Live. Music. Culture November 2019
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Dear reader, Editor-in-Chief / Sales Loki Lillistone loki@instereomag.com Deputy Editor Francisco Gonçalves Silva Sub-Editor Jess Partridge Sub-Editor Dave Rowlinson Events Editor Thomas Evans Creative Director Larissa Matheus
It turns out starting a magazine is a lot of work. After many sleepless nights and ill-advised help-me-to-work beers, there were moments when I thought the M10 (R.I.P.) might be back in service before we launched this thing. I’m pleased to say, however, that we made it – welcome to the first issue of Berlin in Stereo. On the cover we have Berlin legend, Peaches. Inside she discusses politics in reverse and her upcoming series of shows at Volksbühne. Elsewhere we speak to Sudan Archives, Anna of the North and Girl Ray, as well as shouting about our favourite new Berlin acts and November’s most exciting releases. Each month, you’ll also find indepth listings for Berlin’s relentless music calendar, both early and late! Head to p36 for that. Getting this out relied heavily on the help of friends both new and old, making it a difficult but ultimately lifeaffirming process. In that spirit, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who lugged around magazines, recommended an excellent event or venue, lent us their creativity – or their car! – and generally put up with me talking/ living BiS for much of this year. Geschafft!
Girl Ray
Contributors: Geoff Cowart, Georgia Evans, Thomas Evans, Rachel Finn, Thomas Hannan, Jon Kean, Charlotte Krol, Stephanie Phillips, Ari Sawyer, Caitlin Scott, Harriet Taylor, Danny Wright Cover photo by Larissa Matheus ( @larissamths ), typeface by Lucas Le Bihan ( Velvetyne ). 4
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New Sounds
Sudan Archives
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Anna Of The North
Girl Ray
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Peaches
Releases
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Events
Full Listings
46 In Berlin Peaches Loki: Carla dal Forno - Push On
Staff on Repeat:
Francisco: Otha - Tired and Sick Jess: Vegyn - Nauseous/Devilish Dave: Nocturnal Sunshine - Pull Up Thomas: Joy Orbison - Under Larissa: The KVB - Submersion 5
New Sounds by Francisco Gonçalves Silva
iris
Top Ten: New Sounds Sassy 009 – Maybe In The Summer Easter – Muscle Black Marble – Private Show TR/ST – Slow Burn Kim Gordon – Hungry Baby Gloria de Oliveira – Falling In Space Poliça – Driving Sea Change – Flown iris – cotton candy FKA twigs – home with you
Gloria de Oliveira
Get more new music from Francisco Gonçalves Silva every monday at: berlininstereo.com 6
Massaje Summer might be gone, but for Massaje, it never really ends. This eternal season is the whole mood and driving force of their creativity, using catchy sing-along tunes to narrate tales of social inadequacy and turbulent love affairs. As the story goes, this groovy dream-pop trio “gone weird”, originally from different parts of the globe, ended up in Berlin for their studies and managed to fuse 80s art-rock with soft hues of synth-pop glossiness and dazzling, beachy melodies. They thrive on mellow feels, quirkiness and juvenile innocence, all of which being good allies to their still-brewing identity and songwriting – one that will repeat itself inside your head time after time, song after song.
Morioh Sonder
As they gear up for their first ever EP, due by the end of the year, their first single ‘Maybe 95’ is a radiant tune, equally observational and witty, while dwelling on a bubbly romance in a warm summer daze. If Massaje’s music touches your heart, then buckle up; it’s the only way you’ll make it through the coming months of cold, German winter.
Romans by origin and Berliners by choice, with a brief passage under the Californian sun, Morioh Sonder landed in Germany packing a great sense of identity, drive and an overwhelmingly-delightful mix of surf-rock, quirk-pop and psychedelia delirium that would take any grey capital by storm. Their debut single ‘I Want to Die on my Birthday’ is both expansive and an essential calling card for a scene that needs a bit of more colourful playfulness. Is This Psychedelia?, their upcoming EP is something you don’t want to miss. Proof that you can be #soBerlin without selling your soul to techno.
