Preview: the week ahead (19th - 25th Nov)

The last few grey and foggy days have actually pleased me. Sure, I would much rather sit in the sun. But the melancholy that comes with autumn greyness is so deeply engrained in Northern and Central European culture, it is comforting in a way. Soundtrack your autumn evenings with some of these gigs around town:

Monday
Chicaloyoh, Alahuta and Indias Indios at Loophole: We seldomly reprint the press kit but this one sounds so good, I thought I would just copy / paste. "Chicaloyoh is the Alice Dourlen solo project, a music between soundscape exploration and intimate contemplation. Chicaloyoh is a mix of guitar, keyboards and percussions from distant and various horizon. Chicaloyoh is a one woman band that will attract those who like the priestesses singings of Inca Ore or Zola Jesus. Chicaloyoh has a collaboration with High Wolf called Woodoo Mount Sister, and toured with him this year." Good support, too!

Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield at Roter Salon: Evan Dando, singer and guitarist for the Lemonheads, plays solo shows quite often and he's also not a rare visitor of Berlin for his performances. So chances are quite high that you might have already seen him before. If not, Roter Salon is probably a more than decent location and Evan Dando is definitely worth watching live. Juliana Hatfield has been musically busy for quite a long time and has been a collaborator with Evan Dando throughout all those years. She plays folky indie acoustic tunes nowadays.

Tuesday
Former Selves and Tidal at Loophole: Loophole is establishing itself as a very interesting venue for experimental and out-of-the-ordinary music, pleasing a crowd that is hungry for something new, innovative and different. Tonight promises to be another wonderful music spectacle: Former Selves mix various sounds and samples into earpleasing compositions, that, despite being experimental and quirky, are not hard to digest. Kinda think old cartoon classics when the madness really kicks off and the music goes frantic one minute and then melancholy the next. Recommended!



Wednesday
The Soft Moon and Dracula Lewis at Festsaal Kreuzberg: Gig of the week? Maybe. There certainly is a buzz around town pertaining this gig. The Soft Moon are right now touring to present their newest record. They play heavily 80s influenced dark synthi indie pop. Not unlike the "goth" parts of the Cure or Tuxedomoon or newer bands like the Vanishing. Dracula Lewis fits quite nicely to that, it's a bit more electronic and a bit weirder but also has this 80s goth feeling to it. 


 
Thursday
Deerhoof at Festsaal Kreuzberg: Deerhoof are a truly unique band. They developed their own style between heavy rock parts and fragile tiny melodies, all carried by Satomi Matsuzaki's vocals. Their newest record just came out this year, so you can probably expect them to play a bunch of new songs. I'm totally looking forward to this, Deerhoof are an awesome live band and I'd even pay entry to watch Greg Saunier play drums alone for an hour.

Friday
Hammerhead and Nothing at Kastanienkeller: This is going to be insanely packed. Hammerhead don't play live that often so if you're planning to catch this "legend" of german punk/hardcore music live, make sure to be there on time.
Troy von Balthazar at Monarch: The eccentric of Hamburger Schule makes a cozy appearance at Monarch. And why not?
E.D. Sedgwick, Crime and Big Eater at Marie-Antoinette: This is going to be good! E.D. Sedgwick is Justin Moyer's newest band since Antelope, El Guapo and Supersystem aren't active anymore. Musically this is like a dancy mixture of Antelope and Chain and the Gang like 60s influences. Supporting them will be Crime, half Sissters and half Scream Club, they play 80s influenced queer punky electro music. We definitely mentioned them before a few times, you should know the deal. Also playing will be Big Eater, Berlin based new project of Al Burian and members of Syn Error. Watch out for our competition later today when you can win two tickets to the gig!


 
Saturday
Nicoffeine at Boom, Thomasstr. 27: Brutal noise and good at it. Go on over to Boom on Saturday if you need your ass kicked.


Sunday
Mac DeMarco and Each Other at Monarch: A weirdo pop matinée show. Be there for 4pm and dance the afternoon away with us to the offish pop tunes of Mac DeMarco, who will bring with him a fellow Montreal project Each Other. It will be swell and you may as well don your best tea dress for the occasion. Head on over to Festsaal for Ariel Pink afterwards, making it a night of it.
Do Make Say Think, Sandro Perri and Eric Chenaux at Lido: Canadian instrumental post-rock outfit Do Make Say Think, another fine classic Constellation band, return to Berlin and will most likely draw people into their world of dream sounds and guitar rhythms.
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti at Festsaal: Our favourite indie pop legend is transforming Festsaal to disco heaven for me this Sunday and I am happily taking him up on the offer. I can only recall good memories of Ariel Pink shows as they never fail to deliver on their promise of absolute wondfulness. See you there!

