What more has to be said about Warp?  What more even can? Everyone who has picked up a reputable music publication over the last few weeks or months is guaranteed to have stumbled over at least one article about this unstoppable juggernaut of the electronic, or let’s say progressive, music universe.

Twenty years of business and still at the forefront of what’s happening – isn’t that a contradiction in itself? Apparently not for Warp. In a recent interview, label founder Steve Becket stated that back when he and Rob Mitchell were releasing the first Warp records it just didn’t seem understandable to him how musicians could still be hoping to be successful while maintaining such an outdated format as the classic band formation, or how anybody could not understand that electronic music was ahead of all other music genres. Despite this, it was exactly the realization that every type of music had a right to exist and could be progressive in it’s own way that made Warp what it is today. Signings like Bibio, Battles, Grizzly Bear or even Maximo Park guaranteed a broadening of the label’s horizon and made certain that it wouldn’t have to rely all too much on classic acts, such as Aphex Twin, Autechre or Squarepusher. Warp has now entered a different level of diversity, but of course still maintains a strong connection with electronic music and still has a lot of talent when it comes to discovering or pushing pioneering musicians, such as Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke or Rustie.

So when Warp was celebrating it’s 20th Birthday at the infamous Berghain in Berlin, after having already put on great shows in Tokyo and New York, it was a no-brainer where to go to that night. The fantastic line-up, consisting of Steve Becket himself, Clark, Plaid, Hudson Mohawke vs. Rustie, Tim Exile and many other Warp Djs, made it all the easier to pay for the ticket, which was great in a double sense, because it also meant that you wouldn’t have to wait in line for two hours as usual. After Steve Becket had done the honors of opening the night on the turntables, it was Hudson Mohawke and Rustie as a team who really got the dance floor shaking with some heavy bass. The musical harmony between these two guys was excellent and whenever HudMo played a tune from his recently released album Butter, the crowd completely lost it and some people saying, “Finally something different from the regular Minimal Techno,” could be heard on the dance floor.

Up next was the ever controversial Tim Exile. While some love him for his dramatic tracks, like “Don’t think we’re one” or “Fortress”, others strongly despise the vocals in his tracks, but everybody pretty much agrees that he still puts on a decent show. He did more than just that this time. Together with a friend on baritone saxophone the jam was on big time and Tim Exile did what he does best, and that is remixing live, distorting sounds and making people sweat. Plaid played a set consisting completely of their own classic material and made a lot of people reminisce about long gone times. But they, just as well as Warp itself can look ahead into a bright musical future and maybe Tim Exile in his song “Family Galaxy” is really unconsciously summarizing Warp’s approach to music, when he sings: “The family galaxy want’s you to come and play, and change every day.”