Preview: the week ahead (9th - 15th Dec)

December, typically a month where the party scene revs up but the live music scene slowly goes to sleep. This year is different and even though we are only two weeks away from Christmas, the calendar is still full to the brim with wonderful evening entertainment. It’s a good distraction from all that is unlikable during this season. 

Monday

• Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds at Monarch: Read Gary’s review and realise that you need to see the man Congo at least once in your life, if you love garage rock at all that is.
• Kurt Vile & the Violators and True Widow at Lido: Admittedly, I have my ups and downs with Kurt Vile. I absolutely adore the songwriting and voice. However, I find that sometimes the execution lacks a little special something. Having said that, the new album is unbeatably beautiful and I am truly looking forward to this gig.

Wednesday

• Selvhenter at Kantine: Danish experimental jazz group Selvhenter will serve a rare treat to fans of the genre in Berlin. In their own words: “Exploring the field between repetitive drone-like compositions, strong beats and free improvisation. Sounds & noise – sometimes acoustic sometimes amplified.”
• Esmerine at Urban Spree: If you saw our competition you already know about Esmerine. They’re a modern chamber music band with members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion and on their current tour they are playing with an extended line-up which includes Turkish strings and percussion. We’re looking forward to this one!

Thursday

• Zola Jesus, Sqürl, White Hills, + Yasmine Hamdan, and Jozef Van Wissem at Tresor (plus film screening at Kino International): You probably know the ATP - All Tomorrow’s Parties series of small and well curated festivals that mostly take place in the UK. Now they do something special in Cologne and Berlin and host a live show of bands that contributed music to the soundtrack of Only Lovers Left Alive, the new Jim Jarmusch movie. There will be a screening of the movie at Kino International first and the bands will play at Tresor afterwards. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Check the website for more info.
• Patrick Wolf at Babylon Mitte: I have previewed Patrick Wolf and his quirky 80s inspired electro power pop before, of course I have. Babylon Mitte should provide a nice setting for this, as long as they remove the seats and provide the dancefloor that will be needed for a Patrick Wolf dance extravaganza. Enjoy!

Friday

• Touchy Mob, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, and Femminielli Noir at Urban Spree: What a party the Shameless / Limitless crew have planned for us! They are turning 5 years old and have managed to secure an über-lineup for their celebration. New Beggars Banquet signed Wunderkind Jaakko Eino Kalevi is a “don’t miss” in his own right. Fans of Touchy Mob will be pleased to finally see him perform again, as will be admirers of Mr. Femminielli, whose project convinced me when he performed with Dirty Beaches earlier this year. And those, like myself, who adore Molly Nilsson and Junior Boys get DJ sets by those artists, among others. I, for one, will be there, dancing the night away. Join me?!
• Yuro Chain at Loophole: Yuro Chain plays interesting electronic ambient music with a strong dark wave influence. If you’re a fan of 80’s experimental synth-bands you should check this out.
• Jack Name aka Fictional Boys at West Germany: Jack Name is mostly known for his guitaring powers in White Fence, who we have reviewed before . This, his solo project, is pretty much in the same vein of 60s rock’n’roll à la Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who. Super looking forward to this cosy night at West Germany.

Saturday

• Total Heels at Schokoladen: Total Heels convinced J. at bei Ruth’s Halloween Party last month, and let’s just say J. is really not your typical garage punk rock music fan. This is how good this group is. Dance Party Saturday Night alright, at Schokoladen for 8pm sharp!
• Damo Suzuki with Sound Carriers at Urban Spree: The ex-Can vocalist performing live with members of Kadavar, In Zaire and Dead Skeletons. Sounds good, doesn't it? We're going to post a competiton for this show tomorrow and you can see a recent video of Suzuki performing with local musicians of Oslo below.

