The power of the moment: "Last night in Central London, a reported outbreak of a rare and unidentified contagious disease took place at the Vescovo Clinic. The outbreak is said to have been contained. One patient, an unnamed man, was taken away for further testing and is said to be in a stable condition."
http://www.thirdmanrecords.com/news/view/outbreak-of-a-rare-and-unidentified-contagious-disease
Love this.
Thursday, 3 July 2014
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Late Review: Tragedy
Having been enjoying myself at Chain & The Gang over at Privatclub, I came late into a fully-packed and sold out SO36, when Tragedy was in the middle of the 4th song. So, I had missed PISS. You just can't have it all I suppose.
I was suprised by a thick wall of sound made out of perfectly mixed guitars. For my taste the sound was too metal sounding for Tragedy. However, I must praise the well-defined engineering in SO36, especially for a fast d-beat band with down-tuned guitars the sound can easily end in a muddy bassy desaster on such a big sound-system. It was cool to hear some of the more melodic guitar parts crystal clear and so get both the relentless rolling D-Beat thunder and the great melodies, which make Tragedy so special.
J.'s preview had captured perfectly the spirit of Tragedy. I remember them as a positive side note in the late 90s, blending the dark apocalyptic HC of His Hero is Gone with a clasical 80s Discharge sound. It appealed to hardcore folks as well as crust punks. They were influential for the d-beat revival and they are convinced DIY peace punks.
Luckily, they played a good mix of all albums, not forgetting the old songs of their first self-titled LP, which, in my opinion, is the most remarkable due to its calmer, melancholic atmosphere. There was no extra political message in-between songs but Tragedy convinced musically with a flawless and tightly played gig, which was frenetically appreciated by a moshing crowd. I am sure they played smaller venues when touring earlier, but I was impressed how many people of different walks of life, spanning across several generations, had come together to see them. This was certainly a special gig, organized by local record stores for a very fair price. It is quite a feat to bring together so many different people and suceed in satisfying them. A big compliment to the organisers and of course the band.
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
Preview: the month ahead (July)
School’s out for summer! Summer? What summer? This rings true on two levels: The weather, duh! And there is a lot going on gig-wise, which is of course unusual for July in Berlin.
Wed, July 2nd: Neurosis at Astra: Credited as one of the most influential originators of today’s drone/doom bands Neurosis is still very active in releasing new records and playing live. In contrary to most followers they are more interested in progressing their music rather than image and artwork style. Past tours also featured visual art artists. There seem to be tickets still and it is decent priced.
Thu, July 3rd: Les Rhinoceros and Sferics at bei Ruth: Les Rhinoceros are a Washington DC based “Jazzcore” band on Tzadik Records, the label of John Zorn. That reference alone probably hints at what kind of music they might be playing. And indeed they fit the Tzadik catalogue quite well. Their music relies on the combination of different genres and styles, they merge jazz with “world music”, Klezmer influences, ambient sounds and heavy rock. Support will be Sferics, solo project of Sun Worship’s and Pete The Pirate Squid’s guitar player. He plays solo electric guitar and accompanying devices, creating improvised shreds and alluring ambient textures.
Mon, July 7th: Arto Lindsay at Volksbühne: Arto Lindsay, the No-Wave mastermind behind DNA and later on bands like The Lounge Lizards and Ambitious Lovers, is still an innovative force in contemporary experimental music. His solo shows mostly consist of experimental guitar noises and almost catchy soft voiced songs. Watch a video of him playing at West Germany a while ago before marking this date in your calendar with a big red pen.
Thu, July 10th: The Pharmacy and Display at Schokoladen: If, like me, you spent your early teen years as an indie kid in a tartan shirt and Dr Marten shoes, listening to The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam, you will appreciate this more modern version of your northern West Coast indie rock. The Pharmacy also display considerably more humour than afore-mentioned groups.
