Three Points Review: Damien Dubrovnik / Puce Mary / Sewer Election / Krube / Torba

I'm copying C*'s 3-Points-Review idea since I wanna write something quick and dirty about last night's show with Damien Dubrovnik, Puce Mary, Sewer Election, Krube, Torba at NK.

1. Five different experimental noise acts played, advertised as a night of crude live noise and dirty electroacoustic tape-music. Since I'm not the biggest fan of harsh noise walls I was pretty surprised how entertaining and unique every performance was. I didn't enjoy all but definitely had my fun.

2. NK's new wall between concert room and bar area is just super, either you wanna see the show or having a beer 'n chat without annoying everyone.

3. Puce Mary's performance was my favorite but I guess Damien Dubrovnik (with Loke of Lust For Youth fame) was the highlight for everyone else including on-stage-vomiting.

Preview: the week ahead (13th - 19th Jan)

The new year is slowly coming out of hibernation and is getting more and more interesting concert wise. See what this week has to offer and also check out our calendar for stuff that's going on later this month/year.

Monday

• Geoff Farina + The Dropout Patrol - private house show: Although this is already booked out, maybe there’s some chance of still getting a place if some people cancel their reservation. Geoff Farina plays acoustic solo shows nowadays that musically range from blues and jazz to traditional folky Americana songs. Allegedly he’s going to play some Karate songs on this tour, I’m excited! Support will be Berlin based Dropout Patrol, check them out!

Wednesday

• Ela Orleans at Badehaus: C*’s gig of the week. Experimental dream pop from France - this lady with her music gives us goosebumps and fans of Stereolab, Dirty Beaches, MGMT or Molly Nilsson will equally get a good kick out of this.

Thursday

• BraBraBra + The Anna Thompsons at Schokoladen: Brabrabra is a Berlin based girl group and they play wavy lo-fi punk, think of Wavves, No Age etc. with a hint of Riot Girl and a Casio keyboard. The Anna Thompsons are - to quote ourselves - loosely situated in the genre of dream pop but clearly influenced by 60s girl groups as well as post punk. They are also superstars with a two-page feature in Zitty this week.

Saturday

• Hammerhead + Fox Devils Wild + Gulag Beach at Köpi: Hammerhead are back and this will probably be stuffed and packed. If you’re into oldschool and in your face hardcore punk get your ass over to Köpi this Saturday or stay where the pepper grows.
• Sewer Election + Damien Dubrovnik + Puce Mary + Krube + Torba at NK: For the more experimental folks amongst you there is something nice going on at NK, they announced it as “a night of crude live noise and dirty electroacoustic tape-music” which sounds quite promising.
• Slow Steve at Sputnik Kino: The British Shorts film festival is one of the best, you should seriously check it out. Also, during the duration of the festival, Sputnik Kino in Kreuzberg hosts free (or sometimes low-price) concerts in the foyer of their cinema. Slow Steve will perform. Attentive readers of this blog know all about Slow Steve. Meet C* there!

XnormanX's Top 10 shows in 2013

As you might know living in Berlin can be a pretty stressful endeavor. There are shows every day and to be honest I for myself wanna see them all. Unfortunately this is not possible. Too bad. However I saw a couple of really great ones in 2013. A short list in chronological order.

