By Stefan Godin · · 2 min read · portrait · collectif · madrid · techno
CODE by Fabrik, Madrid's techno institution since 2003
CODE has been Fabrik's monthly techno night in Humanes de Madrid since 2003, run by residents Nuke and Cesar Almena. Past 150 editions in, it brings Amelie Lens, Nico Moreno and Oscar Mulero to a 4,000-capacity mega-club, and peaks each July with the CODE Summer Festival.
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🎚️ Fabrik's institution
CODE is no young collective : it's the flagship techno night of Fabrik, the mega-club out in Humanes de Madrid, and it has run monthly since 2003. Twenty years on, the two residents who started it, Nuke and Cesar Almena, are still behind the decks. More than 150 editions deep, numbered like a series (CODE 173, CODE 174...) : few techno nights in Europe can claim that kind of run. On the Madrid scene, where Blackworks hauls its hard techno from warehouse to warehouse, CODE rules Fabrik's 4,000 capacity, its five rooms and two open airs.
🔊 The sound
CODE backs techno in the broad sense : from deep to its hard and industrial edges, never sliding into the mainstream EDM its size could excuse. That's the whole trick : filling Fabrik every month while keeping the booking credibility purists respect. The casting says it all. In February, CODE 173 put Amelie Lens at the top of the bill ; in March, CODE 174 gathered Nico Moreno, Sara Landry, Marcel Dettmann, Hector Oaks and Sam Paganini on the same night, with a BCCO label takeover. A calibre that puts Madrid on the European techno map, not just the Spanish one.
🎟️ The monthly ritual
The CODE mechanic is the monthly date : one night, usually 6pm to 6am, taking over Fabrik's five rooms plus the open airs when the season allows. Each edition lines up more than 25 artists, always with international headliners. The format has been honed for two decades, to the point of becoming an institution of Spanish techno in its own right. For anyone passing through Madrid, aiming for a CODE Saturday is a guarantee of landing on the city's biggest techno night. Outside the CODE cycle, Fabrik also marks its 23rd anniversary with Carl Cox on 27 June.
📍 CODE Summer Festival and the agenda
The year's peak is the CODE Summer Festival, on Saturday 11 July 2026 : an 18-hour marathon, noon to 6am, spread across more than six zones. Two of them are worth the trip for heads : the Open Air handed to the Mutual Rytm label, and the Crystal 360 turned into a HÖR Berlin showcase. On the bill, SNTS, Oscar Mulero, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, DVS1, Ben Klock and DJ Nobu, from 45€. To follow the next dates, the collective's agenda on calrave and the CODE by Fabrik Instagram.