• Skiing, Slow Steve, and Yule FM at Antje Öklesund: Some local music scene stars have started a new label called “Späti Palace”. Their first record is going to be a compilation showcasing Berlin’s eclectic independent music scene. This is the release party and a great one it is going to be. Though Classic Muscle had to pull out for health reasons, the organisers have found a great replacement in Skiing. Slow Steve is a regular on The Craze and you will have heard of Yule FM by now, too. Party party.
• The Young Gods at Bi Nuu: Even though only one founding member remains, Swiss legends The Young Gods have been doing their post-industrial, sometimes folky, sometimes grand with orchestra, sometimes spooky, dark music since 1985. That’s some time. It holds up though, it truly does. Recommended.

Three points review: FIFTH FLOOR III

1) The secret warehouse event ended up being not-so-secret when, on the day, the organisers decided to publish the location and release on-the-door tickets. Whether Urban Spree qualifies as a warehouse location or not is up for debate.

2) Musically, psychedelic rock, wave, and My Bloody Valentine fans got what they needed, with high quality performances of the rock genre on stage. It was a rock affair with a lot of long hair, beards, and velvet coats in the audience. We rather enjoyed the fashion aspect of last night.

3) Because the event started an hour late and featured a line-up of six (!) bands, it went well past our bedtime and we ended up with cocktails in a bar nearby, where a birthday was spontaneously celebrated and shots with pickles were being given. That was cosy, even if it was not a secret warehouse gig. We are not so sure we are made for presenting events, but we sure know we like a good hangout.

Three points review: Wooden Shjips + Orchestra of Spheres

2013 is almost over and I am introducing a new category: the "three points review". As we are repeating our reviews, i.e. reviewing the same bands over and over, three poignant notes should suffice to give you the quick gist on the gig. Here goes my first one.

1) Packed gig with a lot of beardy middle agers mixed into the hip Berghain gig crowd. Good sound.

2) Orchestra of Spheres were stars and met all expectations and more. Fantastic. Read Kinga's review for details of their last Berlin gig.

3) Wooden Shjips' new songs are great and of the same concept as all albums before - great voice, wonderful bass, doodly guitars. Love.

Competition: Esmerine

Guess what, we have another competition for you. This time we're giving away a guest list spot +1 for the Esmerine show at Urban Spree next Wednesday (Dec 11th).

Esmerine are a modern chamber music band from Canada, consisting of members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Silver Mt. Zion and Unicorns/Islands. They already released four records, the last two of them on Constellation Records and they play very cinematic instrumental music that's probably best described as post-rock with experimental oriental sounds. On their recently released album Dalmak they invited an impressive list of guest instrumentalists, ranging from Colin Stetson to musicians from Arcade Fire. For this tour they will perform with an extended line-up which includes Turkish strings and percussion, making this show even more exciting!

If you want to win the guest list spot, just send us an e-mail to win@thecraze.de (closing date Tue Dec 10th, 6pm) and tell us who's your favorite band from Canada.

Here's the facebook event for more info and links.

Ticket Giveaway: Fifth Floor Warehouse Party

By now you should have heard about the Fifth Floor Warehouse Party on Saturday (Dec 7th) that we are presenting. If you are also excited about the line-up and haven't bought your tickets yet, here's your chance to win a guest list-spot +1! 

All you have to do is send an e-mail with your name in it to door@5thfloor.info and hope you win.

Have a look at the facebook event page for all the details about line-up and bands.

Preview: the week ahead (2nd - 8th Dec)

Another pretty packed week full of concerts worth attending. Furthermore we co-present an event for the very first time: The Fifth Floor III Warehouse Party on Saturday. Read all about it below and be sure to check out all the other cool stuff that's going on as well!

Monday

• Hailu Mergia at Monarch: I told you about the Awesome Tapes From Africa DJ set and how wonderful that was (here). Well, one of the artists he played was Hailu Mergia and we are lucky little things, with Mr. Mergia coming to Monarch this cold Monday night. You cannot miss.

