Peck peck...peck peck... a small fluffy creature struggles out of its egg in the icy winter. When it made the first little hole in the shell, it peeked through the narrow gap with its tiny eye. However, our little friend could see nothing but glittering white. A second hole had to be made quickly in order to explore more of the surroundings outside the "tiny house", which had become too cramped during the last few hours. But even through the second hole, only white can be seen. The little chick squeaks slightly and uses all its strength to push its head through the shell. It braces and pushes itself against the ceiling and with one leap it breaks through the resistance and also the light blanket of snow above it. It squints its eyes because it is terribly bright. But soon it gets used to the sun's rays and sees a beautiful winter landscape. Wow, it's beautiful here, our little penguin baby thinks. However, it quickly feels alone. The thought mobilizes the last forces of the little rascal. It jumps out of the egg onto the snow and slips away. The little legs are still too wobbly to hold the ball of plush and it falls forward. Unfortunately, our penguin friend hatched on a gentle slope and now tumbles down the hill. In the process, the chick soon forms a snowball that grows larger and larger until it is gently stopped further down by a small shrub. Completely exhausted from this adventure, our fluffy explorer falls asleep. When the chick wakes up again, it finds itself in a sled whipping across the snowy fields. Next to him on the driver's seat he spots a friendly looking personality. "Hello I'm Nicolas and I found you on the side of the road in the snow. I thought you could use the warmth of my blanket here in the sled. Besides, I'm very glad to have finally found a fellow traveller on my tour," Nicolas said. "If you like, you'll find some yummy cookies in the glove compartment," he added. Since when does a sleigh have a glove compartment and did he just say cookies? The penguin thinks to himself. He hastily tears open the package and contentedly munches on cinnamon stars and vanilla croissants. Wrapped in the blanket and covered in crumbs, the penguin is happy to have met Nicolas, who is like a god to him. And since that time, the penguin happily tours the clubs of this world with his savior.

Since I did not want to attract further negative attention at my first ComRa event, I got back to work. Like a busy ant, I carried more beer than my own body weight and looked for a way through the raving crowd to the bars. For a while, this task required my full concentration, but soon the hand movements turned into routine and my mind got more space to wander again. Questions that I had successfully suppressed through the hard work made their way into my consciousness. What is it about the strange datacenter that I had discovered? Are they perhaps related to the mysterious data stored on the capsules, for which I lacked the authority to access? Why is so much data being collected on the ravers in the first place? And what kind of daily target was the man in the control room talking about? As I walked across dance floors like a robot, mulling over past events in my head, I stumbled across someone lying on the ground. Suddenly, my thoughts were back in the here and now and I recognized the person who was lying on the floor. The young man was completely sweaty and didn't seem to have an ounce of strength left in his body. The other people around us, did not notice the man on the floor at all. They continued to dance ecstatically. I helped the man back on his feet and recognized the person. We had met many times before at raves. He was unable to walk without my help. I brought him to the edge of the dance floor where he could sit down without being trampled. Slowly he regained his strength. When I asked him what happened, he replied that he couldn't stop dancing. Every track that was played was just rousing and the set got more intense by the minute. There was reportedly no thought of a break, partly because ComRa staff kept coming by to motivate them to keep dancing. At some point his strength simply left him and he collapsed. The next moment my colleague ‘Lighter’ was standing next to us. "Good thing you acted so quickly, I'll take care from him from here." He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear "Looks like someone's had too much to drink. I'll make sure he gets water and then gets home safely." Before I could say anything back, Lighter was already leaving the scene with the guest. He walked him over to the nearest bar, leaving me standing alone. I started to have doubts about Lighter's version of this incident. The man never drank alcohol at past events. That's how much I remembered about the raver from our previous encounters. I was really sure about that, even if I couldn't recall his name. Why did the ComRa staff keep asking him to keep to dance while he was obviously already completely exhausted?

