Preview: the week ahead (30th Jul - 5th Aug)

It's getting hot in here, so take off... Berlin has gone a little hot and sleepy, deserted and touristy at the same time, and we love it. Relax by the pool, eat an ice cream and spend your evenings at one of the following events...

Monday

Ghikas-Walshe and others at Quiet Cue: Panos Ghikas of The Chap (see Thursday) has teamed up with Jennifer Walshe, "composer, voice artist and former cover star of The Wire" and others for a night of "Unreal-time performance: gestural material as a composed interface for improvisation. Electro/acoustic improvisation, involving voice, violin, viola, a kids drumkit and a specially prepared interface that allows the live manipulation of recorded gestures through the use of an e-drum kit." Curious.

Wednesday

Alpinist and Masakari at Köpi: A night of heavy and dark hardcore in the vein of crust bands like From Ashes Rise, His Hero is gone and Tragedy. Pretty sure this will kick several asses and Köpi ist just the perfect location for this package.

Thursday

Spectrum at White Trash: This has been moved from hbc. to White Trash due to large demand. "Sonic Boom, Spacemen3 mainman performs classic Spacemen3 and Spectrum material with a full band including longtime collaboraters; Will Carruthers, (exSpacemen3, Spiritualized, Brian Jonestown Massacre), Jason Holt, Roger Brogan." Sounds grand.

Puschenfest at Festsaal: Every year we wait in anticipation for the line-up for Puschenfest, one of the best live music events in Berlin's annual calendar. It's a good offering again this year, with the first night spanning across the genre of indie music with garage singer-songwriter Kurt Vile and his troupe The Violators, weirdo indie starlets Fenster, and experimental pop success The Chap.

Friday

Swans at Berghain: Of course there has been a lot of hoo ha about this post-punk group since there reformation in 2010, and we are joining into the excitement. There are not many bands like Swans. Period. Read up on it if you are unfamiliar.

Puschenfest at Festsaal: Second night of our treasured Fest. Tonight, David Pajo from Slint is performing with his project Papa M, psych-folk group Megafaun are mesmerising people with weird beauty, and Sleep Party People, another mask wearing group (bf says: "there is a lot of that around at the moment"), are playing post-rock, guitars and electronica mixed with sound effects and dreamy vocals. Arty and well worth checking out.

What's in store for 2012, pt II

A few weeks back the calendar announced half-time for 2012. Time to take a look at what the rest of the year has got to offer. And I am definitely getting more excited about what lies ahead compared to what has been so far. 2012 has not yet swept me off my feet in terms of live music events. The following selected offerings should change that. A lot of Yay and Yum!

Liquid Liquid (Soju Bar, August) - grandfathers of post-disco music à la !!! (Chk Chk Chk) DJ gig only.

Jonathan Richman (Festsaal, August) - folk singer-songwriter and comic genius that is sure to make you smile - cannot wait.

DIIV (Monarch, August) - atmospheric guitar indie pop on Captured Tracks

Black Dice (Festsaal, September) - experimental gods and ex-punk rockers return to Festsaal, oh how I love thee

Dead Skeletons (Kater Holzig, September) - atmospheric post punk in the vein of Dirty Beaches and the likes
King Tuff (Monarch, September) - 60s sounding garage rock that will let you shake your head in a hot Monarch, no doubt.

Fu Manchu (Lido, September) - gods of stoner rock at a relatively small venue in Berlin, go go Godzilla

Jaill (Comet Club, October) - wavey upbeat indie rock and my new discovery (yes, I do know they've been around, like, forever)

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (Lido, October) - more rock at Lido, like with Fu Manchu, we are honoured to see ...AYWKUBTTOD in a relatively intimate venue.

Quintron & Miss Pussycat (Kater Holzig, October) - recovered from illness, this fabulous duo are likely to give us the gig of the year with a combination of soul, rock and puppet mastery

Liars (Festsaal, October) - our favourite ex-Berliners play it large at Festsaal, showcasing their amazing new contender for album of the year

Chain & The Gang (Festsaal, October) - supreme entertainer and political chief Ian Svenonius is back to give us the gospel yeah yeah and a party to go with it

Godspeed! You Black Emperor (SO36, November) - SO36 is no match for churches and other odd venues this group of musical geniuses will usually play, but it's two nights of atmospheric instrumentalisation you usually only get in a theatre with an orchestra.

