Welcome back The Craze * Screaming Females competition

Yeah yeah! The Craze has been taking a break for a few months due to illness - maybe you noticed or you didn't - there is a lot of stuff out there on the interweb. 

Well, I am trying to get the whole thing started again - see where the journey takes us. To start off, I can offer you 2 tickets to one of my most anticipated gig: Screaming Females this Monday at Kantine. How great does that sound?! 

Read my previous love review if you need more convincing, then email me at win at thecraze dot de by Monday, 27 April, 12 pm. Maybe mention what you have been missing about The Craze, or don't. One lucky winner receives two guest list spaces for this fun gig and gets to rock out with us!

Can't wait!! 

Stuff worth visiting in the next couple of days (let's call it a micro preview, alright?)...

There's some cool stuff going on during the upcoming week, here's a small list of things to do with no intend to be exhaustive:

• Tues, Nov 25th: Sir Richard Bishop at Alter Löwe Rein: Weird and experimental Folk from Sir Richard Bishop, whom you may know as guitarist of the Sun City Girls. 

• Thu, Nov 27th: Mdou Moctar & Band at Monarch: I don't really know who decided that it's a good idea to put Mdou Moctar on at Monarch after his last show at West Germany was completely sold out. But nonetheless, here's a second chance to see this very interesting guitarist from Niger playing his unconventional psychedelic mix of Krautrock and African influences.

• Sat, Nov 29th: Nicoffeine + Amigo Tropical + Captain Popatain at Kastanienkeller: This is probably going to be a very nice noisy evening at the cozy Kastanienkeller. Nicoffeine and their heavy chaotic noise rock left quite a positive impression on Norman, read about that here. We also mentioned Berlin based Amigo Tropical here before, they're a heavy noise bass + drums duo and are definitely worth seeing live. The bill will be completed by Captain Popatain who play slow motion sludge/doom hardcore.

No preview but the three T's

So we didn't do a preview this month, the busiest month of the year. Whatever came over us? Lethargy? Self-pity? Depression? Rebellion? Nope, just lack of time and - why lie to you? - lack of motivation. We are feeling a sense of responsibility towards our readers but we are also not feeling the love anymore. At this moment in time we are unsure where it's going to take The Craze. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, let me tell you about the three T's this month.

On Thursday, I went to see Ty Segall at Astra. I know, Astra. Astra full of the same students I eat lunch at the university cantine with. But hey, to their credit, everybody danced and had a good time. And Ty Segall and his motivator merch guy really rocked out hard and got everybody going, including a beer cup throwing competition for some extra humour. It was a great show. My favourite: Mikal Cronin on bass. Man, I love Mikal Cronin anyway, but who knew he played the bass like such a badass? Fantastic!

My second T this month is of course tUnE-yArDs, who I will be going to see tomorrow and, oh boy, I am excited! Do a search on this blog to find all my posts in which I tirelessly praise her sampling and singing magic. There is no other artist like it out there. She is the one!  CANCELLED



The third T is of course Trans Am, who have been firm favourites of mine since the mid-90s. No kidding. I went to see them in 1998 in Hamburg at Marx and it was great albeit lonely. Few people had shown up. That is going to be very different at Kantine next week. If you like in-your-face-weirdness, this is for you. Each record is different but always great and slightly offensive. Love these guys so much! Meet me next Wednesday and let's Party!

Check out the calendar, which we have been keeping pretty up-to-date despite our laziness to post anything on the blog. There is so much goodness in the calendar this month, you may as well go out every other night really.

See you around town. Love you all. c*

Preview: the month ahead (October)

Golden October. As I sit at our dining room table, I wonder where the year has gone. This is definitely the fastest passing year I have yet experienced. Every time I have an idea, two months seem to have passed at the blink of an eye before I can revisit said idea. It’s odd to say the least. And so it goes with The Craze. Those reviews, ideas, visions - they are there but time seems to go at fast forward these days. How to stop this train? Only time will tell.

Sun, Oct 5th: The New Flesh at bei Ruth: Nice dark, gothy wave music from sunny California. Perfect autumn music. Recommended!