I took a deep breath and tried to organize my thoughts. Perhaps there was a simple explanation for all these things. I'll just tell my colleague ‘Lighter’ about my discovery later, he will surely be able to shed light on this matter. The most important thing was to get out of this claustrophobic vault. Driven by the adrenaline rush of the last few minutes, I rushed like a cheetah through the narrow hallways and corridors until I was back at the door that didn't stop me with its warning on the way out. I wished I had never passed through that door. A few minutes later I was back in the huge hall of the ‘Kathedral’. The rave continued at full speed and the crowd had already danced itself into ecstasy. Bodies jerked uncontrollably across the dance floor and no foot stood still. Everything was in motion and stomped incessantly to the pulsating sound coming out of the speakers. I felt a tremendous energy. Driven by the fuel of music and by happiness hormones, the dancers pushed themselves to their physical limits and danced themselves into a frenzy. This unique atmosphere sucked me in artfully and devoured me within seconds. I threw myself into the crowd full of joy and let myself drift. A myriad of colors penetrated through my closed eyes and I lost myself in a sea of lights, until suddenly I was torn from my state of bliss by a rough touch. Lighter pulled me aside and looked at me sharply. "Where have you been all this time? The bars are in desperate need of supplies! I know the music is amazing, but you'll have to put off dancing until later! Go back there, the iron door. Here's the key, now go get some beer." Before I could say anything back, Lighter shoved me in the direction of the steel door and disappeared into the crowd. Yet I still had so many questions....

My thoughts are racing and flying around like crazy. Why was I actually hiding like a criminal? Why did this intuitive flight reflex suddenly come over me? Actually, I only passed a few signs. Besides, as part of the event, I might even be entitled to be down here. Nevertheless, the whole situation feels somehow strange, as if I had seen something that I should not have seen. The person with the unusual shoes has not come to a stop yet. She is nervously making her rounds above me and apparently keeps looking at the screen with the data. Every now and then she growls discontentedly and mumbles numbers to herself. Suddenly, however, she stops and shouts "damn that's not enough, we need more power". Following this, the person says in a command-like tone "keep ramping up the raverend's show. We are under our daily target." Then a short pause and following again the cold and harsh voice of the unknown person "Since when are you responsible for thinking. I don't care if the guests eventually collapse. The lazy pigs are supposed to dance and supply us with energy. I have to deliver good numbers to headquarters today. That's the top priority." Angrily, the person stomps out of the room and lets the door fall into the lock behind him. I slowly crawl out of my hiding place, confused. What was this dubious person just talking about? What kind of numbers does he have to provide and what does this have to do with the ravers? This makes no sense to me. I go back to the screen and look at the data again. I discover more charts from which I can read how many kilowatts of electricity are generated per hour. In addition, there is comparative data for other days. With more exact analysis of the statistics I miss on that always Saturdays are represented. Wait a minute, if I remember correctly, these are all Saturdays on which ComRa events took place. What is the meaning of all this?

The footsteps got louder and louder, accompanied by a metallic rattle – which somehow sounded familiar to me. I looked around frantically. Where in this room could I hide so as not to be discovered? I started to analyze the situation systematically because I had little time. Don't panic now, I said quietly to myself. My eyes wandered around the room. The equipment was reduced to the bare minimum, but what else could I expect from a technical room. The idea of hiding in a closet would have been too good to be true. The boilers and machines in front of me gave me little cover. I would have been discovered there with ease. My eyes wandered across the room, before getting drawn to the corner with the server farm. For a fraction of a second it seemed to me as if I saw a brief flash, almost like a reflection of a small mirror in direct sunlight. As if magically attracted, I walked in the direction from which I suspected the light was coming. There was something on the floor there. I looked down and noticed a chunky silver ring with an engraving on it. I'll take a closer look at it later. When I pick up the ring I noticed that I was standing in front of a cable duct sunk into the floor. A base plate protruded a little. A flash of thought came to me! If I did manage to move the base plate, I could hide in the shaft. I grabbed the base plate with my hands and a shudder traveled through my spine. It felt like putting my bare hand into a bag of ice cubes. With all my strength I managed to push the base plate aside, just enough to have a gap that could be wide enough for me. I slid down feet first and touched the ground below. Then I noticed that I was standing on thick cables that lead from the server farm into the cable duct. I reassured myself by mumbling that it was not the worst hiding place and lied down on my back in the cable duct. My hands reached to the extinguisher on the floor plate lying over me. After that is just needed to move the base plate back into the anchoring. Done! The door to the technical room slammed shut and I held my breath in shock. The steps were getting closer to the place I was hiding. Above me I suddenly noticed a black pair of shoes with silver heels. So that's where the metallic clatter came from … Today's deep story, which is presented to you by Miss Monique, is also full of energy. Born in Ukraine, she travels around the globe as a DJ and producer and, with her label Siona Records, is known for its unmistakable progressive sound.

