Preview: the week ahead (1st - 6th Oct)

There are a few niceties in the calendar for the coming week, but nothing really gets me as excited as some of the amazing events we experienced the past three weeks. And it feels good. A little break from the madness of autumn gig season, a few nights to enjoy the new cold weather with some hot cocoa and a good book. But if you are like "party party", here is where to head.

Tuesday
Staer, Horacio Pollard, Contagious Orgasm and Tzii at bei Roy: Staer already played in Berlin several times and the seem to like it so much, they even named one of their songs "Neukölln". And Neukölln is where they will be playing this Tuesday. They play heavy math rock influenced noise rock one could easily mistake for some bands on Skingraft records. Accompanied by some more artists ranging from harsh noise to ambient drone sounds, this is probably going to be an intense evening of experimental music. 
Cave and Camera at .HBC: Cave are an instrumental group on Drag City that do a psychedelic math core thing, as if you were to stick Civil Civic and Moon Duo into one band, with a helping of Stereolab thrown in. Naturally, that is my thing and they are oh so good at it. Camera, our local heroes, are of course at their best when doing improvised underground sessions. I'll be early, tapping my feet.

 

Wednesday
Glasses at about:blank: Consisting of members from various and notable other hardcore bands, Glasses made their own mark pretty fast. They play heavy and in your face hardcore with angry female vocals and they know their stuff so prepare to get your hair blow-dried this Wednesday.

Thursday
Momus and Mirror Talk at bei Roy: Momus is as awesome as his music is hard to describe. Judging from the songs you can listen to online, he does very poppy but yet quirky electronic cut up music accompanied by fluffy vocals. Live this is more a performance than a concert and be assured it's potentially stunning. Mirror Talk from Berlin plays some dark and unmistakably 80s influenced electro wave music, not unlike early Depeche Mode and comparable acts of the time.

Friday
I Am Oak at Schokoladen: Another indie folky singer songwriter music evening at Schokoladen. I Am Oak may do nothing that other bands haven't already done before but they are rather good at writing songs that create a mood. Check them out.


Saturday
Messer + Noem + Dramamine + Centuries + Patsy O' Hara + Blckwvs + Union of Sleep at bei Roy: well this is quite a line-up. Eight bands (plus one secret special guest band) celebrating the Berlin stop of a this Charming Man Records label tour. There's probably something in it for everyone if you're into punk and hardcore sorts of music and I'm pretty sure this is going to be packed.
Mary Ocher and Your Government at Haus der Berliner Festspiele: We have written about this lady before, and it may or may not be your cup of tea, kinda like Marmite, but I like this setting. She is playing as part of a performance art festival. Check out the precise time in our calendar - apparently they run a tight schedule.

Factory: Manchester from Joy Division To Happy Mondays

You can right now watch the entire BBC documentary "Factory: Manchester from Joy Division To Happy Mondays" from 2007 on vimeo . It's a pretty interesting take on the british music scene around the Factory label in the late 70s and early 80s and it's definitely worth a look! Check it out here or see below (info text from the vimeo site beneath).

"(2007) Factory: Manchester from Joy Division To Happy Mondays from Rock Docs on Vimeo.

In a dark, northern city in the late 70s, five dreamers built a record label - Factory; 3 classic bands - Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, and Britain's first super club - The Hacienda.

Led by Tony Wilson, they created a unique collision between conceptual art and street music. This is the story of how a TV presenter (Wilson), an out of work actor (Alan Erasmus), an art student (Peter Saville), a DJ (Rob Gretton) and an aspiring record producer (Martin Hannett) pioneered Britain's independent pop culture, imagined a new Manchester, and blew a shed-load of money.

Featuring an extensive interview with Factory's creative genius Anthony Wilson who sadly died Friday 10 August 2007, this 90 minute documentary celebrates the triumph, tragedy and human comedy that was Factory and is a fitting tribute to Wilson's contribution to British pop culture and to Manchester.

Directed and Produced by Chris Rodley
Narrated by John Simm

© 2007 BBC"

Eddi Argos correction

I had originally incorrectly listed the Eddie Argos gig for Saturday. It's today, Friday, dear people. Sorry, and see you later maybe!

Review: Dirty Beaches in the Maze

If you start queuing for something half an hour before the doors open and you know more than half of the people who have turned up will have to go home empty-handed again, would that not make you truly appreciate the event? Well, as it turns out that was not what visitors at yesterday's Maze festival event had in mind.

Alex Zhang Hungtai, aka Dirty Beaches, is what I would call a genius. I might be going out on a limb here but to me, what he creates musically and artistically, is simply a cut above the rest. His sound structures, layered and fuzzed out, with his moody effect vocals may not be new but nobody does that like him. He seems immune to the influence of others and creates his own musical world that appeals to your usual electro-psychedlic crowd as much as fans of experimental noise and ambient alike. The prospect of experiencing West Germany transformed into a labyrinth and the wonderful music of Dirty Beaches together sounded like absolute heaven to me.

So what is the Maze? In a nutshell, it's a cultural event and a sociological experiment in one. The rooms of West Germany have been kitted out with wooden frames that in turn have been transformed into "walls" with the help of colourful string. You can walk through some of them, others will appear as barriers and will make you take alternative routes, like in a maze. Additionally, pieces of art are strewn throughout the labyrinth. The idea is that people have to think more about where they position themselves in the room and that there is an element of surprise thrown into the evening. For example, apparently there is a secret "door" in one of the "walls" but I don't think anyone found this out last night. And you don't really know where or how the band is going to play until the actual performance starts. It is curious but can be daunting at times, too. Nobody is keen on going to the back of the maze in case they get stuck there for the rest of the evening.

Jay Reatard film night

Next month, there is going to be a special film night at Monarch, with Better Than Something, the documentary on Jay Reatard, one of our favourite punk rockers, being shown and some supreme DJing by yours truly King Khan taking place. Check out the facebook event page and get cozy with us on 14 October.

Quick Review: Evangelista and B/B/S

This already was a while ago. I didn't have the chance to write something before but still want to mention it because it was a memorable show.

Berghain Kantine wasn't nearly as filled as I imagined when Aidan Baker, whom we already wrote about numerous times, started the evening with his newest three piece band project B/B/S. With this two guitars and a drummer line up, they played the sort of music you'd expect to hear from him. Epic postrock songs that slowly built up, got noisier and louder and then slowly faded out. He surely knows what he's doing and if you're into postrock or postmetal in any way, you'll like what he does. The live drummer added some interesting  "real band" experience to the whole thing and definitely freshened it up a little..

Next up were Evangelista. Now I already saw Carla Bozulich perform twice this year (plus once last year opening for Thurston Moore). One time collaborating with Okkyung Lee on cello and Morten J. Olsen on drums/percussions at Ausland and the other time together with Jhno and Aidan Baker at bei Roy. Both times were totally different experiences but also totally great in their ways, so I was sort of sure this won't disappoint me either.

Playing with her full band again sounded and felt totally different than the concerts I saw before and it was pretty awesome! Carla was singing, shouting, preaching, joking and the show was musically very intense. For a couple of songs they borrowed the drummer from B/B/S which made the whole thing even better, I wished he could have played the whole set with them. But nonetheless the four piece band played a truly great set of dark and mesmerizing music, somewhere between postrock, folk elements and experimental ambient sounds. I left happy and hope they'll be back sometime soon.