Wed, July 16th: Mdou Moctar at West Germany: Mdou Moctar is a guitarist from Niger who plays interesting and unconventional music based on repetitive almost psychedelic patterns and simple drum beats. It’s like Krautrock mixed together with African influences. His bandcamp page puts it quite well and describes his music as “electrifying, distorted and blown out guitar balances with sweet melodies of Saharan folk. Check out the video below, this is going to be one dancy West Germany evening!
Wed, July 16th: Parquet Courts at Cassiopeia: I thoroughly enjoyed Parquet Courts at the last Berlin appearance, so you might, too. The hype is justified.
Thu, July 17th: Guardian Alien at bei Ruth: If you’re into Liturgy, who interestingly enough just announced their ‘reunion’, you also know their amazing drummer Greg Fox. After Liturgy ‘broke up’ he started Guardian Alien with a more or less fluid line-up of other musicians. Their music ranges somewhere between experimental electro/synth music and free jazzy elements. They released a second record not long ago and are now on tour presenting newer material, this time stopping by at bei Ruth.
Fri, July 18th: Sun, July 20th: Schokoladen Hoffest: A wonderful Berlin summer get together every year, we had to fear for its existence during Schokoladen’s struggle against Mitte’s property sharks. This year, rest assured that it’s not the last. A definite must in the Berlin music calendar - check out the Schokoladen website for details.
Tue, July 22nd: Andrew W.K. at Magnet: Despite all controversy, I have a soft spot for the man, right or wrong. His village voice blog is fantastic and few people can make yoga look so wrong and great at the same time. More than anything, he knows how to rock out just for the heck of it and we all need that every now and so often. Count Gary and myself in!
Sat, July 26th: Down By The River Festival: Another annual summer get together with an eclectic line-up. May as well.
Mon, July 28th: Quintron and Miss Pussycat at West Germany: Oh the love I have for these two! Read my review, put your soul dancing dress on and let’s go crazy wild!
Thu, July 31st: Trust at Kantine: Trust at Kantine has happened before and this is what we had to say about it: “Of course we are not talking about the French metal band. This Trust is essentially techno, though they draw from a lot of genres to make their music interesting. Originally, Trust featured one of the core members of Austra, giving you an idea of musical direction. Kantine is certainly a small venue to play for this much hyped project. If you like your techno rave or just want a really good dance this Saturday, head to Kantine early.”
Thu, July 31st: Frank Fairfield at Monarch: This is much anticipated and a performance you should not miss. Mr. Fairfield writes on his website “Frank Fairfield plays down-home, old time folk music. He plays fiddle, guitar, banjo and he sings. Born in Fresno, California, he now lives in Los Angeles with his wife.” and that sums it up nicely. Down to earth, quirky, folk music. We love.
Wed, July 2nd: Neurosis at Astra: Credited as one of the most influential originators of today’s drone/doom bands Neurosis is still very active in releasing new records and playing live. In contrary to most followers they are more interested in progressing their music rather than image and artwork style. Past tours also featured visual art artists. There seem to be tickets still and it is decent priced.
Thu, July 3rd: Les Rhinoceros and Sferics at bei Ruth: Les Rhinoceros are a Washington DC based “Jazzcore” band on Tzadik Records, the label of John Zorn. That reference alone probably hints at what kind of music they might be playing. And indeed they fit the Tzadik catalogue quite well. Their music relies on the combination of different genres and styles, they merge jazz with “world music”, Klezmer influences, ambient sounds and heavy rock. Support will be Sferics, solo project of Sun Worship’s and Pete The Pirate Squid’s guitar player. He plays solo electric guitar and accompanying devices, creating improvised shreds and alluring ambient textures.
Mon, July 7th: Arto Lindsay at Volksbühne: Arto Lindsay, the No-Wave mastermind behind DNA and later on bands like The Lounge Lizards and Ambitious Lovers, is still an innovative force in contemporary experimental music. His solo shows mostly consist of experimental guitar noises and almost catchy soft voiced songs. Watch a video of him playing at West Germany a while ago before marking this date in your calendar with a big red pen.
