Preview: the week ahead (12th - 18th Dec)

Christmas is getting closer and events in the calendar scarcer. But don't despair. There is fun to be had.

Monday:

Total Control and Diät at Marie Antoinette: Total Control are good! They're from Australia and play nice Synth Wave Punk. Diät from Berlin play something not so different but without synthies. Think of an evening with punky Joy Division/Warsaw music.

Das Racist at Festsal Kreuzberg: In the mood for nice hip hop stuff? Check out das Racist, they're from New York and do great indie/alternative hip hop that's both funny and musically good.

Tuesday:

Black Lips and Sponges at Lido: Garage rock at its best, with surfy guitars and played by good-looking blokes. Really, you can't go wrong.

Hush Hush and Novo Line at Madame Claude: Hush Hush is an extremely dancable 80s inspired (think Prince) solo music project that will get everyone to party hard. It's a shame this is happening on a Tuesday, the weekend would be more appropriate, but don't let that stop you moving those bodies! Novo Line will get you in the mood with more abstract electronic tunes.

Wednesday:

Omar Souleyman at Kesselhaus: If you went to Group Inerane a few weeks ago you probably also want to go here. Omar Souleyman is like a Syrian pop star. He plays a notable mix between traditional arabic folk music and crazy dance elements. He's getting hiped big time for a while now, worked together with Björk, released stuff on Sublime Frequencies and played several tours all over the world.

Buke and Gase and Bachelorette at Monarch: It's official beautiful music night at Monarch. Beautiful tunes in a beautiful setting; let's hope the PA plays along.

Thursday:

Clayton Thomas at Altes Finanzamt: I saw Clayton Thomas when he played together with Chris Corsano at Festsaal Kreuzberg (read the review of the concert here) and they were awesome together! If you're in the mood for some free jazz experimental music, get your asses over to Altes Finanzamt this evening. I'm pretty sure it's going to be worth it.

Saturday:

Clayton Thomas and Axel Dörner at Exrotaprint Kaserne: Your second chance to see Clayton Thomas this week, this time together with Axel Dörner, an experimental trumpet player I saw a while ago supporting the Ex, read about it here.

Sunday:

The Chameleons Vox and Frank the Baptist at Festsaal Kreuzberg: The problem with reunions from once great bands is that they just suck most of the times. The songs and the musicians probably stay the same, but the spirit doesn't and being ripped out of it's temporal context it's just "not the same" anymore. The Chameleons Vox are somehow a reunited version of the Chameleons and the Chameleons were seriously awesome. They were a dark wavy british post punk band founded in 1981 and originally existed until 1987, then reunited for a short while in 2000. Now their singer Mark Burgess recruited a new backing band, slightly changed the band name and goes on tour again. They already played Berlin in January and I went to that show not sure what to expect. It actually turned out pretty nice, they played most of the songs from their Script of the Bridge record and in the end I didn't regret going there. So, especially if you're into the Chameleons music and/or like bands like Interpol, Editors and stuff like that, you should consider spending your Sunday evening at Festsaal Kreuzberg.