Competition: Lovers + Levitations

Lovers just recently played in Berlin at the start of their current tour. Now they play their last Euro-show on Saturday (Nov 30th) before returning to the US and we've got the opportunity to give away a guest list spot +1! Support for this show at About Blank will be the lovely Levitations, who just released their first 7".

So if you are in the mood for a great live package with music somewhere between the Organ, Team Dresch and Bikini Kill, you shouldn't miss this one!

To be on the guest list just send us an E-mail to win@thecraze.de until Friday 6pm and tell us: What's your favorite song about love?

For more info about the show, here's the facebook event page.

Preview: the week ahead (25th Nov - 1st Dec)

I don’t know about you but when the nights draw in towards the end of the year and Xmas feels nigh, I start wondering whether I have experienced enough this year. I start urging for some last minute action. Even more so this year as I read recently that the more “first experiences” you have the slower time seems to lapse. A good incentive to go out on the town this week. Here is an extensive selection with not one, but five, videos to waste some time on.

Monday

• Dump and Masha Qrella at Monarch: James McNew, bassist of Yo La Tengo, has this cutesy little solo project called Dump. Lo-fi indie pop with self-drawn record covers. Really sweet. Masha Qrella is a good match in the same vein. Monarch = perfect venue for this.

Tuesday

• Tempers and Jessy Lanza at Kantine: Wave-infused electronic music is not typically my thing and, frankly, I have not decided yet whether I love or loath Tempers. However, I do feel that what they do is interesting and intriguing and Kantine might just be the perfect place to check this out.
• Jacco Gardner at Privatclub: You know I love Mr. Gardner’s 60s-infused pop music. I featured him before, including this video favourite. Who cares, it’s perfect for a cold autumn weekend.

Wednesday

• Blouse at Auster Club: Another week, another Captured Tracks’ band? Sure, why not. I love all the dream pop and shoegaze projects the hip of-the-moment label is churning out. Hell, I’m a CT fan, ok?! On that note, Blouse are exactly what you would expect from CT and très cool at that. A clear recommendation.

Thursday

• Erfolg and Seftel at Schokoladen: Erfolg, i.e. Johannes of The Chap, and his women’s choir were the clear winners of Torstrassen Festival. Catch them again at a Torstrassen venue. Early - it’s Schokoladen!
• No Joy, Doom Squad and Secret Secret Girl at Urban Spree: The highly-awaited triple bill Canadian night is finally here. Fuzzy guitars, shoegazy indie tunes, some rock’n’roll. No doubt a great night out. Also, we are running a competition for this, you might want to check out.

Friday

• Villagers at Frannz: You know my love for Villagers by now, I have reviewed them often enough. Head to Frannz on Friday if your love is matching mine.
• Za! and SchnAAk and the Rundu Choir at NK: J. is a big SchnAAk fan and has given them sterling reviews before, so they along would be worth the trip to NK this Friday. Catalans Za! are the stars of the week, playing again this Sunday. We like their spazzy electro-rock fuse music and feel you will appreciate them, too. This is going to be a great night, promise.

Saturday

• Lovers and Levitations at about:blank: A good, good night at about blank. Lovers were great last time, and so were Levitations. A nice ladies’ night you might not want to miss I say.
• Mother of the Unicorn, The Still and Kenny Lump at Antje Öklesund: A mellow evening of folky and smoky tunes. For those who want to chill with beautiful music, this is our recommendation.
• Hanni El Khatib at Magnet: Ok, I shall be honest with you. I don’t really know all that much about Los Angeles dude Hanni El Khatib. But I do love this video so and that’s worth sharing, even if I will most likely not make it to the gig (I mean, look at this chocker full preview!). A nice tune and fantastic visuals on this grey weekend day for you:

 

Sunday

• The Pyramids and Za! Workshop Orchestra at NK: There are several groups called The Pyramids, so it’s hard to research tonight’s act. The Facebook event page give you a nice little bio though. We have previewed this particular The Pyramids before, so you might be familiar with the name. Hailing from the 70s and billed as “cosmic jazz”, they appeal to those who love afro-jazz and psychedelic music as much as to fans of free jazz. I am personally reminded of Haitian voodoo music when I hear this band perform. A treat. Za! again (see Friday!), too.

 

Review: Daughn Gibson

Unfortunately gigs at Comet Club tend to start super-early, so I wasn't able to make it on time to see Brokeback, the side project of Tortoise's bassist Doug McCombs. It's a shame, as the elusive, cinematic post-rock landscapes performed live by a new version of the band must have been a real treat.

Nevertheless, I managed to enter the venue just as Daughn Gibson was starting his set.

Combining country music with techno might seem as an absurd and kind of cringe-worthy thing to do, but this man somehow makes it work. And it's addictive. For example, "Looking back on 99" from his debut album "All Hell" is a song that you just can't get enough listens of.