Thu, July 10th: The Pharmacy and Display at Schokoladen: If, like me, you spent your early teen years as an indie kid in a tartan shirt and Dr Marten shoes, listening to The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam, you will appreciate this more modern version of your northern West Coast indie rock. The Pharmacy also display considerably more humour than afore-mentioned groups.
Wed, July 16th: Mdou Moctar at West Germany: Mdou Moctar is a guitarist from Niger who plays interesting and unconventional music based on repetitive almost psychedelic patterns and simple drum beats. It’s like Krautrock mixed together with African influences. His bandcamp page puts it quite well and describes his music as “electrifying, distorted and blown out guitar balances with sweet melodies of Saharan folk. Check out the video below, this is going to be one dancy West Germany evening!
Wed, July 16th: Parquet Courts at Cassiopeia: I thoroughly enjoyed Parquet Courts at the last Berlin appearance, so you might, too. The hype is justified.
Thu, July 17th: Guardian Alien at bei Ruth: If you’re into Liturgy, who interestingly enough just announced their ‘reunion’, you also know their amazing drummer Greg Fox. After Liturgy ‘broke up’ he started Guardian Alien with a more or less fluid line-up of other musicians. Their music ranges somewhere between experimental electro/synth music and free jazzy elements. They released a second record not long ago and are now on tour presenting newer material, this time stopping by at bei Ruth.
Fri, July 18th: Sun, July 20th: Schokoladen Hoffest: A wonderful Berlin summer get together every year, we had to fear for its existence during Schokoladen’s struggle against Mitte’s property sharks. This year, rest assured that it’s not the last. A definite must in the Berlin music calendar - check out the Schokoladen website for details.
Tue, July 22nd: Andrew W.K. at Magnet: Despite all controversy, I have a soft spot for the man, right or wrong. His village voice blog is fantastic and few people can make yoga look so wrong and great at the same time. More than anything, he knows how to rock out just for the heck of it and we all need that every now and so often. Count Gary and myself in!
Sat, July 26th: Down By The River Festival: Another annual summer get together with an eclectic line-up. May as well.
Mon, July 28th: Quintron and Miss Pussycat at West Germany: Oh the love I have for these two! Read my review, put your soul dancing dress on and let’s go crazy wild!
Thu, July 31st: Trust at Kantine: Trust at Kantine has happened before and this is what we had to say about it: “Of course we are not talking about the French metal band. This Trust is essentially techno, though they draw from a lot of genres to make their music interesting. Originally, Trust featured one of the core members of Austra, giving you an idea of musical direction. Kantine is certainly a small venue to play for this much hyped project. If you like your techno rave or just want a really good dance this Saturday, head to Kantine early.”
Thu, July 31st: Frank Fairfield at Monarch: This is much anticipated and a performance you should not miss. Mr. Fairfield writes on his website “Frank Fairfield plays down-home, old time folk music. He plays fiddle, guitar, banjo and he sings. Born in Fresno, California, he now lives in Los Angeles with his wife.” and that sums it up nicely. Down to earth, quirky, folk music. We love.
Monday, 30 June 2014
Late Review: Chain and The Gang
As it was an entertaining and well-received show, I thought I should do a quick late review.
One of the warmest nights in June, this was another sweaty gig in cosy little Privatclub, which was quite packed that night.
The Opener was Skiing. A Berlin-based trio very much influenced by 50s rock'n'roll. You may be familiar with them as they seem to play frequently around town. Their rather dreamy and tame poppy sound rather reminded me of some good '77 power pop on record. Live, however, it was sped up and a lot of the songs turned into fast punk rock numbers. The very high and juvenile vocals by the singer/guitarist as well as of the backing drummer are quite impressive. I do not think many grown-ups manage to sing that boyish. It can even be a little intimidating. At the end of the show, an audience member entered the stage and played some sing-a-longs with one band member. I have no clue whether this was spontaneous or planned and what exact covers they played. My bottom line: Entertaining yes, musically okayish.
