Late review: Teen

OK, so first I hyped that Teen show like crazy, just to then never tell you how that actually went. Well, children, let me tell you a tale from back in March.

I mostly discover new music through my own blog, through The Craze. This may sound weird but that is how it goes. When I enter gigs into the calendar, I always give them a quick listen to see whether I actually think they are worthy of our calendar. Sometimes I like what I hear and I may do a little research on the artist. Sometimes I really like what I hear and I get semi-obsessed for a while. This is what happened to me with Teen.

Once I had listened to "Better" and watched the DIY video the band had made for this, there was no turning back. It was only when I started reading up about these femmes that I discovered the Here We Go Magic connection, another band that I am rather fond of, though maybe not as consistently. Here We Go Magic really do have magically beautiful pop songs, but a lot of fillers too, I guess. Their sound is also commerically digestible enough that even though I do love their records, it doesn't make you feel cool and special for listening to them. This may sound incredibly pretentious - and I am well aware of that - though it's the truth and, I dare say, not just for me. Every band that really fastinates you usually gives you the listening pleasure paired with a je-ne-sais-quoi that helps you feel cool at the same time.

Teen gave me this feeling instantly. The songs on "In Limbo" are catchy yet have a certain beat, guitar grittiness, and organ weirdness, which, when listened to in the car or with headphones while walking the streets, make you feel très special. Every person who I gave a ride to while listening to Teen would instantly ask "Who is this?". How cool was I?

Preview - the week ahead (27th May - 2nd June)

Finally, Teenitus week is here! What else is there to say to introduce this week?!

Monday
Chris Cohen at Haus Ungarn: Fluffy and catchy indie rock from an ex-Deerhoof member.

Tuesday
Swans at Volksbühne: The wonderful, the one and only, in a beautiful setting. ‘Nuff said.

Wednesday
Shellac at Berghain: Shellac from North America, probably THE one noise-rock band, is back for one of their rare live shows. While they played at Maria the last time, this time you’ll have the privilege of seeing them at Berghain, probably Berlin’s most Shellac worthy location. It’s kind of impossible to point out a single show of the week this time but Shellac come really really close...



Teenitus Festival: The first day is here, finally! The local booking agency obsessed with all things meat is throwing a very extravagant party for you, taking over Monarch, Festsaal, and West Germany for three whole days. Look at the program and timetable to get wet at the thought of experiencing all this in just three days. I am just going to highlight a couple of things that get me excited because, frankly, I do not have the time to go through every single one, which I would have to, to be fair. Tonight’s highlight for me is Jonathan Toubin’s Soul Clap dance competition at Monarch. I reckon you cannot actually miss this. He was DJing at I’ll Be Your Mirror and, boy, did we have a good time! Also don't miss Mouse on Mars at Festsaal on this opening night and check out the Exhibition that will be open on all three days!

Thursday
Teenitus Festival: C*'s highlights today shall be Night Beats, 60s sounding garage rock from Texas, at West Germany, and White Fence at Festsaal, who I saw a while ago at West Germany and liked what I heard (review here). J.'s highlights from this day are Palais Schaumburg and Felix Kubin.



Purling Hiss and Dope Body at Marie-Antoinette: We have reviews (Purling Hiss here and Dope Body here) from both bands’ previous shows: garage rock party and full-on brutality with a fun element. Be there!

Friday
Teenitus Festival at Festsaal, Monarch, and West Germany: Last day and the one that gets C* the most excited. Dirty Beaches and Dawn Hunger (Fuck Buttons side project anyone?!) at Festsaal. Yum yum yum! And don't miss Zebra Katz if you're looking for a crazy dancy hip hop party!



Yuro Chain at Untertitel: Experimental, industrial trash noise, dancable. Since freezing his other project, Trojan Hourse Rotovator, we don’t really know what is to await us. But we assume it will be along those lines. Sounds good to us!

Saturday
Vessels at Kantine: Instrumental soundscape music, at times percussion heavy, to let you dream the night away. Highly recommended.
Fol Chen at about:blank: Funky, intelligent dance music for those party hungry young people out there. Very good fun and very shake-your-booty.
Tav Falco's Panther Burns at Bassy: Old school garage’n’roll and a legend, you may want to consider this if you are the garage and rock’n’roll fan that you may be.