After arriving at the lowest level, a door blocked my way, with a notice that unauthorized access is prohibited. I slowly pushed the handle down and to my surprise it actually went open. This made me field emboldened. When I closed the door, however, I noticed another sign on the other side of the door: "Always lock this door after entering and leaving!" Apparently another ComRa employee didn't take the instructions that seriously. Since I hadn't received a key yet, I couldn't lock it either. I decided to think about it later because my current assignment seemed more important to me. Only then I noticed the eerie atmosphere down here. The corridor in front of me exuded a strange coldness. Low temperatures are actually nothing unusual in vaulted cellars, but down here it was not the usual “moldy cold” that had been locked in the depths for decades. Instead, everything seemed sterile and impersonal. It felt more like a fresh chill that has just moved in. Mixed with the neon lights, a futuristic dystopian atmosphere was created. The next thing I noticed was the smooth walls. These were not the kind of walls one would expect in such an old building. Instead, the walls were almost as smooth as glass without the slightest rough edge. This is exactly what the walls at ComRa headquarters looked like. From this I concluded that ComRa had carried out structural measures down here and that there must be something important here. Maybe I even found the well-hidden backstage area that even Lighter didn't know about. I was speculating that the Djs could be brought here through the same entrance and on the other side there could be direct access to the stage. Exhilarated by the prospect of having discovered something special, I walked down the long corridor. The pipes hanging on the ceiling caught my eye. These also must have been installed later. After a few meters I came to a junction. No matter which direction I watched, it all looked the same. I thought about which direction to go for a while, until I noticed that the pipes merged on the ceiling into even thicker pipes. These tubes should show me the way. I followed them until I stood in front of a door again. This was also not locked, although it should actually have been. Unfortunately, the backstage area was not in the room. Instead, there were huge boilers and machines in front of me. These looked just as sterile and new as the corridors. Lots of colorful control lights were flashing on them and next to them in the corner was a gigantic computer rack. At this moment I was very disappointed. There was no beer nor famous people down here. Apparently I had stumbled into a technical room. Maybe the ventilation was being controlled down here. I discovered a monitor on which data could be seen. Among other things, the number of guests, dance steps per minute and average dance steps per hour were displayed. Before I could see more, I was startled by loud footsteps that echoed through the large room. There is also a lot to discover in Herr Oppermann's new deep story. The Hamburg resident and curator of the Klangextase series skilfully mixed atmospheric tracks into a stylish overall experience that many would like to experience over and over again.

My odyssey drags on unexpectedly. After half an hour I have completely lost my sense of orientation and am also considering rather unorthodox methods. Maybe I should descend deeper into the catacombs to find another way up further back. I give the next turn another chance and desperately take a deep breath. Again, nothing looks familiar to me and I decide to put my plan B into practice. I go back to the next staircase and try my luck by going down. I just ignore the warning “No trespassing for unauthorized persons”. In my current job, I consider myself fully authorized to visit the lower levels. After all, I'm on an all-important mission to quelch the thirst of the guests with liquid delicacies. Sometimes you have to jump over your own shadow and take an unexpected road… Our guest today, Darkside Vinyl, thought the same. Not only is his name extraordinary, but so are his own productions. They end up in the Beatport Top 100 again and again and stand for high-quality sound. This is exactly what you can expect from his deep story.