This is some (post)modern-day Americana at it's best. Powered by technology and haunted by the past which evokes nostalgia and anxiety at the same time. The stories in the songs position themselves well in the Southern Gothic tradition and prove that the man has been around. One of the odd jobs that he had was working as a truck driver, which makes total sense. The open road, middle-of-nowhere vibe is all there. It is also a bit gloomy and sinister, at times disturbing, but in a way that has something positive to it, just like finding beauty in dirt.

The sound of his voice is a one that we've heard so many times before. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Scott Walker, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, all of the deep baritones may come to mind when you listen to this guy sing. Familiar, yet defamiliarized by the background of Ableton-composed loops, samples and sounds inspired by the likes of Demdike Stare and Burial.

He sometimes sounds a little over-the-top with the drawl, but I think it's all part of the performance along with the flannel shirts and rough looks. He just plays around with what he's got, creating an aethetics that may or may not be tongue-in-cheek.

On stage, as well as o n the new record (a Sub Pop release "Me Moan"), he was accompanied by a drummer and a guitarist. They put on a great show, and finished with a long encore. Before leaving the venue I over-heard a girl saying that it was really weird and she didn't know what to think about it, which I bet the man behind the Daughn Gibson alias would consider a mission accomplished.

Competition: No Joy + Doom Squad + Secret Secret Girl

An exciting little gig is happening at Urban Spree this coming Thursday, 28 Nov.: A Canadian triple bill extravanganza.

If you want to go to the fuzzy indie guitar starlets' gig at Urban Spree, send us your suggestions for the most miserable song to win at thecraze dot de. Do this by 6pm Wednesday, 27 November and you plus your chosen loved one can just say "guest list please". If you need more info on the wonderful No Joy, watch out for our preview later this weekend.

Quick, late review: Orchestra of Spheres

It didn't take long for the Orchestra of Spheres to turn Urban Spree into a trippy, tribal, space-rock discotheque.
It is always nice to see a band putting an effort and making something a little bit more spectacular out of a live performance. Here, the music seemed to be as important as the visual aspect. All of the members of the New Zealand ensemble were dressed up in wacky, futuristic costumes (my favourite item was a hat made entirely out of cassette tapes).
I guess Sun Ra would have approved.

You will have a chance to see them again soon as they will be supporting Wooden Shjips at Panorama Bar on the 3rd of December.

Preview: the week ahead (18th - 24th Nov)

Brrrr. Long underwear at the ready. Also this week: some real gems in our preview.

Monday

• Linda Perhacs at Berghain Kantine: Linda Perhacs is an American folk singer songwriter. She released Parallelograms, her only record, in 1970 without many people taking notice of it. It was later “rediscovered” and highly influential for people involved in the the New Weird America movement. She didn’t play a single concert for nearly 40 years and now plays in Germany for the first time ever. This Berlin show also is the only Germany show on her current tour.

Wednesday

• Crystal Stilts and Vex Ruffin at Gretchen: When Crystal Stilts released their debut album in 2008, the music press hyped them like nothing else. Unlike so often, the hype was well-deserved in the case of CS. The record is a timeless piece of music that I can listen to over an over. Their dark and hip energy was something new on the scene. CS grew bored of it, it seemed, and bands doing the same thing sprung up all over New York and the rest of the world. The idea was no longer novel when I went to see them a few years back at Festsaal and little had remained of the old magic. Now, Crystal Stilts have switched labels - the almighty Sacred Bones is the new home! - and the new material is very promising. I have been looking forward to this for a long while, I am sure this is going to be so great, so meet me there. Exciting support, too - check it out!
• Glenn Jones at Monarch: By now you’re certainly familiar with the ‘Since The Devil Is Gone I Mostly Feel Lonely’ series at Monarch. This week Glenn Jones will play; he’s an acoustic guitar player and released some music on Thrill Jockey records. He used to play in Cul de Sac and collaborated with John Fahey and the former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki.

 
Thursday

• Camera at SO36: We have written about Camera lots of times before on this blog and this time you get the chance to see them in a special setting. They’ll play at SO36 on a small riser in the middle of the audience, so this is a nice attempt at combining their spontaneous U-Bahnhof and open air gigs with a more “professional” setting. In case you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve got a little competition going on for this show.

Friday

• Don Vito, Jealousy Mountain Duo and Grow Grow at Kastanienkeller: With all the singer songwriter music that’s been going on this week, here’s a little variety. Don Vito are great and they are an incredibly fun band to watch live. They play weird and heavy noise rock with influences ranging from jazz to mathrock, think of Erase Errata and Aids Wolf. I went to see them before and I was in awe. Jealousy Mountain Duo sound more no wave and jazz influenced and Grow Grow play groovy noise-rock somewhere between Shellac and Ten Volt Shock. Very cool line-up and definitely worth the visit!

 

Sunday

• Paper Beat Scissors and Michael Feuerstack at Monarch: Another singer songwriter based evening at Monarch. This time Paper Beat Scissors and Michael Feuerstack, whom you may know for playing in Snailhouse, will present their beautiful and emotional songs live.