Sunday
Come and Bleached at Festsaal: Indie noise rock legends from the US of A x 2. Cannot miss this really, can you?
Seapony at Monarch: Poppy-di-pop. Twee indie pop à la Talulah Gosh et al. Sticky sweet but also for fans of DIIV and other Captured Tracks Records projects.

Double Review: Deux Boules Vanille and Bell Witch

I often attend shows that I don't write a proper review about afterwards. Sometimes I'm just too lazy, sometimes I'm too busy, sometimes nothing really worth mentioning takes place and sometimes things like these happen:

May is well known for being a busy concert month, countless bands crawl out of their wintery holes and are eagerly getting back on stage again. Also more and more people finally go out again instead of spending their time indoors in front of laptop screens and books. So in just a single week actually I saw three shows that will definitely and without a doubt make my top of the year 2013 list. 

The first of them was Deux Boules Vanille at bei Ruth. I had listened to them before and had kind of instantly known that this would be good live. I had watched some youtube videos, had listened to some songs and had read some stuff online and even if I had already really liked all of that, actually seeing them live was a million times better. Big Eater were the support band that evening and after they finished, the two guys from Deux Boules Vanille started carrying shitloads of equipment out of the backstage area of bei Ruth. They built their set up in front of the stage, two drum kits facing each other and being connected to a wall of amps and cabinets behind them. Both of them had some more electronic devices gathered besides their drum kits, self built analog synthesizers and some effect pedals, it all looked fascinating and weird at the same time.

thx to Coco for the picture

Without a real soundcheck they started to play and I was instantly blown away. They triggered the synthesizers with their drums, creating melodies and harmonies accompanied by driving drum sounds. Stylistically this was a crazy ride through so many genres that at the end I was not sure whether I had just attended an electro-party or a Lightning Bolt show. They definitely referred to some early 70s electronica in the vein of Silver Apples, then switched to frantic grind-core influenced parts just to end with something that was so rhythmic and pulsating that it somehow sounded rather technoid. Their whole set was a highly energetic and highly entertaining outburst of joy and the unfortunately rather small audience went kind of crazy. I really truly hope these guys will be back some time soon, this was an awful lot of fun.

Preview: the week ahead (20th - 26th May)

Chocker chocker chocker - this week is really something. When do we ever feature three gigs on a Monday along, huh? I guess that’s May for you. See you on the town!

Monday
Zucker at HAU2: Missy Magazine is once again touring the republic with a program to promote not only their magazine but the general issue of women's rights. There is going to be talks, discussions and dream dance duo Zucker will be performing live. Be there or be square.
Chromatics at Lido: "Gothy italo disco with the guy from Glass Candy". Those are not my words but they describe this outfit perfectly.
Beach Fossils and King Tuff at Festsaal Kreuzberg: DIIV have had to cancel their May tour unfortunately, but at least we are pampered by their label mates and former collaborators Beach Fossils, who do a similar shoegazy thing. Known to be a great live band, this is going to be a sweet gig, especially since the double bill with stoner garage hero King Tuff is going to be hard to top.

Tuesday
Bass Drum Of Death at White Trash: Bass Drum of Death = two-piece stoner garage noise = rock'n'roll. And we like ourselves some heavy rock’n’roll. Yeah, baby!

Wednesday
Volcano The Bear and Harmony Molina at NK: Read XNormanX’s reviewto be mesmerised. Also remember that our competition runs until the end of Monday. Experimental music, the good way.
Julia Kent at Haus Ungarn: A lady and her cello, playing tunes with this that you may not expect. A special performance at Haus Ungarn (former HBC) tonight.
Snøffeltøffs at Bassy Cowboy Club: Fantastic 60s influenced, catchy garage rock. Go to this if you feel like a really good jig!



Thursday
The Residents at Babylon Kino (Mitte): What is there to say about The Residents that has not been said before? Godfathers of all masked and / or experimental weirdo bands out there.

Friday
Crystal Fighters at Lido: I have a schizophrenic relationshiop with Crystal Fighters. When I sit down and make an effort to listen to their recordings I mostly come away disappointed. But if they are being played in a restaurant or shop and I catch a tune or two I always love the songs so much. I suppose this pays testimony to their incredible pop song writing abilities. The perfect radio band and a good opportunity to do some summer evening dancing this Friday night.
Banque Allemande and Kulku at bei Ruth: C*’s gig of the week. Local rhythmic post punk group Banque Allemande have a new album out that they are presenting to you. These guys rock so hard. Meet us there!