We are in the middle of the most beautiful season of the year. On days like these, even rain can't affect our radiant mood. The festival season lets us be playful children again and awakens our creativity. We see opportunities instead of obstacles and live during the weekend in a mesmerizing parallel world. Driven solely by our basic needs, we glide through the hours of freedom, released from social constraints. This year we deliberately plunged into the hustle and bustle in broad daylight. At that time of the day, festivals and their visitors show themselves again from a different side. It's usually a bit cozier on the dance floors and the DJs also like to play some surprising finds from the depths of their record box. And if you catch the worm as a very early bird, you can also avoid the big snakes later on and there is more time for the beloved dancing activities or the consistently diverse cultural side program, which is otherwise often ignored. The small attractions away from the big stages can also sweeten the day. We can only encourage everyone to turn day into night and enjoy the partying under the blue sky. So let's celebrate the little freedoms we have regained in this year's open-air dance season and appreciate all the good encounters and experiences. Solidmind will surely bring you in the right mood, so you may put on your dancing shoes for his set.

In this heated mood, it was difficult for me to focus on my actual task. I was already looking forward to mingle with the raving crowd later that night. But first of all, many thirsty throats were waiting for supplies. So I put a crate on my shoulder and pushed my way through the crowd to the next bar. There I was impatiently awaited. “It's good that you're here. I’m worried about the beer supply. After this crate there is only one more left. ” The bartender yelled in my ear. I understood his statement as a hint to take my job a little more seriously. In order not to disappoint anyone at my first event, I rushed towards the pantry. The beer supply there looked even worse than at the bars. Two colleagues were just grabbing the last crates and grinning at me in a mocking way. A little puzzled, I stood in the empty beer room for a few seconds. Then the thought occurred to me that with such a large location there must be several warehouses. So I went to have a look. However, due to the dancing crowd, I couldn't really get ahead very quickly. There had to be a way to cross the dance floor faster. At that moment I wished that I was able to swing across the hall like Tarzan on a vine. That would be a good show too. Unfortunately, this daydreaming wasn’t really helpful to solve my problem. Then I got the idea to use the catacombs. In any case, that should be faster than plodding through the crowd. Colleagues would stop mocking me when they realized that I was always one step ahead of them. Having arrived underground, my plan didn’t turn out to be that brilliant. The corridors below the event level were winding and misleading. It's unbelievable that we found our way so effortlessly when we entered the place. Where, if I remember correctly, we actually just followed the light. The people at ComRa organized this whole thing damn well. I wished they had thought out the beer supply equally well. Lost in thought I kept getting lost in the labyrinth…

Since the admission was so quick and straightforward, I could quickly move on with my job to supply drinks to the bars. That was urgently needed because the event was completely sold out and the crowd in front of the counter was large. As I meandered through the crowd to supply the ravers with fuel, a few thoughts were in my head. ComRa events are very different from the usual raves. The guests come to the event on time and there is no warm-up DJ. Instead, muted music plays in the background until the star of the night makes his grand entrance. Suddenly there was impenetrable darkness in the whole ‘Kathedral’. I was standing in the middle of the crowd with a full case of beer and couldn't see anything. Since cell phones were not allowed at the event and every visitor deliberately wanted to plunge into this adventure, it remained pitch dark until a single bolt of lightning flashed through the hall, followed by a deep hum which was similar to the Dolby Atmos trailer in the cinema. I was completely spellbound and petrified. My fascination for the moment made my body freeze. A seemingly endless bass ran through the whole hall and pushed the system to its limits. A vibration ran parallel to this across the dance floor, which was absorbed by my feet and from there into my body. The released endorphins transformed this signal into pure ecstasy. At that very moment, a spotlight appeared in the center of the Kathedral above the people's heads. This bright point spread until the entire space was bathing in glistening light and everyone was blinded for a brief moment. At that moment, the first chords of the new hymn from the "Raverend" sounded and the crowd began to cheer as if they were truly enlightened. The next level of escalation began when the crowd saw his dark silhouette on the DJ pulpit and unleashed the kick drum. The evening had just officially opened. I felt a hand on my shoulder and a familiar voice whispered in my ear: “Always overwhelming, isn't it? … Don't forget to deliver to the bar when you are in awe”. My colleague ‘Lighter’ winked at me and blended into the crowd. I looked at my watch and noticed that the event had only been going on for an hour and people were already completely freaking out. The Organism from Kiev is responsible for a fiery atmosphere today. He loves to experiment with different genres and has already released tracks on several top-tier labels, the most recent being Diynamic. So buckle up and enjoy the following hour full of variety and creativity.