More people filled the small room when Chain and the Gang entered the stage. Nicely uniformed all dressed in the same silver glitter rock jackets, I pittied them immediately as they must have sweated heavily (hope the tour money pays for some extra dry-cleaning). Ian Svenonimus, mastermind behind the group, reminded me of Jerry Lewis as the nutty professor. Like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Ian was and is a polarizing person, a love or hate figure. He was dancing and jumping on the stage, but it all goes along with the music, which is energetic rock'n'roll infused by bluesy parts and gospel-like backround choirs. Overall a convincing concept that worked out very well.
Like a soul or gospel singer, Ian is an entertainer who communicates with the audience to lead over to the next song. And even this communication worked well with tonight's audience, which was rather cosmopolitan, as well as willign to follow the master of the ceremony. Most songs started low with spoken word parts and sparse instrumentation. Then the guitars and keyboards would enter the mix, and it would climax in a soul explosion. People would dance wildly, enjoyment all over their faces. Well done!
I left early but right at time before the nice shower-gel smell of my frontman vanished and the thin air was filled with some more unpleasant smells. It was a quite extra-ordinary performance, I think they convince with a cool retro-rock'n'roll sound which is not dusted and highly entertaining.
One of the warmest nights in June, this was another sweaty gig in cosy little Privatclub, which was quite packed that night.
The Opener was Skiing. A Berlin-based trio very much influenced by 50s rock'n'roll. You may be familiar with them as they seem to play frequently around town. Their rather dreamy and tame poppy sound rather reminded me of some good '77 power pop on record. Live, however, it was sped up and a lot of the songs turned into fast punk rock numbers. The very high and juvenile vocals by the singer/guitarist as well as of the backing drummer are quite impressive. I do not think many grown-ups manage to sing that boyish. It can even be a little intimidating. At the end of the show, an audience member entered the stage and played some sing-a-longs with one band member. I have no clue whether this was spontaneous or planned and what exact covers they played. My bottom line: Entertaining yes, musically okayish.
More people filled the small room when Chain and the Gang entered the stage. Nicely uniformed all dressed in the same silver glitter rock jackets, I pittied them immediately as they must have sweated heavily (hope the tour money pays for some extra dry-cleaning). Ian Svenonimus, mastermind behind the group, reminded me of Jerry Lewis as the nutty professor. Like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Ian was and is a polarizing person, a love or hate figure. He was dancing and jumping on the stage, but it all goes along with the music, which is energetic rock'n'roll infused by bluesy parts and gospel-like backround choirs. Overall a convincing concept that worked out very well.
Like a soul or gospel singer, Ian is an entertainer who communicates with the audience to lead over to the next song. And even this communication worked well with tonight's audience, which was rather cosmopolitan, as well as willign to follow the master of the ceremony. Most songs started low with spoken word parts and sparse instrumentation. Then the guitars and keyboards would enter the mix, and it would climax in a soul explosion. People would dance wildly, enjoyment all over their faces. Well done!
I left early but right at time before the nice shower-gel smell of my frontman vanished and the thin air was filled with some more unpleasant smells. It was a quite extra-ordinary performance, I think they convince with a cool retro-rock'n'roll sound which is not dusted and highly entertaining.
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Quick review: INVSN (+ Against Me!)
A few weeks back, INVSN invited me to their show at Lido in support of Against Me!. Naturally, I complied.
In my Refused review I have elaborated on my relationship to and love for those Northern Swedes, so need to go into detail here again. INVSN is a multiple reincarnation of Dennis Lyxzén's (Refused, International Noise Conspiracy) original solo project The Lost Patrol Band -> Invasionen -> INVSN. Since 1999, the project has gone from singer-songerwriter melancholy to punky pop to Swedish indie to wavey rock'n'roll, the current sound. It's evidently an outlet for Mr. Lyxzén to showcase whatever he feels like and with whomever he feels like at a particular moment in time.