Wild Nothing (Dazzle Danzclub, November) - the boy Jack Tatum, another Captured Tracks protegée, who got us into dream pop three years ago, is growing up fast and getting even better in the process. Magic.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti (Festsaal, November) - another Ariel Pink show in Berlin, another chance to party like there is no tomorrow.

Going to Diät

Just a quick note to say that this Saturday, at 4 pm, Diät are playing at Static Shock Music record shop in Bürknerstraße in Neukölln in support of the release of their new 7". Come on out and hang with us in the sunshine, while one of Berlin's finest contemporary bands is performing.

Review: Jack White

Was I excited? Hell yeah! Did I have particular expectations? Nah.

I am guessing that Tempodrom works better for some performers than for others. For Jack White, it was pretty damn perfect. That's because, ideally, you would want to see this man in a small smokey bar up close. But because fame has graced this talented individual, you have to content with large venues, and as far as large venues go Tempodrom is one of the cosier ones. It's a giant tent after all.

Like I said in my preview, there is a bit of a Jack White fan in all of us, some of you may just not know it. It has been generally agreed that the man is a musical genius, having been honoured in the film "It might get loud", among other accolades. This praise aside, not everyone agrees with his actual songs or, more importantly, with the individual himself. The press usually struggles to make out who this man is. He has publicly received good and bad feedback from band members and staff. He appears to be a notorious liar, making up his own biography as he goes along ("Now, is that his sister or his wife?"). And while he continuously quotes the blues as his major influence, most of the music is rather rock'n'roll and mass accessible.

Quick review: Against Me!

I end up in a lot of odd places. Like, last night, I found myself in the neo-punkrock-crowd at the Against Me! gig in the smaller room at Postbahnhof. Having been pissed off at "that song" for years, I was curious what would await me. 

Our curiosity was heightened by the recent attention the band had gotten for the singer's outcoming as a transsexual and the subsequent change of gender. How was this going to be taken by the punk fan base? Was Laura going to move people the way Tom had done?

The quick answer, I am pleased to say, is yes. Not only was the show sold out but you rarely see such dedicated fans who will celebrate their group in such a way. It was very touching actually. I saw a few middle fingers rising during "Teenage Anarchist" (the song I get very passionately angry about) but, apart from that, there was a lot of dancing, singing along and smiles all around from the mixed-age audience. Wonderful to watch.

Against Me! were of course solid and played those songs to perfection, sufficiently rocking out on stage and giving the audience what they wanted and deserved for their undying support. A good gig, albeit not my kinda thing of course. I like neither the pop punk genre nor am I partial to neo-punkrockers in the 2000s dressing up like it was 1977. But everybody does their thing and they do it well, taking with them the unpretentious audience, while the band goes through several transformations, be it politically or personal. May they go on for a long while because, while I will never become a follower, the world needs these kinds of bands among the "fabric conditioner pop" the radio usually plays. I just hope that the next generation of teenagers will "get it", too.

Preview: the week ahead (23th - 29th Jul)

Can't think of a clever/funny/fancy headline for the preview. Nevertheless there are some real gems this week. There's also plenty more stuff in our calendar which you can find at the bottom of the page, as you probably already know... enjoy the sun and see you around!


Tuesday:
(Electric)Vocuhila and Molly Mega Trio at bei Roy: See our preview for Vocuhila from last week, they play again with slightly different and expanded line-up this week. Support is Molly Mega Trio from Berlin, if you're a friend of mathy noise rock, you'll like them.

Wednesday:
The Black Atlantic at Roter Salon (Volksbühne): The Black Atlantic played Berlin several times before, here's another chance to catch their dark and melancholic indie pop music in a quite nice venue. They sound not unlike artists like Tiger Lou, Rocky Votolato or sometimes even the Black Heart Procession.

Thursday:
Knertz Fest at about:blank: Three bands from the Knertz collective honor about:blank with their presence this Thursday. Les Trucs play dancy and weird 8bit electro stuff, music to party to. Then there will be something more hip hop with Oskar Ohlsen and Babel Fish and Fnessnej also play dancy and squeaky electro pop. Pretty sure this will be a fun night!


Friday:
Crazy Spirit, Tremors, Sarg and Diät at bei Roy: Noisy dark punk meets crusty hardcore meets early 80s punk. This sounds awesome and I can't stress it enough, go see Diät live! Definitely one of the best bands in Berlin right now!


Saturday:
Make Out! at Schokoladen: Make Out! play their last show ever this Saturday at Schokoladen. They're awesome and sound something like a no wave mix between Mika Miko and Erase Errata. So sad they break up!