Wed, Oct 8th: Molly Nilsson + Donna Regina at Ausland: Molly Nilsson, a firm favourite of The Craze, is offering some jigging tunes for those who haven’t got tickets for the much hyped must-see Angel Olsen performance at Bi Nuu. We love us some Molly Nilsson!

Thu, Oct 9th: Hornet Leg at Schokoladen: Lo-fi post punk on K Records, like we religiously listened to in our teenage years. A very exciting opportunity to rock out to these guys at an early night Schokoladen gig. Support comes from the fun Berliner expat group Business Lunch. Join us!

Mon, Oct 13th: Liars at Lido: If it isn’t sold out yet, this is your chance to watch Liars perform their new album tunes live, which we appreciate. The Craze hearts Liars.

Tue, Oct 14th: Jozef van Wissem at Grüner Salon: Mr. van Wissem is one of those geniuses you want to be able to teach your children about to bring them up right. A close ally of Jim Jarmusch, this is a wonderful chance to watch Jozef van Wissem’s musical experimental and ambient music in an appropriately theatrical setting.

Wed, Oct 15th: Sean Nicholas Savage + Normal Echo at Urban Spree: Extrovert soul pop crooner goes Urban Spree - an interesting idea. Get your best swaying moves on. For fans of Mac DeMarco.

Thu, Oct 16th: Dead Western + Lukas Foehres at Antje Öklesund: Why listen to stadium folk rubbish when you can listen to the real beautiful thing at Antje Öklesund this Thursday? Dead Western is quirky and incredibly beautiful and not to be missed. Fans of Beirut will appreciate this.

Tue, Oct 21st: Swans + Pharmakon at Berghain: Post industrialists Swans on tour with favourite label (Sacred Bones) protegées Pharmakon? This can only be awesome. I wish for you to still get a ticket, which is likely because due to demand they have added a second show on Wed, Oct 22nd. May as well.

Thu, Oct 23rd: Total Heels + Zelf at Schokoladen: Total Heels = super punk band you must always go see because they make you dance and rock like no other, except for Thee Oh Sees maybe. Supported by local heroes. See you there, bright and early, say 7:30 pm. Yeah!

Mon, Oct 27th: The War On Drugs + Steve Gunn at Heimathafen: There is nothing wrong with really good folky and romantic pop music. We need those Sunday mornings when only that will do. The War On Drugs perfect the genre. So darn pretty. Singer-songwriter legend Steve Gunn is just the perfect addition to this bill. Heimathafen = perfect venue for this gig. Yummy.

Tue, Oct 28th: La Luz at Kantine: Easily C*’s gig of the month, even though C* won’t be around to attend La Luz playing her melancholic, surfy tunes live, she recommends this gig as her must-go-to event for you because she loves you. This is special. There!

Wed, Oct 29th: Acid Baby Jesus at Monarch: We have not featured any garage rock this month yet, so here goes. This is a quirky, dark, Cramps influenced version and you will love.

Thu, Oct 30th: The Diamond Road Show, a.k.a Digger Barnes + Pencil Quincy at SO36: Look, we have previewed and reviewed Digger Barnes often enough on The Craze, ok? We love this show, we just love it dearly. This time, he has got a new album in tow. Oh yes! I am a little upset about SO36 at choice of venue for this but let’s go with the flow here. The Digger never disappoints.

Preview addition: Civil Civic

Dear friends of The Craze. If you are a regular follower, you will know my undying love for Civil Civic. Well, I found out yesterday (!) that they are playing Urban Spree this Thursday (!!). Read my review from last time they hit Berlin at Kantine and meet me at Urban Spree on Thursday. Bring your best friend and your best dance moves!

Preview: the month ahead (September)

With the rather slow August finally over, September is here to bring us some pretty awesome bands. We’re going to upload a few more additions in a couple of days, until then check out what’s going on and as usual be sure to check our calendar below.

Sat, Sep 6th: The Nightingales + AUF at West Germany: The Nightingales have been on and off around since 1979 and according to Wikipedia they "played more sessions on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show than any other band excluding The Fall". They don’t sound unlike the Fall, early and raw post-punk is probably the best reference for what they still mostly sound like. Support will be Berlin based AUF, a guitar and drum duo, playing something that reminds me of noisy Hamburger Schule.