I have always enjoyed this project and its many forms but the current line-up and sound is by far the best yet. Not only that, it is also refreshingly current and well-written. The album is an absolute favourite of mine at the moment. However, this was not so until I saw them perform the songs live the other day. With six people on stage, a lot more raw rock'n'roll, and an extrovert frontman performance, this was one of the best live shows I have seen so far this year. I was thoroughly enjoying myself and so were the two teenagers I had with me that evening. Since then, INVSN is played on my record player rather frequently.
It goes to show that live music is still the way to discover music. The emotion it evokes can make you feel so much closer to the music and its performers. It's the way I discovered punk and hc, the way I discovered garage rock.
The best part of the evening was seeing my friends of course and seeing the very positive response they got from the Against Me! crowd, many of whom were turned to fans that night, no doubt.
If you want to know what the Against Me! gig was like, read my review from last time - though some band members have changed (incidentally, the former bass player of International Noise Conspiracy is now the bass player for Against Me!), the show was pretty much the same.
In my Refused review I have elaborated on my relationship to and love for those Northern Swedes, so need to go into detail here again. INVSN is a multiple reincarnation of Dennis Lyxzén's (Refused, International Noise Conspiracy) original solo project The Lost Patrol Band -> Invasionen -> INVSN. Since 1999, the project has gone from singer-songerwriter melancholy to punky pop to Swedish indie to wavey rock'n'roll, the current sound. It's evidently an outlet for Mr. Lyxzén to showcase whatever he feels like and with whomever he feels like at a particular moment in time.
I have always enjoyed this project and its many forms but the current line-up and sound is by far the best yet. Not only that, it is also refreshingly current and well-written. The album is an absolute favourite of mine at the moment. However, this was not so until I saw them perform the songs live the other day. With six people on stage, a lot more raw rock'n'roll, and an extrovert frontman performance, this was one of the best live shows I have seen so far this year. I was thoroughly enjoying myself and so were the two teenagers I had with me that evening. Since then, INVSN is played on my record player rather frequently.
It goes to show that live music is still the way to discover music. The emotion it evokes can make you feel so much closer to the music and its performers. It's the way I discovered punk and hc, the way I discovered garage rock.
The best part of the evening was seeing my friends of course and seeing the very positive response they got from the Against Me! crowd, many of whom were turned to fans that night, no doubt.
If you want to know what the Against Me! gig was like, read my review from last time - though some band members have changed (incidentally, the former bass player of International Noise Conspiracy is now the bass player for Against Me!), the show was pretty much the same.
Monday, 23 June 2014
Competition: Ratttengold + Safi at SO36
If you are remotely into Deutschpunk, the name Jens Rachut will ring a bell. If not so, the names of his numerous bands from the last 30 years will makes things clearer: Angeschissen, Blumen am Arsch der Hölle, Dackelblut, Oma Hans, Kommando Sonne-nmilch, N.R.F.B. The earlier of these bands definitely gave direction to many many following bands and remain to be important reference points to many people.
Unfortunately though, most of these bands only existed for a relatively limited stretch of time, Rachut has a habit of breaking up bands just to start new ones with slightly different line-ups. Now after he played a great one-time reunion show with Oma Hans at SO36 this year, he'll return to the same location this Saturday (June 28th) to do something pretty neat. He's going to perform songs from most of his former bands together with Ratttengold, a line-up of people who used to play in these exact bands: Andreas Ness, Armin Nagel and Wieland Krämer.
Thanks to SO36, we're giving away two guest list spots for you +1. All you have to do to win one of these is send us an e-mail to win@thecraze.de until Friday (June 27th, 6pm) and tell us your name. We'll randomly select two winners and let them know via e-mail.
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