Tuesday

• Digger Barnes' Diamond Road Show at SO36: By now, Digger Barnes, Pencil Quincy and their Diamond Road Show are regular features on our blog and we’re not getting tired to stress how good this is live. The Diamond Road Show is a mixed media performance that features folky acoustic guitar songs and live visuals, made with a self built and real-time altered miniature trick film thing. It looks amazing and it sounds so as well. Don’t miss this!
• The Belle Game at Antje Öklesund: Orchestral dark pop, if you can grasp that. We are currently running a competition for this, if you feel like going to these popular Canadians’ gig this Tuesday. Hurry, competition ends Monday night.
• Wooden Shjips and Orchestra of Spheres at Berghain: Wooden Shjips do not need an introduction from The Craze. Wooden Shjips are musical heroes who will never disappoint nor ever surprise either. They do what they do and they do it amazingly. Read my review from the last time that happened in Berlin and watch this more than awesome video that was made on local turf, too. That should have won the video competition, every video competition!

Wednesday

• Dead Skeletons at SO36: This is sort of like The Craze’s Christmas party. We will all be here and we will all dance. It’s just going to be great. If you want to know more about Dead Skeletons and why this was my gig of 2012, read this elaborate review of hers. Though I worry a little that SO36 is just a tad too big and impersonal for DS, I would not want to miss this gig for the world. Enter our competition if you want to go for free. 
• Xenia Rubinos at Monarch: This is probably one you may not have on your radar but it should also be one you should look out for. The name suggests some latino music but don’t be fooled so easily, fool. Though performing in Spanish, Xenia Rubinos hits you with hip weirdness and fans of tUnE-yArDs (the similarities are astonishing!), The Monorchid, Finally Punk or other spazzy, punky outfits should listen up. Highly recommended. 

Thursday

• Destroyer (solo) and Richard Buckner at HAU1: “This is basically Washed Out pre Washed Out” is what my husband says. Hits the nail on the head really. Destroyer does dream pop, but with added phoney bits. You like 80s George Michael? You like Beach House? Destroyer lies somewhere in between.

Friday

• Nohome and Robert Lippok at Volksbühne: Nohome is a band project featuring Caspar Brötzmann, Marino Pliakas and Michael Wertmüller. Now this seems familiar, because Pliakas on bass and Wertmüller on drums also play in another band that includes a Brötzmann, namely Peter Brötzmann (read our review about their show at Festsaal Kreuzberg here). So they basically just swapped father for son and thus saxophone for electric guitar. Still they play music that ranges from jazz to experimental noise, Caspar Brötzmann’s heavily distorted and feedbacking guitar playing a central role. For this show, Nohome will also feature FM Einheit as a special guest musician, which makes the line up even more interesting. Support act will be Robert Lippok, whom you also may know from his project To Rococo Rot.

Saturday

• Fifth Floor III Warehouse Party with The Blue Angel Lounge + The Third Sound + Ascetic + Two Step Horror + The Sun and the Wolf + Brace/Choir : The Craze present a live show for the first time. The Fifth Floor Warehouse Party is a live event concept that already took place several times in Australia. Now they visit Berlin and throw a huge concert in a secret warehouse location. Headliners of the evening will be The Blue Angel Lounge who play dark wave music that is strongly influenced by early goth-punk and 80s bands. Think of a mix of Bauhaus and The Chameleons. For more info on all the other bands and what’s going on this evening, have a look at the facebook event page.

• The Pharmacy at White Trash: After they had to cancel their last trip to Europe, The Pharmacy will now play at White Trash. Prepare for a sweaty and dancy garage punk show with melodic songs and tunes.
• Chokebore at Privatclub: Since their reunion in 2009, Chokebore are pretty active touring around and they also have been regular Berlin visitors in the last time. On their current tour they'll play at Privatclub, so consider this a good chance to see them in a rather cozy setting.

Sunday

• Susie Asado at Pink Melon (see calendar for address details): Sweetest singer-songwriter music, very minimal, very folky and super cute and fun. You will love on a Sunday. I also adore the visuals in the following video: