Review: Liturgy + Mi Ami

I was so looking forward to seeing Mi Ami, the main reason for my visit at the Levee Club, that night. Turned out it wasn't that bad that I missed their first songs...

When we arrived at the club, Mi Ami were already playing. I knew from a friend, who saw them a few days ago, that they play entirely without their former bass/guitar/drum setup. So I was a bit worried beforehand. And my worries were sort of totally legit. Their latest record has very few to do with their former weird dancy post-punk records (which I really really like), but is an all-electro disco album (which I don't like at all). So maybe it wasn't all that surprising that I disliked their electro disco live set, but anyhow I was pretty disappointed. Musically it was uninspired dancy electro music paired with the typical high and hysterical Mi Ami vocals. Levee Club was hardly filled while they played and the handful of people dancing in the front also didn't make up for the somehow lousy atmosphere. The sound was shitty too, so this was like a total bummer for me.

We waited outside until Liturgy played next. The club quickly filled and it was obvious that there were a lot more people there to see Liturgy than Mi Ami. Liturgy started to play and right from the start they were really great. They play "transcendental black metal" and somehow this description fits well. Their music has something almost meditative. They have a harsh and aggressive sound but their repetitive complex rhythms (their drummer is incredible!) and often almost catchy melodies go really well together and create an intense atmosphere. I sort of preferred the instrumental songs but the ones with high croaked "black metal vocals" were also really good.

When you normally think of black metal, burning churches, corpse paint, NSBM and Burzum come to mind. Liturgy, being featured in all sorts of Vice/Spex/Pitchfork magazines, managed to make "black metal" more accessible to a broader audience and apparently got rid of most black metal stereotypes. They didn't look like a typical black metal band and they didn't sound like one either. Maybe that's why there were so few apparent metal fans in the audience and probably that's the reason why there luckily weren't any corpse paint Burzum people. But at the same time that's what made them so likeable.

Review: Former Ghosts + Terror Bird

First review for the blog and first show in the "new" Levee/ex-Bang Bang Club for me. Not much changed besides the name so no big surprises there.

I didn't know much about Terror Bird before their gig so I also didn't have great expectations. They surely had a difficult stand when they began to play in the half empty club. The duo played synthie and beat based wave pop, often reminding me of Zola Jesus, and thus fit quite well to Former Ghosts. After all they didn't really excite me. I liked the music and I think I could definitely like their records but it just didn't work live for me that evening.

Following up were Former Ghosts, which is Freddy Ruppert's (who you probably know from This Song is a Mess but so am I) current project. Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu supported him live and seems to be more or less a permanent member by now. I already saw them at their last Berlin gig with Xiu Xiu and Zola Jesus at Festsaal Kreuzberg and even though I liked it back then, I also had the feeling that they could do better, as they seemed a bit lost on that big stage. Well they did.
Musically Former Ghosts play dark and wavy synthie pop, often compared to bands like Joy Divison. They started with one of my favorite songs from their last record and continued surprisingly dancy and catchy. The set then got more and more noisy and experimental, reminding me of Xiu Xiu live performances (not surprising though, with half of Xiu Xiu actually playing on stage) and towards the end they managed to deconstruct nearly every poppy and catchy approach. They probably also left a good part of the audience somewhat deranged. The gig was definitely much more intense than the one at Festsaal so I'm glad to have seen them again but in a smaller, more intimate setting this time.

Review: Joan of Arc + Love of Everything

OK, I admit it: my expectations for Joan of Arc were always going to be too high. Joan of Arc - musical love of my late teens and early twens. Joan of Arc - poster on my wall when I was already way too old to have band posters on the bedroom wall. Tim Kinsella - subject of girl fantasies.

So despite Baths being in town last night, despite DD/MM/YYYY hitting Berlin again, I headed over to Bang Bang Club to see Kinsella & Co play. I made the right choice.

Unfortunately, I missed local heroes mOck, but I am sure they played their post-HC 90s sound beatifully as I have seen them a few times before. You should check them out next time they play, if you are into 90s guitar music. You'll appreciate them.

Love Of Everything is actually the current bass player of Joan of Arc, Bobby Burg, with a drummer. They had already commenced when I arrived and I stumbled into their set but was immediately soaked in the atmosphere. Mr Burg is a very smiley lad who captures the audience with his personal presence as much as his voice which is a bit reminiscent of the late John Lennon. The voice, mind you, not the music. Their sound is pretty standard 90s post everything indie, but with sweet lyrics and yeah, that voice. Very sweet.

It appeared Bobby Burg was well aware that people had come to see Joan of Arc, not Love of Everything, as he referred a couple of times to the fact that Joan of Arc weren't to take long before their set. He is in Joan of Arc after all. And indeed, I was almost a tad nervous before JOA came onstage.

Well, they started their set with a couple of songs that didn't impress anyone I don't think. Just fuzzy guitar indie-rock. Where is the math? Where is the jazz? I read people's faces: I wasn't the only one who was disappointed. Whether this was a coincidence or a clever trick - we'll never know. But after a little joke from Mr Kinsella, a Sean Penn in his young years lookalike, the Joan of Arc as we know it emerged. A beat, jazzy guitar sounds, sudden turns within the songs, improvisation and still indie-rocking all along. And as the set progressed, the band amazed the audience more and more with complex and danceable sounds as well as their witty words and jokes. Finally, as an encore, they even played a song from the first album. The set had gone from "really, this is it?" to "oh my, please don't ever stop playing!". The only slight disappointment I like to mention is the fact that they had chosen to tour in a classic drums/2 guitars/bass formation - the special effects à la Effectron, Vibraphone or Wurlitzer were definitely missing a little.

So yes, my expectations were probably too high but Joan of Arc were actually able to meet them. How about that.

Review: Screaming Females + Sissters

Do you remember Circus Lupus? I remember being played their record for the first time in some bedroom in some countryside conservative parents' home. I was sufficiently impressed. Their spazzy sound was new to this 17-year-old. That was in 1995. If I remember correctly that is.

Tonight, I was reminded of Circus Lupus and what it felt like to hear or see a band like that in the mid-90s. I was surprised, it was loud, it was rhythmic at the same time.

Sissters are a two-piece from Berlin who have only just started to perform in recent months but have already been on tour with Des Ark. The classic guitar-drums-formation knows how to catch the audience's attention. Rhythmic familiar passages are interrupted by experimental sound intervals that ensure you don't get too used to one thing, don't get bored. The performance was solid and impressive and I overheard someone in the audience call the group "the best band in Berlin at the moment".

Screaming Females suprised me - positively. I hadn't seen them live before but on record I liked them. Liked, not loved. I expected a good gig but not a revelation. But a revelation it was. The rhythm section (drums and bass) was very solid and played catchy rhythms that made people dance while the front woman, a small lady in a long black dress, played guitar soli and almost ate the microphone when singing and grunting to the songs. It was noisy and poppy, catchy and experimental at the same time.

I left with a smile - it just felt like 1995. It just felt like Circus Lupus.