Sun, Sep 7th: Audacity + Häxxan at bei Ruth: Raw and in your face Garage Punk with a huge melodic hint is your thing? Well what are you waiting for? This sounds ecstatic and wild and will definitely be the right soundtrack for a nice end of the weekend dance at bei Ruth!

Mon, Sep 8th: Chad VanGaalen + Cousins at Kantine: Chad VanGaalen from Alberta Canada plays beatiful yet somehow broken singer songwriter music. He very nicely combines folk elements and melodies with fragile vocals and some noisy and electronic parts. His lyrics are somewhere between disturbing and uplifting and if you've got a thing for beautifully designed record covers and music videos, Chad VanGallen is your type of guy.

Thu, Sep 11th: Alte Sau + Johnny Kurt vs. Hank the Tank at bei Ruth: Alte Sau is another new band featuring Jens Rachut (ex-Oma Hans, Kommando Sonne-nmilch, Dackelblut, Angeschissen etc.), Rebecca Oehms (from Amtrak and die Charts) and Raoul Doré (whom you probably know from Jeniger or Amtrak and also as the guy who does the amazing visuals for Digger Barnes' Diamond Road Show!). They just released their debut record and it’s absolutely great. It’s musically quite minimalistic, just straight drums, an organ, sometimes a ‘choir’ plus Rachuts cryptic lyrics and nagging vocals.

Sat, Sep 13th: Aaron Dilloway + Evol + Naturkunde Museum Ostbayern + DJ MFK at NK: Aaron Dilloway might be best known for being a founding member of Wolf Eyes. Still he also released a shitload of solo records and side projects. Expect something loud and noisy from him, probably involving tape loops and weird analog electronic instruments. Naturkunde Museum Ostbayern (also known as N.M.O.) are a great addition to this, read our review about one of their shows here. All in all, if you are remotely into experimental noise music, there’s no way around paying NK another visit.

Mon, Sep 15th: Hammerhead (US) + Antihairball at bei Ruth: Wow, this came unexpected. Hammerhead from the US, not to be confused with the German Hardcore band, haven’t really been together since they originally broke up in the late 90s. They went on to form the also great Vaz and sort of reunited in 2010 but somehow still went under the radar. So the announcement of a European tour including a Berlin show not only came a bit surprising but also left me rather excited. Hammerhead play edgy noise rock including hectic, yet melodic drumming and heavy guitars and bass. If 90s sound à la Melvins is your thing, you should absolutely not miss this opportunity. Support will be Antihairball from Berlin who play a sort of nervous Lightning Bolt, Melt Banana and Action Beat influenced noise rock. 

Mon, Sep 15th: Helmet at SO36: Two 'old guys playing heavy music' shows on the same night may not be a rarity. But one of them being Helmet might make this a bit more interesting. If you sort of grew up listening to bands like this, Helmet performing their whole record Betty may be reason enough to lure you to SO36 this night.

Wed, Sep 17th: Blonde Redhead at Frannz: Blonde Redhead just released a new record and are on tout to promote it. They seemingly don’t play in Europe very often so we’re pretty excited about this one! They play beautiful and intriguing indie music without ever sounding too catchy or pleasing - there’s always this rest of experiment and edge in their sound and that’s probably what keeps them interesting even on their ninth studio record. 

Thu, Sep 18th: Datashock + Pretty Lightning + Sun Worship + Bird People at bei Ruth: This is like a family meeting and it’s certainly getting a cozy one! Datashock, a “grusel” psychedelic kraut collective and Pretty Lightning, a duo playing psychedelic raw blues are on tour again and pay bei Ruth another visit. This time, Sun Worship and Bird People will complete the bill. So prepare for a night somewhere between “Black Metal”, ambient drone noise and experimental Krautrock inspired acts. Sounds about right.

Mon, Sep 22nd: Helm + Bill Kouligas + Puce Mary at NK: Another interesting experimental NK night. Helm is a project of Luke Younger, he plays ambient drone music somewhere between musique concrete and industrial music. Also playing will be Bill Kouligas (who runs the great PAN label) who will present a new electronic live set. Finally, Puce Mary will complete the line up. She’s on Posh Isolation records and plays deep and intense industrial influenced electronica. Check her out, this is really great stuff!