsensgate. However, as my first two encounters with the club had passed, I was either too drunk or the setting was too specialised to give you a good representation of Klubb Kok. But, as Axel Boman was presented to entertain Bergen for four full hours, it was quite clear I could spread the right words about the club’s view on the scene, people and music.

After entering the joint the first steps in a ‘real’ club in Bergen are set, and where I am determined that there are more clubs like this to be found here, it is good to have had a kick-start of that. The first look at the details gives you a mixture of cosiness and convenience. A huge bar in the middle of the dance floor and comfortable couches on the side; the vague line between lounge and club is perfectly represented in the interior. And that is a feeling you’ll have during every spent minute inside. Nobody feels obligated to swing, nor will they blame you for showing the best John Travolta in you on the black concrete.

As every good club defines, not the music but the people leave you the best memories. The variety is highly amusing, and kept confirming the brilliant situation that is present here in Bergen. Being able to share conversations about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, or the division between Flemings and Wallonia, the incoherent topics are just as logic as their common denominator. And that is an open view to every word and every beat, cause in the end, people are still drawn to Klubb Kok for the good vibrations.

Exploring these sound waves, the spread words and visions get lost at the outside of the tunnel vision you enter. Cause the main attraction of seemingly every evening at the club is standing behind the decks, or as sometimes is the case, are standing behind the decks. My first real insight in Klubb Kok was gained when I visited the club a few weeks ago on a quiet Wednesday evening. With a concept similar to the world famous Boiler Room, the venue turned into an intimate living room where DJ Girson showed his perspective of music.

This unique opportunity to get insight in a DJ’s skills and experience behind the decks is also reflected during a ‘common’ club night. And when somebody as Axel Boman strikes down, the expected energy level of the club rises instantly. That not Boman, but his apprentice Baba Stiltz would be responsible for the most energetic appearance I’ve seen since I got blown away by James Zoo’s set on Pitch this summer, was in no possible way a disappointment. An almost continuously upbeat rhythm rushed through the room from the moment I set foot, and as I was still lost in the bouncing long hair of the young Baba Stiltz, before I knew it Lil Wayne’s ‘A Milli’ was displayed on my eardrums.

As it unfortunately meant the last track of the evening my enclosed vision slightly opened, and the conversation started again. Finding barely any coherence between the people, the common factor quickly got to the surface, and before I knew it I was situated on a couch somewhere in the city centre at 7 AM, listening to Darkside’s Boiler Room session in NYC. During the after party in a style only known from Amsterdam the strength of Klubb Kok quickly interrupted my thoughtless mind; attracting open-mindedness through a clear vision of music.