Track: Maybe 95 @massajemusic
Track: I Want to Die on my Birthday @morioh_sonder
Gloo 7
Sudan Archives words: Charlotte Krol
“I feel really good, but I also feel weird and anxious because it’s like, ‘I didn’t poop all the way’.” Sudan Archives is using bowel analogies to describe how she feels about her debut album Athena dropping (sorry) this month. “Until it’s out, I’m not going to be fully relieved,” she adds, giggling. “There’s nothing I can do right now. I can’t take a laxative.” At least Sudan can take some comfort in knowing that Athena is worth the wait. It hears the 25-year-old Cincinnati native (real name Brittney Parks) retain her violin-meets-drum machine creations, but flesh them out with grander orchestral sonics. If her 2017 debut self-titled EP and its 2018 follow-up, Sink were the bones of her oft soulful, experimental violin music, then Athena is the meat. This has arisen partly by working with others for the first time. Sudan, who’s lived in LA for the last five years, says the main goal for her debut album was for everything to sound “bigger”. She enlisted producers, including Washed Out and Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Adele) and set about crafting a record that would allow for new ideas to surface. “I think sonically [Athena] has more depth,” Sudan says over the phone. “I wanted to make sure the album has the cool texture that the EPs have, but to be really full. One time, when I was at the studio, there were like 10 cleaning ladies there and I asked them all to come in and clap. I was just trying to get a bigger sound. This album is more of a representation of all of my musical influences.” 8
“It felt really to collabor And if it suck blame it on t
McDonald, in particular, imbued Sudan with a more classical violin-playing style. He would ask her to play melodies on her instrument “for a long, long time” to help develop “a crazy arrangement” that she may not have thought of – especially for album track, ‘Down On Me’. “It felt really good to collaborate,” Sudan says, “because doing stuff alone gets boring. It’s great to be like, ‘Oh, I have all these people that are part of the vision.’ And if it sucks, just blame it on them,” she says, laughing. ‘Down On Me’ is also the song that introduces more open and autobiographical stories. It’s in stark contrast with Sudan’s often oblique lyricism. On the track, she sings about a reallife situation in which a man only became romantically interested in her once he’d learnt that she was an artist. “All I’ve ever sung about is love, but just very vaguely about it,” Sudan says. “Maybe just how I feel and how I love and how love makes me react. But on the album, I’m speaking about how others perceive me – how they love me.”
y good rate… ks, just them.”
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She continues to explain that this lover had originally “bluntly” told her that he didn’t like to date black girls. “But he felt a connection with me,” she says. “It’s weird because he’s black too. I felt like I had something to prove, like I had to, like, reinforce some values in him. The song is almost me as a praying mantis; I wanted to reel him in and then bite his head off.” Song lyricist, James McCall encouraged her to write about the experience in ‘Down On Me’. While Sudan admits it’s actually her least favourite song on Athena (because of the music’s “romantic Disneyland vibe”), she appreciates that it’s “kinda badass” because “I had that twist to it lyrically mapped.” In truth, she prefers to come up with “a crazy concept and code everything” to make her songs open to interpretation. “But here I’m bringing up issues about colourism and stuff that I normally wouldn’t want to talk about. I feel like ‘Down On Me’ probably was a 10
situation where – if I wasn’t working with other people – that wouldn’t have happened.” Beyond that song, what is the album’s overarching theme? “The key message is that you have to embrace the light and the darkness within you. It’s how it is with superheroes, goddesses, influential people. That’s probably what it takes to really make something of yourself: to be able to just embrace all parts of yourself, have it there on the frontline instead of trying to hide one part or the other.” It’s no wonder, then, that Sudan is both excited and apprehensive about Athena’s release. She’s exposed more sides of herself than before. Surely, it’s for the better. Athena is released 1st November via Stones Throw. Live: 12th Nov. 2019 at Säälchen @sudanarchives
@thesudanarchives
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Anna of the North words: Rachel Finn
As anyone who’s ever been hurled unexpectedly into a stressful life situation will be able to tell you, sometimes you’ve got to be thrown into the deep end to figure out whether you’re going to sink or swim. For Anna Of The North’s Anna Lotterud, that moment came shortly after the then-duo wrapped up the campaign for their debut album, Lovers. Anna parted ways with her producer/partner Brady Daniell-Smith, who’d made up the second half of Anna Of The North since the pair met in Melbourne in 2014, and faced the prospect of making her second album alone. “It felt really scary. Me and Brady worked together for three years or so, and he was my producer part, doing the things that I don’t,” she admits, thinking back today from Oslo, where she’s currently based. “I play piano and guitar and sing, and I’ve produced a little, but that’s not my strongest side. It was like losing that part of me, so I had to find that again. You just have to start over.” A lot had happened since making that album. The breakup-inspired dream-pop of Lovers had become an unexpected hit, one that had allowed Anna to travel the world playing her songs and even caught the attention of Tyler, The Creator, who invited her to appear on his 2017 album, Flower Boy. But, despite all their success and the benefits of working as a duo, it had sometimes been limiting; making new album, Dream Girl as a solo artist allowed her to explore a new sound without so many preconceived notions of what 12