• Lubomyr Melnyk at Haus Ungarn (January): A total surprise to me. Haven't heard his complicated name before, but since this night I'll never forget him. Read my review.
• Ash Borer / Fell Voices / Sun Worship at Cassiopeia (April): Black Metal is a big thing. Even Berlin has its own bands. Anyway, I was so psyched to see Ash Borer, but when Fell Voices left the stage after a crushing set no one could dethrone them. 
• Melvins at Festsaal Kreuzberg (May): Melvins is my favorite band. Forever! When they announced to play older material for 2 nights in Berlin I bought my tickets instantly. Unbelievable, but what else was to expect. Read my review of Day 1 and Gary's of Day 2 to make sure what you missed.
• Shellac at Berghain (May): Shellac's upcoming new album will be called Dude, Incredible and this could stand for their show too. Dude, incredible. 
• Sleaford Mods at West Germany (August): Without a doubt my show of the year. Someone recommended Sleaford Mods to me and he was right. Fucked up poetry slam rap. Best show, best record, best band. 
• Wichtel Und Die Wuchteln at Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle (September): Super weird Sunday evening. Wiener Gruppe activist creating improvised tohuwabohu while Sarah Wiener prepares (disgusting) meat-rolls.
• Black Pus at Urban Spree (October): Loudest show of the year. I was standing next to a speaker and destroyed my hearing. Totally worth it. Read J.'s Review.
• Daniel Bachman & Ryley Walker at my place (October): Due a day off on their tour Daniel and Ryley played a small show for me and friends. Best party!
• Fushitsusha / Otomo Yoshihide at HAU (October): Every time Keiji Haino comes to Berlin I'm in the first row to see him. Unfortunately this time I was only sitting in the 4th row. Hmm, Antirock for old people. 
• Godflesh / Pharmakon / ... at Berghain (November): I'm not the biggest fan of reunions but I definitely had to see Godflesh. Their first Berlin show in over 20 years or so was just fantastic and Pharmakon's performance the surprise of the night. 

And let's not forget the great Since The Devil Is Gone I Mostly Feel Lonely shows at Monarch. A well curated series of shows. Not sure, but I guess I saw them all including Paul Metzger, Michael Hurley, Chuck Johnson, Daniel Bachman, Ryley Walker, Cam Deas, William Tyler, Bill Orcutt, Glenn Jones, Lonnie Holley.

It's already 2014. I guess I'll see you sooner or later.

Preview: the week ahead (6th - 12th Jan)

Here we go. The holidays are over. Real life kicks back in. Depressing? A little. But good things are ahead. A Craze tea party #2 is due soon. And some real nice live music treats are hitting our town in the coming months. Watch out for a first What's In Store 2014 instalment next weekend. For now, here is our first preview of 2014.

Tuesday

• Clara Luzia and Kitty Solaris at Privatclub - The Austrian Clara Luzia sits somewhere between French chanson and American indie rock à la Hole. Support by our Berlinian Kitty Solaris. 

Friday

• The KVB, Barbara Morgenstern, Rummelsnuff and Faster Disco at SO36: Promoters Ich Bin Ein Berliner are celebrating 5 years existence and have got a nice international line-up for you and your dancing shoes ready at SO36. Especially The KVB in a deserved big club setting gets me excited.This is going to be a real good party. Let's face it, January is not known for good parties, so grab the opportunity when it presents itself.  

 

Saturday

• King Khan & BBQ at Bassy: Déjà-vu. King Khan & BBQ played Bassy a few months ago. It was great. Recommended.
• Die Goldenen Zitronen at Lido: Hamburg's punk and pop heroes are visiting Berlin and entertaining a lucky crowd at Lido. Our admiration goes out to them. See you there.  

Sunday

• Caudal and Creatures at Monarch: Aidan Baker is a busy man with a lot of projects on the go - all of them receiving great reception. Caudal is another such project, the constellation here being a trio of Aidan Baker (guitar), Gareth Sweeney (bass), & Felipe Salazar (drums). Our most read post ever belongs to Aidan Baker and his project B/B/S - Caudal will make you as happy. 
• Slut and And The Golden Choir at Lido: Early Slut releases were something like the European answer to The Smashing Pumpkins in the mid-90s, though Slut's albums were released half a decade later, they definitely appeal to the listeners of the afore-mentioned American group. They then went a bit Placebo and, to my mind, definitely lost some magic. Might still be good on a Sunday night if you find yourself stranded for something to do. And I get to share a video I am rather fond of:

C*'s top of 2013

For me, the majority of impressive gigs were by known and established artists this year. I only discovered few new bands really. Of the new groups I did learn about, Savages and Destruction Unit stick out. Though the former have immediately been catapulted to stardom stage, they are still new on the scene and they are offering something new and exciting - music has been waiting for them. Destruction Unit play more of a "best of" of noise music, mixing elements of punk, psych, industrial and wave. They rock so hard with it though, it's a dream. 