Review: Doomsday Student + Don Vito

Like singer Eric Paul's other band, The Chinese Stars, Arab On Radar are just one of those bands that are purely addictive. When you first listen to either band you think that they must be absolutely bonkers and you are not sure what to make of it. It's not really experimental, nor straight forward and there is this weirdo element you just cannot shake. But once you have induldged in these Skin Graft acts more than once you cannot stop. Sadly, The Chinese Stars never tour Europe and Arab On Radar split up. But did they? Some time ago, bei Roy were offered a concert by a group named Doomsday Student that nobody was familiar with - until they read the small print and found out that it was Arab On Radar with a new name. Needless to say, J. and I got overly excited and were anticipating this last gig of the season at bei Roy like no other.

Not only was this the last event of the season at bei Roy, it was also the first one that XNormanX, J. and I were all going to be at together. Therefore, when I was making my way from Astra, still high from watching the amazing Villagers, over to bei Roy, I was excited like a teenager on a first date: my two blog buddies, a compeitition winner, and one of my favourite bands were all waiting for me. And I was not going to come away heart-broken - that much I can tell you already.

Review: Volcano The Bear

So you guys, you think Death Grips or Moon Duo were the best live bands recently here in Berlin? Well, I have to disappoint you. UK's Volcano The Bear played last Sunday at Monarch and it was the best gig I've seen so far (well, I exaggerate a bit to make my point).

The night didn't start that promising. Church Car, a Berlin-based two expats group opened. Maybe I wasn't in the mood or I didn't get their humour, but their musical version of Chicago postrock and spoken word wasn't my cup of tea. I guess this was too much community theatre for a Sunday evening for me. Sorry.

Hmm, Volcano The Bear started exactly the same way, but it already clicked with the first tone. These guys are pros in what they do. Playing a wild and improvised blend of Jazz, Rock, Electronica. But after seeing them a couple of times and listening to their records I have to conclude that they are a live band! It is unbelievably funny to watch them play. Both, Daniel Padden and Aaron Moore are multi-instrumentlists. They don't show off, they just play every reachable instrument, horns, gongs, even a goblet. It is like Church Car theatre-like, absurd and weird, but it makes so much more sense. Too bad that an hour can pass so fast, when the performance is this enjoyable. In the end, a short encore was added to an already pefect gig.

Berlin was the last stop on their tour. I hope they will return soon and you have to promise me to go see them play the next time. I think every guest from Sunday will tell you the same.

     

A sunny morning with Dead Skeletons

For those of you who missed Dead Skeletons' amazing gig at KaterHolzig, my number one contender for gig of the year, you can now listen to the entire full-length album on YT. It may make you cringe that you missed this, but I am certain they will be back before you know. Until then, take a load of this:

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

What were we thinking when we started out with this blog? I think it went along the lines of "There are so many good gigs in this town and people don't even realise or appreciate it. We are going to dedicate some space to just that". We were probably not thinking "There are so many gigs in this town, we could spend our Sundays just listing them for the world to read". That is exactly what is happening. There are so many good and diverse live music happenings in Berlin this week, it is taking up a lot of our time just picking out the most bestest ones for you. Wild and exciting.

Monday
Here We Go Magic at Comet Club: HWGM are another fine Secretely Canadian product and they do indie-pop. There is no other way to describe it, even if I tried to be clever and music journalist intellectual about it. HWGM, however, create little pearls of songs that invoke emotions in you, like joy, ease or dreamy. You will like them, it's very hard not to.



Tuesday
Japanther and Die Eternias at Marie Antoinette: Japanther are rad! They play lo-fi garage punk tunes, not unlike bands like No Age or Thee Oh Sees. They're so much fun to watch live and I keep my last Japanther show at West Germany in good memory. Die Eternias play 60s influenced indie rock, sounds like a good mixture for that night.
Zechs Marquise at West Germany: A little instrumental metal math core gem at West Germany tonight. Stray from the known acts tonight and head to Kotti to have your mind blown by these dudes. Recommended.
Shabazz Palaces and THEESatisfaction at Festsaal Kreuzberg: An alternative and experimental hip hop extravanganza. There is a lot of talk around town about this gig, and rightly so. This can only be amazing, with both acts being worth your attention, if you appreciate good hip hop at all. Don't miss out!