her music could be. While Lovers was full of glossy synth-pop, Dream Girl feels more raw or, as Anna describes it, “more organic,” and has given her more of a belief in her abilities as a musician. Trying to gain a bit more clarity about herself and where her life was going, Anna saw a psychologist after the campaign for Lovers ended. “It put it more in perspective, in a way,” she says on how the experience helped her music. “I think we’re all quite similar. We’re really complex and our brains are working in ways we don’t understand. “It’s nice just having a person letting us know that it’s absolutely normal to be like that - to be human. Talking to strangers sometimes can be really good because they don’t have any expectations from you. It’s the closest thing to meeting yourself for the first time.” This new-found confidence and clarity is found all over the new record, which Anna describes as “the moving on album”. On ‘Leaning On Myself’, Anna explores the experience of breaking out into a new situation on your own and feeling out the limits of your own independence, singing: “Lately, I don’t need nobody else/ Just trying not to feel the way I felt.” On ‘Playing Games’, she addresses the pain you sometimes need to go through to come out stronger in the end, with the punchy chorus: “If it’s hurting, then it’s working, Oh my god!”
“It was like losing that part of me… You just have to start over.”
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“I think we’re all quite similar. We’re really complex and our brains are working in ways we don’t understand.”
It also spills over into the album’s title. The Dream Girl featured on the title-track and album art, Anna explains, is fictitious, representing a standard that can’t be reached. A real-life ‘dream girl’ is not perfection in someone else’s eyes, but someone who’s good enough in her own. “The ‘Dream Girl’ is like ‘OK, shit, he doesn’t love me! I love him! That sucks, but okay, I’ll survive,’” she laughs. “It doesn’t have to be about breakups. If you go through something shit, whatever you wanted to happen, or 14
whatever you were longing for that you couldn’t have, it’s about being strong and open-minded, being like, well, something’s out there, something else will come along. “It’s not meant to be about being pretty but about saying in your head, in my world, I’m good enough.” Dream Girl is out now via [PIAS] Live: 1st Nov. 2019 at Kantine am Berghain @anna_ofthenorth
@ annaofthenorth
Girl Ray words: Ari Sawyer photography: Laura McCluskey
Fronting an all-female band in 2019 comes with expectations. With hundreds of records released every month that centre around political concepts and social commentary, it’s only right to expect Girl, the second album from North London trio, Girl Ray, to follow suit. Yet, as frontwoman, Poppy Hankin explains, music doesn’t have to be about making a statement. Sometimes finding a great record that you can dance and have fun to might be all you need. Taking a break from the band’s DJ set at Headrow House in Leeds, Poppy leaves drummer, Iris McConnell and bassist, Sophie Moss in charge, heading outside to discuss their love of pop, their upcoming tour, and the importance of enjoying a great record. “We’ve said in the past it should be all about the music, and we don’t really want people to focus on if we’re all girls or if we’re younger. People should take what they want to take from the music. We didn’t want it to be an album for any particular ‘in crowd’, or whatever. We wanted it to be accessible for everyone and not be too exclusive about it.” United by their love of music and a desire to create, the three-piece came together during sixth form, obsessed with the idea of starting a band. “We’d get together during school holidays and play guitar terribly together. When we were about sixteen or seventeen, we thought ‘right, we’ve actually got to make this happen somehow’.” Despite their drive and enthusiasm, the trio maintain their everyday, 16
twentysomething lives alongside band commitments almost effortlessly. Between working day jobs in pubs, restaurants and record stores, Girl Ray focus their creative energy and pour it into their musical endeavours, neatly side-stepping the pressure of a follow-up and allowing inspiration to come naturally. “We’ve taken our time with [this album], and now is the right time to put it out there.” Fuelled by an appreciation for mainstream pop, the band’s latest offering, produced by Ash Workman (Christine and the Queens, Metronomy), marks a breezy, laid-back tribute to some of the biggest female names in the music industry. “There’s so much exciting stuff going on in pop at the moment,” says Poppy, “especially with women in pop. I’ve personally been listening to a lot of Rosalía, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Ariana… all the big hitters. I’ve been just watching them in awe as they have grown super successful and keep releasing bangers.” Marking the halfway point on the record, R&B track, ‘Takes Time’ features a vocal collaboration with London rapper PSwuave. “There are so many cool London MCs popping up who are women. I was trying to write a melody for the instrumental in the verses of the song, and it just wasn’t coming. It’s such a sparse beat, and it was hard to find a vocal melody that would fit well with it. We started looking around for London MCs and by coincidence, our manager knew PSwuave, and her sound was exactly what we wanted.”
