Preview: the month ahead (June)

Bonjour sun worshippers. It's the start of the month and that means time for our first monthly preview. Enjoy and meet you around town.

• Mon Jun 2nd: Wolf Eyes + Bill Kouligas at Urban Spree: We pre- and reviewed Wolf Eyes before when they played at Festsaal Kreuzberg last year and they’re well worth mentioning again. If you’re into industrial drone harsh ambient noise music, Wolf Eyes will probably ring a bell for you anyways. Add Bill Kouligas, known for his solo project Family Battle Snake (read a review here) and his label PAN, to the bill as supporting DJ and this makes for a nice start in the new month.

• Mon Jun 2nd: Merchandise at Berghain: Very en vogue at the moment, Merchandise do a danceable wave thing and remind me of poppier New Order meets The Smith, but then again, what do I know. 
• Tue Jun 3rd: Shonen Knife at Roter Salon: Japanese punk band that rocks hard. 
• Thu Jun 5th: Condominium + V at bei Ruth: Bizarre Hardcore Punk on Sub Pop meets Dark Wave from Berlin. Sounds like a neat combination. V used to play in Batalj, if you haven’t seen her solo project yet, this is a good opportunity of doing so.
• Fri Jun 6th: Tara Jane O'Neil + Yohuna + Lugene Verna at West Germany: Tara Jane O'Neil is very slow, very intense music that is a pleasure to listen to when you really want to get back down to earth. This lady has got me through some difficult times with her guitar and mellow voice. A treat.
• Sun Jun 8th: Daniel Bachman at Monarch: Daniel Bachman is an acoustic guitar player who mainly draws from folk and country influences. He's amazing to watch live and we're excited to see him again. Read a review about a former show of him here.
• Tue Jun 10th: Pink Mountaintops at Privatclub: Yes, they are a bit hippie-ish but that's also what we like them for. And they rock hard. This show is going to be rather special in such a small space. Pink Mountaintops are going places, you know. Looking forward.

• Tue Jun 10th: Quicksand at SO36: Another reunion from a band that many of us know from our early punk/hardcore days. Quicksand, featuring Walter Schreifels of Gorilla Biscuits, Rival Schools, had their peak time between 1990 and 1995. They released two records that are still fun to listen to nowadays. Like always, I have no idea if this is going to be either brillant and nostalgic or a total letdown. 
• Fri Jun 13th: Jeffrey Lewis & The Jrams at Kantine: C* & Gary have their tickets and are super extra excited. The man sticks out from the mass that is singer-songwriter music. 
• Fri Jun 13th: Las Kellies + DJ Marcelle at bei Ruth: This is a promising night at bei Ruth. Las Kellies play minimalistic post punk influenced dancy music, think of a mix between ESG, Delta 5 and the Slits. Afterwards DJ Marcelle, by now bei Ruth’s resident DJane, will play. She’s amazing live! So if you’re in a dancy mood, head over to Neukölln on this Friday the 13th

• Wed Jun 18th: Chain & The Gang at Privatclub: Ian Svenonius, one of our all time darlings, returns to Berlin with his gang, playing 60s/70s influenced garage punk that’ll make your booties shake.
• Wed Jun 18th: Tragedy + Mülltüte + Piss at SO36: Tragedy, Portland based crust-punk/d-beat veterans don’t tour Europe that often. If they do so, their shows are usually packed and loaded and this one won’t be an exception. Tragedy continued what they started with His Hero Is Gone. Their members are or were also involved in other notable projects like Union of Uranus and From Ashes Rise. Musically, Tragedy play thick sounding dark in-your-face hardcore punk with political and critical lyrics. Support will be locals Mülltüte and Piss.
• Sat Jun 28th: Ratttengold at SO36: Ratttengold is sort of a ‘best of’ project of Jens Rachut, who’s going to present songs from his former and recent bands Oma Hans, Dackelblut, Angeschissen, Blumen am Arsch der Hölle and Kommando Sonne-nmilch. All of these bands played music in the vein of Wipers influenced Deutschpunk without being dull or blunt. Instead they always had a humorous and ambitious approach. Definitely worth a visit if you’re interested in finding out where all these newish ‘Deutschpunk’ bands got their influences from.