Saturday
The Anna Thompsons, Love Lanes and Hit at Antje Öklesund: Loosely situated in the genre of dream pop but clearly influenced by 60s girl groups as well as post punk, The Anna Thompsons are a regular occurrence on the Berlin live music circuit and we love ‘em for it. Make your Saturday night a pop one.
City Dragon, Sisters of Seance and Moon Wheel at Loophole: Experimental heaven night at Loophole - French saxophone loop experimentalist City Dragon and Canadian project Sisters of Seance, the Persian drone audio/visual project of Luke Rogers of Basketball, supported by our Swedish locals Moon Wheel. A typical Loophole night I say and one for you experimental junkies out there.

Sunday
Mudhoney at Festsaal Kreuzberg: Grunge forefathers Mudhoney were just one of those bands you grew up on if you spent your youth in the early 90s. It is good to see that they are still around and that they have stood the test of time.
Lubomyr Melynk at Grüner Salon: Read XNormanX’s review and get as amazed and intrigued as C* got upon first reading it. Makes you want to attend this gig, very much so. See you there!

Review: Mount Eerie + Mountains

Okay, so I was looking forward to seeing Mount Eerie since this date was announced some while ago. I had actually never seen them/him live and I have to say it was about time.

Mountains started to play to a sparsely filled Festsaal Kreuzberg but during their set, more and more people showed up. I didn't know them before this show and when I saw their set up, which consisted of two analog synthesizer rack piles and two guitars, I was becoming curious. They played a quite versatile set that changed from an ambient drone beginning with looped layers of synth sounds and drifted to a more guitar oriented part that sounded very post-rock influenced, just to break that up again into cut up beats of sounds and melody pieces. I really enjoyed their set and I was of the impression that a large part of the audience did as well. Also mood wise, they prepared quite nicely for the upcoming second mountain band which everyone was eagerly awaiting.

So although I had never seen Mount Eerie live before, I knew that their live shows are nearly always totally different experiences. Phil Elverum, the main and also only constant member of Mount Eerie started the band in 2004 when he wanted to make a conceptual change from his former band the Microphones, whose last record was actually called Mount Eerie. Since then, he collaborated with quite a few musicians - for the current live set up he invited Genevieve Castrée of O Paon, Julia Chirka who also plays in No Kids and Ashley Eriksson of the band LAKE to join him. They had a rather minimalistic set up of two basses, one 12-string guitar and a drum pad and cymbal and were announced to be "touring as a singing band", which sort of describes quite nicely what they did.

Basically they played Mount Eerie songs supported by distorted bass and minimalistic electronic drums with a female choir of three. And for me their live show worked very well. What I love about Mount Eerie is that behind their frequent noisy outbursts, there's always that fragile and melancholic song hidden (if it is hidden at all). The loud and distorted parts of their set merged beautifully with Phil Elverum's soft and distinctive voice and the support of the harmonics of a three voice choir also worked really well. They all seemed a bit nervous or shy on stage and I have to say that this fact only added up to me finding them even more likeable. They did not present a perfectly polished set of bland music but a characterful rendition of beautiful songs. Also their awkwardly funny announcements and talks between songs were totally loveable.

After their set, Phil came back to play an encore just by himself and after this version of Through The Trees pt. 2 from the Clear Moon record, I was finally convinced that this evening will most likely show up on my top of the year list later on for obvious reasons... "and it's hard to describe / without seeming absurd"...

Competition: Volcano The Bear

Did you remember when I glorified Volcano The Bear's show at Monarch last year? Well, we're really happy to announce they are coming back to Berlin. In fact the show is already next week at Neukölln's NK and you should all go if you like jazzy, experimental and improvised music.

And hooray again, it's competition time. Booking agency Planet Rock drew 2x2 tickets for this show. Tell us till next Monday (20 May 2013) your favorite bear character (in the comments, on Facebook or via mail).

Hard facts: Volcano The Bear / Harmony Molina, Wednesday 22 May 2013, NK