“We’d get together during school holidays and play guitar terribly together… We thought ‘right, we’ve actually got to make this happen somehow’.”
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“I kind of wanted to go a bit off-piste and write some stuff that wasn’t all just diary entries, you know?”
Tired of playing their old songs hundreds of times, Girl moves away from the lo-fi vibes and teen angst of their debut album, Earl Grey, and branches out into a fresh, beatheavy pop sound, while giving themselves a chance to experiment with new concepts of love, life and growing up. “[With this album] I felt free to write about things other than my own personal life. I kind of wanted to go a bit off-piste and write some stuff that wasn’t all just diary entries, you know? The first songs that we released were quite naive and raw. Because we were putting out songs at such a young age, they were kind of unfiltered - and I guess that was kinda cool. Your teens are such a transitional time, so that definitely impacted on how we sounded and what we were writing about.” 18
Later this month, Girl Ray will be supporting Metronomy on their UK tour, including a show at London’s Roundhouse on 8th November. “If there’s a good feeling in the audience, then it’s so contagious,” says Poppy, “and it feels amazing to play for them. Especially if they know your stuff - that’s the best feeling ever. We’re such fans of Metronomy and we have been for a while, so being part of that gig experience will be really fun.” Girl is released 8th Nov. via Moshi Moshi Live: 3rd Mar. 2020 at Kantine am Berghain @g1rlray
@girlraylondon
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Peaches
words: Thomas Evans photography: Larissa Matheus styling: Lucy MacPherson (LU LA LOOP) hair and make-up: Tony Lundström wearing: TZUJI (courtesy of The Publisher), Nike (Martine Rose Collab), tHERAPY Recycle & Exorcise, ATELIER ABOUT, LU LA LOOP
In 2000, Merrill Nisker walked into a music store and bought a synth. She’d just gone through a cancer scare, a heavy breakup, and had moved from Toronto to Berlin. Singing her guts out over the buzzing sounds of a plastic Roland box from her bedroom, she recorded what would become the first Peaches album, and created a feminist classic. With its sweaty gyrations and unapologetic horniness, Teaches of Peaches hurled a musical grenade at the sinless, clean-cut aesthetic that had dominated pop music in the early Millennium. Nisker was giving the world warts-and-all sexual liberation, brazenly at odds with the “I’m not that innocent” virginal tropes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and the products of a music industry rigidly fixed to the male-gaze. Four albums would follow over the next two decades: Fatherfucker (2003), Impeach My Bush (2006), I Feel Cream (2009) and Rub (2015). Peaches never swayed from her message – sex positivity, gender equality, fuck the patriarchy. What changed was the rapidly-shifting political world that received it. Today, the backdrop is a Republican party rolling back the rights of women to control their bodies. So it’s both surprising and depressing that a woman owning her sexuality feels more political now than two decades earlier – when Peaches was first fucking the pain away. 20
“It’s my w of coping w my view of world, my wa saying ‘fuck patriarchy
way with the ay of k the y’.”
