Review: The Shins

So c* and I got lucky: we were invited to see the Shins play at Huxleys. I had never been to a concert there before and since I'm not really keen on large concert venues I was a bit worried. At least it turned out better than I had expected.

I always thought of the Shins as a good band, especially as one of the few "indie rock" bands worth listening to. Nonetheless I kind of lost track of them over the last few years for no particular reason. What I liked about them was that they wrote good songs. Their records were full of detailed melodies and fluffy vocals. They never had those typical and lame indie rock 'verse-chorus-verse' sing-a-long songs. They wrote songs that were much more complicated but nevertheless always catchy at the same time.

And that's where my problem with this concert was. We are talking about a quite large sold-out venue and I have to admit that despite being sold-out, Huxleys was surprisingly comfortable. But the sound was kind of typically large venue bad. It was relatively muddy and I think my biggest problem was that it was more the sound of a rock band, than a sound that I would have found suitable for the Shins. I mean a ROCK band sound with big punchy drums and with pumping bass. I also think I would not have missed the additional keyboards and percussions if it hadn't been there. The sound wasn't very differentiated and it kind of drowned all the fluffy detailed melodies that make the Shins special to me.

But anyway, what was left was a good band (I have to point out the amazing guitar player, I think she saved a huge amount of the songs with the way she played) playing a huge amount of "old" hits I could still relate to and which I still liked. They performed a very unpretentious and solid set, accompanied by quite nice lighting and visuals. Time passed quickly and after an encore of three final songs they left stage, having played almost an hour and a half.

We hung out for a while afterwards, finding out all about the album cover, which we had been intrigued about, and just spending some quality time. It was mighty late when we ventured home. The concert hadn't fully lived up to our expectations but the Shins are a nice band and it we got a pleasant enough evening out of it.

cooking with Earth

We are extremely excited about the Earth / Mount Eerie gig on Saturday, have bought our tickets and everything. Yay.

In the meantime, we shall be cooking with nettles, as suggested by Earth bass player, and Mount Eerie collaborateur, Karl Blau:

In The Mix With Karl Blau article

Quick review: Duke Spirit

OK, so a whole while ago I was invited to see Duke Sprit at Columbia Club. It was rather enjoyable. The Club was nowhere sold out but those that were there were proper fans, dancing and singing. I didn't expect that, to be honest. 

Duke Spirit have definitely popped up their music a bit. It's more classic pop rock now, rather than the darker bluesy stuff they used to do. Which is a bit of a shame, but understandable. And they have the look and attitude to go with their new style. It works, even if it's not entirely my thing.

Btw looks, that was a lot of hair on that stage. Every band member had a different extravagant hairstyle - afro, hippie long hair, hipster quiff, you name it - and was displaying it with all their might, running hands through hair regularly. It was a lot of fun to watch.

We all spent the evening afterwards with the band down in the catacombs of C Club. The evening was pleasant enough and we were glad we'd gone when we walked home fairly early that Saturday night.

Preview: the week ahead (26th Mar - 1st Apr)

We are running a bit late with the preview this week and we apologise. But not to worry: You haven't missed anything yet. And there is a lot of good stuff on this week that one could potentially miss. But that's what we're here for - to make sure you have a good time around town.

Tuesday

WU LYF at Bi Nuu: If you like your synth pop à la MGMT and Coco Rosie (and I realise we don't all do) this is a rare chance to see this heavy pop group in a relatively cosy setting. Believe me, they play much bigger venues elsewhere.

Wednesday

Daniel Menche and Sudden Infant at West-Germany: two great experimental noise acts share the bill on this one. Both somehow dark and a bit harsh. If that's your thing, you know where to head on this Wednesday. If it's not, there's plenty of other stuff to see.

the Shins at Huxleys: I've never been to a show at Huxleys but the Shins would be sort of an appropriate reason to try it out. There's not much to say about them you won't already know... one of the few "indie pop" bands that are actual worth closer examination.
the Chap at Berghain Kantine: c* is a fan of The Chap, weirdo intelligent dancable indie act, but for complicated reasons will not be at this gig but seeing the Shins instead. For everyone else though, if you can still get in (I have no idea), go to this and jig the night away.

Thursday

fnessnej, ampl:tude and Paper Planes at about:blank: fnessnej = really good fun electro dance punk music. supported by local heroes ampl:tude, doing a similar thing. an evening for those who have a sense of humour and like to dance.

Friday

The Great Park and Holly Mae & The Painted Room at Madame Claude: Stephen Burch is bringing his melancholic folk music and poetic lyrics to Madame Claude tonight and it's going to be extremely sweet. Go see!!

Saturday

Earth, Mount Eerie and Ô Paon at Festsaal Kreuzberg: What a nice line-up. Phil Elverum's post Microphones band Mount Eerie alone would be well worth another visit of Festsaal Kreuzberg. Combined with Earth this promises to be an awesome evening.

Here's a new Mount Eerie song from the forthcoming album to get you in the mood:

Sunday

Polite Sleeper, Des Ark, Sissters and Jason & Theodor at Monster Ronsons: End of Des Ark and Sissters Europe tour gets celebrated at this Mini Festival. Check what we wrote about both of them before and add Polite Sleepers nice indie folk and Jason & Theodor to the bill. Sounds like fun.

Berliner Festspiele "Musik-Film-Marathon"

Oh, this sounds pretty interesting. The Berliner Festspiele show some great movies about music, musicians or just featuring interesting music.
Check out their website for further info (also available in english). Here's a direct link to the music film program.
Here's a small choice of movies I'd recommend watching:

• Mi. 11.04.: GESANG DER JÜNGLINGE and HELICOPTER STRING QUARTET (both with music from Karlheinz Stockhausen)
• Fr. 13.04.: THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (great documentary about the somehow sad and interesting life of Daniel Johnston, his music and his mental illness)
• Mo. 16.04.: WHAT THE FUTURE SOUNDED LIKE and  THE ALCHEMISTS OF SOUND (two documentary movies about early electronic music; both with an introduction and discussion from Wolfgang Seidel, free entry!)
• Tue. 17.04.: KRAUTROCK – THE REBIRTH OF GERMANY (pretty good documentary about Krautrock, a must see when you're into music from Neu!, Kraftwerk, Can, Amon Düül,... ; also with an introduction and discussion from Wolfgang Seidel, free entry!)
• Sa. 21.04.: ONE11 AND 10 (John Cage's first and only movie, expect some crazy 94 minutes!)

"The end of an era, on becoming anachronistic, aging jammers , gentrifying the underground & breaking up the band"

Chloe from Aids Wolf wrote an interesting article about "The end of an era, on becoming anachronistic, aging jammers , gentrifying the underground & breaking up the band."

Read it here on her blog: http://scroungyglamour.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/on-the-end-of-an-era/