These days, our most-trusted companions have become Zoom, Skype, and FaceTime. The pandemic has led to us innovating the way we live in order to adapt. Wine nights have turned into e-numans, (inuman is a Filipino for drinking sessions) conferences have turned into e-conferences, and meetings have turned virtual. Even the usual Friday club nights have been showcase upon showcase on Facebook and Instagram lives. This is the new normal.

But for Club Matryoshka, this has been the norm from the start. Club Matryoshka is a Manila-based virtual club concept hosted on a private offline Minecraft Server. When they are not busy hosting and putting up virtual shows they’re just a normal crazy meme-loving Minecraft community called “Chodescraft.” And yes, you heard that right: Minecraft.

Why Minecraft?

At the core of it, Club Matryoshka is a community of artists, musicians, creative-minded individuals who share a passion for Minecraft and the creative endeavors you could do in it. “We’re a Minecraft community that throws good parties in Minecraft, not concert throwers who just use Minecraft,” says Jorge Wieneke V aka Similarobjects, one of the founders.

Hosting it on Minecraft allows them to provide an in-game immersion experience rather than a mere streaming experience. While it is fun to watch Twitch streams, they wanted to take the online experience further and create a unique one for each of their shows. “No two shows are the same,” he said.

Photos from the Club Matryoshka Soft Opening

Taking virtual further

Themes play a crucial role into making sure that Club Matryoshka delivers a holistic virtual club concept. They once did a zombie survival night where one had to fight their way through a hoard of zombies in order to reach the venue. Another one was a fundraiser for the Amazon forest where they let loose two frogs for people to hunt and with every kill, a donation is made. They set up lots of interactive mini games and structures to allow the user to fully explore and immerse oneself. That way, the experience isn’t just limited to online social interaction, but rather an expansive immersion with each virtual world they create.

“We can basically code any mechanic into the game so we utilize this to do things we wouldn’t normally be able to do in a real club setting,” he explained. “There’s also a heavy improvisational aspect so a lot of unplanned things happen on the day of the events so you never know what kind of surprises await and that’s just the magic of it.”

Photos from the Druidism at Club Matryoshka

The musical experience

At the heart of it all, the founders are mostly musicians themselves inspired by the likes of Second Life raves, The Palace Avatar Chat, and SPF420. “We like to blur the lines between musical stereotypes.  We want to make a new concept of what clubs are, how you’re supposed to interact. We want to create new worlds and we think inclusively about the diverse types of people we’d want to populate those worlds,” Jorge said.

To them, the usual idea of going to clubs and how it’s built around structures and systems that might not always be applicable or aligned to their own belief systems. Some clubs are only open or attractive to certain kinds of people and musical styles. They, however, want to imagine a world where one can hear various styles of music being celebrated by people who are there for music’s sake, and this knows no cross-country borders. “We think about artists that we could never fly over to the spaces where we live, and we don’t even all live in the same places.”

The general idea of what Club Matryoshka does is inspired by illegal warehouse raves but a virtual version in the form of (illegal) software house parties. It’s less about wanting to adapt and more on the desire to discard a lot of expectations that physical events bring. It’s the desire to make a safe, inclusive space for people to just come to enjoy things they may not otherwise get the chance to see.

In the time of COVID-19

While Club Matryoshka has long started this virtual club model, it’s even more relevant and timely now. Enter Infinite Summer, their most ambitious project to date, is a 24-hour online dystopian Minecraft beach music festival and contemporary art exhibit featuring artists from all walks of life and from all over the world. Initially planned to be a smaller scale event before the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival evolved into a three-stage festival for a cause by turning it into a fund-raising festival for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 response fund.

Happening from April 26, 6AM (GMT+8) to April 27, 6AM (GMT+8). Register now here.

Infinite Summer Lineup

Matryoshka Prime Stage:

Omnei (US), HAUTE COUTURE (PH), Teya Logos (PH), Pamcy (PH), Meh Shua (PH), Shelhiel (MY), CRWN (PH), DJ Roo Honeychild (IE), CEE (MY), Oceantied (IN), CORIN (AUS), My Sword x STAGIAIRISM (FR), Emel Rowe (PH), Swan Meat (DE), Hojo (TW), bod [包家巷] (US), Homesick (CA), Jade Statues (CA), Gabber Modus Operandi (ID) DJ SET

Spoonstage:

DV-i (US), Kiernan Laveaux (US) , Sold (US), Mirin Doja (US), Ali Berger (US), MindSpring Memories (US), Lychee (US), Anabasine (CA), Luxe Posh (US), Mithril (US), DJ Speedpaint (US), DJ Voices (US), Date Sim (US), Tony Astro (US), Donkey Milk (US)

Likido Stage:

Starro (US/JPN), Tomggg (JPN), Goyama (US), Meishi Smile (US), Parkgolf (JPN), Giraffage (US), Gymternet (US), DJ House Plants (US), Seiho (JPN), Tarsius (PH)