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“It’s like we’re turning into a fucking live version of The Handmaid’s Tale,” Nisker says, exasperated. “It’s ridiculous... way more absurd than anything that’s in my show.” It hadn’t taken long for our conversation to turn to politics, which is maybe not surprising given the extremity of current events. But it’s easy to forget that things felt comparatively rosier just half a decade ago. “It’s funny, because when my last album [Rub] came out four years ago, people were like, ‘Obama is President and it seems like things are changing for the better, do you feel like you still have a struggle?’” Then a few months later, Trump got in and everyone was like ‘oh my god! Your music is more relevant than ever!’” Nisker is Canadian-born but confesses she’s addicted to the soap opera of American news. It’s not just the US that’s a source of anxiety though, her adopted home of Germany might be comparatively stable, but there are cracks of concern. “You know, I’m a little worried about Angela Merkel leaving. She was like an anomaly – somebody who’s in a Christian party but is super fair. She’s been holding it down, holding it together. I’m pretty concerned for everybody everywhere. Look at what’s happening with Greta Thunberg, these old white male politicians ragging on a sixteen-year-old, super-smart girl, saying she shouldn’t be given a voice.” I ask if she’s an optimist. Nisker tells me that she’s an “actionist”, that taking action is a kind of optimism. “You just have to keep going. If you’re Greta Thunberg then you take a solarpowered boat to America, say your piece, and rile people up. Or if you’re me, you’re going to continue with your shows, and you’re going to make them stronger. If you’re AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] you just keep speaking out. You’ve just got to hope that people are gonna keep fighting the good fight. It’s really ridiculous that we’re coming up to 2020 because it really doesn’t feel like it.” “I have the privilege to express what I want to express – I haven’t been banned anywhere.
There are certain areas in mainstream cultures that are fearful of me, but that doesn’t really affect what I’m doing. Because I haven’t put myself in the box of the music business, or anything like that. I’ve carved out my own way.” Peaches carving her own way for two decades has culminated in an explosive new show, There’s Only One Peach With the Hole in the Middle, slated for four nights at Berlin’s Volksbühne next month. Billed as a variety-style celebration of the past, present and future of queer feminism – it’s a show that only Peaches could create.
“You’ve just got to hope that people are gonna keep fighting the good fight.” “It’s a celebration of all my five albums, done in the most over-the-top manner possible,” she says. Nisker has enlisted almost 40 performers, including two dance troupes to bring her vision to the stage. In the performance, the show takes inspiration from the more extravagant elements of LGBTQI+ icons such as Bette Midler and Liza Minnelli. “It’s kind of [a] variety [show] in that people get highlighted, there are moments for dance solos and so on. We have Yukari [Aotani-Riehl] who’s a violinist at the Deutsche Oper, she’s doing some freaky stuff that she doesn’t get to do at the opera.” The show was inspired by an earlier performance at Music Box Village in New Orleans, a setting that challenged her to hear and envisage her music in new ways. “They have this outdoor stage with shacks, and in each shack is a musical instrument built by artists. They ask you to integrate it into your performance. That’s where I met the musical director for my current show, and I started to play my songs more live – like playing very minimal songs in a marching band style, or replacing sine wave 23
“I have the privilege to express what I want to express… I’ve carved out my own way.”