In other news, No Age returned with a fantastic album and show to match. Dirty Beaches is, yet again, my winner of the year. And Festsaal, oh lovely Festsaal, burned to the ground. Its abesence was very noticable throughout the second half the year. We leave 2013 with the knowledge that it will be rebuilt. Will it ever be the same? Hopefully, it will be better than ever! Definitely worth a mention is the new label Späti Palace. An overdue project, Berlin now finally has a label that focusses on showcasing Berlin-based music to the rest of the world. Things will change from hereon, don't you believe it!

1. No Age at Privatclub (October)  
2. Dirty Beaches at Teenitus Festival (May) and at Foreign Affairs Festival (July)
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Columbiahalle (May)
4. Civil Civic at Kantine am Berghain (June)
5. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at Admiralspalast (February)   
6. King Khan & The Shrines at Festsaal (January) 
7. Savages at Lido (May)
8. Teen at Comet Club (March)
9. Rocket From The Crypt at Festsaal (April)
10. TOY at O2 World (November)
11. Otto von Schirach at Urban Spree (June)  
12. Man Or Astroman? at Lido (October)
13. Destruction Unit at West Germany (October) 
14. Classic Muscle at a private party (November) 
15. Austra at Lido (June)   
16. Mikal Cronin at West Germany (May)
17. The Babies at Monarch (June) 
18. Wooden Shjips at Berghain (December)
19. Dead Skeletons at SO36 (December)

Admittedly, I had the most fun abroad this year. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs curated a most fantastic line-up at Alexandra Palace in London this May. Belle & Sebastian, supported by Best Coast, in an open-air canyon theatre with a Santa Barbara sunset is hard to top, by anybody anywhere. Maybe I'll write a (6 months) late review of that at some point. But maybe I will just keep that one memory to myself after all.

ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror curated by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (May) 
Belle & Sebastian and Best Coast at Santa Barbara Bowl (July)

J.'s top of 2013

We hope you all had a good start in 2014 and survived all that holiday season stuff without much drama. 

Starting the new year with writing about the old one might not be most exciting thing to do but still there were some great live music moments in 2013 that I just didn't want to leave unmentioned. Also I'm really looking forward to what the new year has up it's sleeve, we'll keep you updated about that pretty soon. 

Here's my top of 2013 list in chronological order:

• 24.04.: Buck Gooter, bei Ruth: Weird, noisy and unpretentious, this was really cool.
• 25.04.: Wolf Eyes, Festsaal Kreuzberg (review here): A very intense show plus Wolf Eyes released one of my favorite records this year.
• 09.05.: Deux Boules Vanille, bei Ruth (review here): I was totally blown away by this live performance, I really hope these guys come back to Berlin very soon!
• 13.05.: Mount Eerie, Festsaal Kreuzberg (review here): You just can't go wrong with Mount Eerie, I just like almost everything this guy does..
• 17.05.: Bell Witch, Koma F (review here): Although I attended very few hardcore shows this year, this one really stuck out.
• 22.06.: Nisennenmondai + Clean & Jerk, Urban Spree (review here): Awesome show and a surprisingly good support band, hope to see more of them in 2014!
• 04.08.: Drum night at bei Ruth w/ Greg Fox, Bastian Hagedorn, Good God, A.E. Widow: A concert based on just drums that blew my mind. This wasn't boring for a single minute.
• 01.10. Black Pus + NMO, Urban Spree (review here): Chaotic, hectic, wild, this was everything I love about Lightning Bolt and it was amazing to see that Black Pus could convey that just on his own.
• 23.10. Colin Stetson, Berghain (review here): Beautiful and haunting in it's own way and in the perfect location for a show like this.