Wednesday
Doldrums, Blood Diamonds and Clay Hooves at Monarch: Doldrums are supporting Purity Ring at Berghain first, before pleasing the after party crowds at Monarch, with electronica wunderkind Blood Diamonds in tow. If you like your theatrical independent electro music, head to Kotti at 11 pm and dance the night away.  
Al Doum & the Faryds at Loophole: Experimental music, influenced by Arabic sounds and psychedelic imagery. Not for the easy listening crowd but mind-expanding for those interested in experimental music. Btw, they play again on Thursday, at Shangl Hangl, Schönstedtstrasse 14.

Thursday
XRay Eyeballs at Monarch: Slowish garage rock with an old sound. Très cool and one that C* is excited about. It's a tough choice which gig to hit tonight.
Wild Nothing and Grey Television at White Trash: Sort of an odd location for this one I think. While White Trash usually hosts more trashy and rocky live acts, Wild Nothing do nothing like that. They play dreamy and very melodic indie pop. You can definitely hear their 80s pop influences, think of a more contemporary indie version of the Smiths. Grey Television add pretty nicely to that and if you missed their last showcase at a clothing store in Mitte some weeks ago, here's your next chance.
Zombie Zombie, Camera, Saroos and Eagle Boston at Festsaal Kreuzberg: C*'s gig of the week. So f**king excited to see Zombie Zombie live. Rhythmic electronic and drum heavy alt-dance music, dark in sense and with a coolness factor of a thousand. You may be into Battles, Liars, Civil Civic, Mi Ami or Health's remix albums - Zombie Zombie will suck you in. They are playing as part of the Polyhymnia Festival, with a solid line-up for show. See you there.

 

Friday
Otto von Schirach at Berghain: If you can take Berghain on a Friday night, this week might be a week worth trecking out there as the special guest is going to be Otto von Schirach, extrovert whacky one-man electronic music project with a faible for trash culture. His own website calls him a "dance music oddball". I saw OvS a few years ago in Brussels when he was supporting The Locust and actually featured Locust drummer Gabe Serbian in his show. There were masks, capes and adults only crazy dancing. Not to be missed, really. Excpect a Vice kinda crowd.
Great Lake Swimmers at BiNuu: This show got moved from Magnet to the nearby BiNuu. Great Lake Swimmers are definitely worth watching. They play folky indie singer songwriter music and somehow they have this ability to just write great songs. The perfect fall music!

Saturday
Hundred Waters and Pacific Strings at Berghain's Kantine: This gig is the choice of our Puschen competition winner, which in turn got Puschen agency very excited. People are really behind Hundred Waters and it is not hard to see why. This group could go really far. Of course you never really know what a band is influenced by but I can hear Björk and CocoRosie in there just as much as classic American soul music. Very soulful with an undeniable beauty.
Singapore Sling, Wall Of Death and The Lucid Dream at White Trash: Singapore Sling fit nicely into the current wave of Neu! sounding bands, like Dead Skeletons. Interestingly, both bands are from Iceland. I am not quite sure what to expect of them live but if they are going to be just anywhere near as good as DS, then Saturday night at White Trash might turn out rather swell.  

Sunday
Lætitia Sadier at Berghain's Kantine: Stereolab fans listen up! Stereolab's chanteuse and composer, Lætitia Sadier, is making an appearance in Berlin in support of her solo project. And it is one of those "if you like one, you like the other" kind of things. Very distinctly Stereolab. A relaxing Sunday evening with the wonderful voice of Miss Sadier. What else can you ask for?
Gossip and Austra at Velodrom: Have we gone completely gaga that we are now featuring Velodrom concerts? Well, as the case may be C* is very intrigued by Velodrom as a building. The reason for the feature is, however, that Gossip and Austra make such a fantastic double bill, how could we not mention that to you? Read C*'s Gossip and Austra reviews from earlier this year to understand why this is exciting. We would like to say "Meet C* there" but chances are that if you tried you could as well stay home and look for someone with the description of a hipster on Maybachufer on a Friday afternoon.

Today, make it an early night at HAU

Oh boy, I am so excited about Moon Duo and Camera later, I just can't hide it. And it's all early, so the fun can just continue with some crazy dancing somewhere in town afterwards. Make sure you have dinner at traditional German time (6pm) and make it to HAU1 at your earliest convenience if you don't want to miss both (!) bands tonight:

Timings for tonight are EARLY! and we like it that way: 

Doors 7pm
Camera 8pm 
Moon Duo 8:45pm

Meet me there, yeah yeah!!