tones with violins. Every song is something exciting and it feels really celebratory – it’s super fun.” Fun is a big part of what Peaches is about. While the message might be serious – gender equality, sex-positive feminism – it’s her unique humour that brings people together. “It’s my way of coping with my view of the world, my way of saying ‘fuck the patriarchy’. It always surprises me when people are scared – people who haven’t seen me before. Like it’s going to be this horrible, preachy thing. But then they’re like ‘that was super fun’, ‘that was one of the best shows I’ve seen in my life’. It’s something that I strive for. It’s my contribution to changing attitudes.” Inclusivity is at the heart of Peaches’ performances, and attitudes towards gender have changed since Nisker’s earlier musical output, 24
something that she’s now addressing. “What’s interesting is that some of the expressions that I thought were super progressive at the time are now a bit binary. So I’ve changed some of the lyrics for the live show. Instead of ‘I, you, she together’ it goes ‘I, you, she… I, you, he… I, you, they’. There’s ‘shake your dicks, shake your tits’ and also ‘shake your bits’. Who knows what you have or what you want to have – maybe you have no tits or dick and that’s fine! It’s just about understanding that and being more engaged with the spectrum and learning – being excited about what I have brought but knowing that it doesn’t end there.” There’s Only One Peach With the Hole in the Middle runs from December 28th-31st at Volksbühne, Berlin. @officialpeaches
@peachesnisker
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FKA Twigs Magdalene Record of the Month
Danny Wright sits down with fellowcontributors, Thomas Hannan and Stephanie Phillips to discuss one of the most highly-anticipated records of the year, FKA Twigs’ Magdalene. So are you both big Twigs fans? Tom: After the first record, I was convinced she was pretty great. But after seeing her at Alexandra Palace earlier this year, I think she might be one of the most talented artists I’ve ever seen. Steph: I got really into her just before LP1. After that, I listened to ‘Pendulum’ at least once a day for months. I loved that she was a black British female artist who had the freedom to be as weird as she wanted, which is, unfortunately, fairly rare in the mainstream. I saw her at Roundhouse and she had the most powerful subwoofer I’ve ever heard. Bass was rumbling up to my middle. It was honestly one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. 28
So, fair to say your expectations were high for this record? Tom: Actually, being honest, I hadn’t listened to her much in a while. Part of what I’ve enjoyed is how much this has taken me by surprise. Steph: I expected her to pull out the stops, but after hearing her follow-up EP, I assumed she’d be going in the same direction as LP1. I was surprised by this sudden left turn sonically. On reflection, it makes sense that she’d need to explore other sounds, though. Tom: To me, it improves on the first record. It makes that emotional connection more directly. It’s a real kick in the guts. How would you describe the new sound? Steph: It’s far more expansive than the first record. I love how many avenues it takes you down. In some areas it feels like a trap score to a performance art film; in others, it wanders into electronic, post-industrial noise.
Tom: It’s like she’s found a completely new way to speak about love and heartbreak, the two most clichéd topics in pop, and that’s hugely admirable in itself, never mind the fact that in some of its best moments sonically, it sounds like an IDM version of Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes, which is a GREAT THING. Steph: I suppose it sits in the experimental R&B chair, but is reaching out to other genres throughout. Tom: It is really experimental, but then you get something like ‘Sad Day’, which is just a straight-up, gorgeous pop song... it goes everywhere this thing. I definitely heard Kate Bush in it… Steph: Especially in the second half of ‘Home With You’ and definitely in the experimental nature of the whole record. Tom: The intro to ‘Thousand Eyes’ as well. It’s similarly darling in spirit to Kate Bush. Steph: It takes risks, and plays with the ugly and grotesque sounds in the same way the best Kate Bush records do. She’s obviously been through a lot. Does that come through? Tom: It certainly doesn’t hide the fact that it’s a heartbreak record. But there’s a sense of struggle and overcoming hardship to it that goes beyond that, into something more universally relatable. Steph: It comes through in interesting ways. I love the ending of ‘Home With You’, when the choir of voices and instrumentation rise to a volume that feels almost unbearable. It feels like a comment on how what may seem like a beautiful sentiment of wanting to be with someone can be unhealthy or chaotic. Tom: At times, it seems like she’s tearing her hair out at the futility of her situation. It sounds really exasperated in moments, in a really revealing way. Do you think Nicolas Jaar and Noah Goldstein were good choices for producers? Steph: They brought together a complex body of work and made it flow, so they clearly did
a great job. Whoever she worked with, though, the essence of Twigs would still shine through. Tom: You certainly don’t doubt that this is her vision and it sounds this way because that’s exactly how she envisioned it sounding. Jaar and Goldstein have brought that to fruition. I’m surprised the album didn’t have a visual element to it. Are you excited to see the album live? Tom: I will buy FKA Twigs tickets the minute they go on sale from this day forward. She dances with fuckin’ SWORDS for chrissakes. But I guess not having that aspect makes the live performance even more of a special event... Steph: Whatever she’s doing, it’s always surprising, which is why she’s such a great pop star. Or maybe she’s no longer solely a pop star now. Her artistic vision seems to go beyond the music… Steph: Which is fascinating. It’s always inspiring to see people working light years ahead of anything you could conceive of. Tom: Quite fun to wonder what, like, the tenth FKA Twigs album might sound like… Anything else to add? Tom: Just that this is a real album of the year contender for me. Magdalene is released 8th November via Young Turks Recordings @fkatwigs
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Lucy Dacus 2019 Matador November 8th
Album Reviews Bonnie “Prince” Billy I Made a Place Domino November 15th This is the first Bonnie “Prince” Billy album of original material to be released since a self-titled LP in 2013. That’s not to say that the man his mother knows as Will Oldham has been quiet in the interim, however; he’s released a dizzying array of covers and reinterpretations of his own material, much of it decidedly country-leaning. It’s that sound on which he’s settled for I Made a Place. Banjos and close, beautiful harmonies abound, and while it’s hard not to long for the gloomier, stranger side of some of his stellar earlier work, there’s no denying that this is a very gorgeous record. Tell me you’ve found a lovelier song than ‘Thick Air’ in particular this year, and I’ll call you a lying scumbag. Thomas Hannan 30
When thinking about how to make a follow-up to her 2018 album, Historian, Lucy Dacus chose to opt out of the ‘normal’ way of releasing music. Sharing her new songs slowly throughout the year as a series of standalone singles, each loosely themed around a holiday or a season, 2019 is an eclectic mix of both original songs and covers that took an entire year to be revealed. It’s something the Virginia-born musician has called ‘slow music’, an attempt to release music as-andwhen, in a low-stakes way that doesn’t have to adhere to any grand album release plan or concept. It’s an approach that shows in the sheer variety of songs on the EP. Of Lucy’s own songs, ‘Forever Half Mast’ is a gentle, countryesque song released for Independence Day, exploring the complex guilt of being an American citizen in the contemporary age and ‘My Mother & I’, written for both Mother’s Day and Taurus Season, is a sparse, poignant song that contemplates what mothers pass on by genes and what they pass on through nurture. But this feels strongly like a covers album, with Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and the technically-not-a-holiday of Bruce Springsteen’s birthday being celebrated via Lucy’s guitar-driven renditions of Phil Collins’ ‘In The Air Tonight’, Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’, Édith Piaf’s ‘La Vie En Rose’ and Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’. Though it doesn’t sound coherent enough to seem like she’d planned to release the project as a full-length album, as a side-project, it’s given Lucy more space to experiment and she sounds all the freer for it. Rachel Finn
Gloria de Oliveira La Rose de Fer La Double Vie Out Now
Formerly known as lovespells, Gloria de Oliveira has split her time between Berlin, Hamburg and Paris to fully develop her skills as a multidisciplinary artist. In La Rose de Fer, her first EP under her given name, the Brazillian-German creator emanates comfort and class. Led by her shimmering voice, she immerses herself in ethereal glows and layers of dark, brooding synth-pop, creating her own version of reality, one that takes cues from the teachings of David Lynch. De Oliveira truly embodies her music as a vessel of her identity, where visual, audio, performance and eerie sensibilities come to life and are aligned with her vision, validating her as a truly talented artist, producer and performer with a taste for the sombre. Francisco Gonçalves Silva
Young Guv Vol. II Run For Cover October 25th
If you heard Young Guv’s Vol. I in August, you’d already be expecting another voluminous onrush of jangling indie-pop in the style of Teenage Fanclub, Sugar, The Charlatans or a non-Mancunian-non-lairy early Oasis on Vol. II. You’d be partly right. There are tambourines and sweet harmonies. There’s a Lemonheads moment on ‘Can I Just Call’, a whole lotta cowbell on ‘She’s A Fantasy’ and slightly fuzzed-up Fannies on ‘Try Not To Hang On So Hard’. But aligned with the recent experimentation of Fucked Up, from whence Ben Cook metamorphoses into Young Guv, there’s saxophonic 80s chartbusting on ‘Caught Lookin’, dark disco on ‘Trying To Decide’ and the cabaret kitsch of ‘Can’t Say Goodbye’, which sounds like a tribute to the now-defunct travel agent, Thomas Cook. Jon Kean
Farafi Calico Soul Piranha Records November 8th
Bonding over their love for African music and coming from a warm and giving musical community – Joy Tyson and Darlini S. Kaul having moved from Goa to Berlin – Farafi is a project that reflects kindness and positive energy. Sung in several languages, with African idioms and even their own ‘farafish’ expression, the euphony found in their debut album unites two musicians committed to a cause – one that sees the world as one, sharing and exchanging what each culture has to offer. Calico Soul has also benefited from an array of talented supporting musicians, weaving together disparate references on a record that celebrates togetherness, freedom, humanity and is a fine example of a modern execution of world music in 2019. Francisco Gonçalves Silva 31
TR/ST The Destroyer - 2
Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage Bad Wiring
Grouch/House Arrest November 1st
Moshi Moshi November 1st
It’s been a prosperous year for Robert Alfons and his journey towards deconstructing his rooted notions of shame and loathing. TR/ST’s The Destroyer, in its two-part release, has proven to be a valuable testimonial of strength, while showcasing Alfons’ versatility as a songwriter and performer.
Should songs tell a story? If you’re nodding, Jeffrey Lewis is your man. He’s a tongue-in-cheek New Yorker who draws comic books by day and is an energetic songwriter by night. While his tunes may appear shambolic, feisty and disjointed, they’re much more like three-minute masterpieces than mere doodles.
Where pulsating synths and devious lyrics elevated the maturity across the first half of the record, The Destroyer - 2 drowns itself in melancholy, as TR/ST strips down to the core while exploring new dynamics with instruments, allowing his freedom and creative expansion to thrive. Musical direction differs from that of his past, but by incorporating raw, truthful elements into his music, Alfons has created an inspiring record – and his most consistent to date. Francisco Gonçalves Silva
Giant Swan Giant Swan Keck November 8th
Take the charming autobiographical track ‘LPs’: it chronicles the gateway drug of cheap 60s rock albums that fed his teenage vinyl obsession. Or ‘My Girlfriend Doesn’t Listen’, with its bizarre shopping list of irrational fears that don’t bother his partner, including Charles Manson and agrarian reform. Lewis is ably supported by Mem Pahl (bass) and Brent Cole (drummer) as they make the fantastic real. And who could ask for more in a song? Geoff Cowart
I recall a time in recent memory when those in the cool indie circles turned their noses up at dance music, as though it could bear no true artistic merit, and was consequently snubbed publically in favour of some very bland guitar rock. How the tides have turned, and with it, a Giant Swan drifts into view. The Bristol-based duo has been making the rounds for a few years now, but 2019 sees them drop their debut, self-titled release on the newly-minted Keck Records. The Giant Swan name conjures an image of something monstrous and beautiful, which would also aptly describe the album’s sound. These are capital B.I.G. anthems, which effortlessly meld disarming post-industrial clamour and tweaked vocal loops into the fold of more familiar white-label grooves. Harriet Taylor
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Sea Change INSIDE Shapes Recordings November 15th
Greentea Peng Rising EP Different Recordings November 1st
Trading the hectic life of Los Angeles for new thrills in the German capital, Norwegian producer, Ellen Sunde, found in her new home the missing creative element to patch together the best of her experiences while sketching Sea Change’s second album. INSIDE is dominated by a feeling of precision, whether in its thoughts on loneliness and empowerment or with the throbbing, club-ready synths and beats. Be it for indulgence in nocturnal pleasures or dwelling in self-reflection, Sunde’s eye for detail while layering soundscapes and creating spiralling atmospheres is an asset that benefits her vision – and one reason why INSIDE has the potential of becoming one of the greatest albums of 2019. Francisco Gonçalves Silva
I’ll be the first to admit I judged Greentea Peng by her Shoreditchvia-Bali-via-Whole Foods stage name. But when ‘Risin’’, the lead single from Rising, started filtering through my headphones, I realised how wrong I was. Her tone is conflicting. The production is jumbled but simple, her lyrics melodic yet uncomplicated enough to mesh into one blissed-out version of itself. ‘Saturn’ is where she feels most authentic, “floating naked with you” on a calming synth wave and muted hi-hats that are reminiscent of Solange’s ‘Cranes in the Sky’. There are sexy saxophones slithering in and out of ‘Mr Sun’, nods to hazy summertime afternoons with friends and an air of sophistication wrapped around the EP that’s extremely promising for such a new face on the scene. Caitlin Scott
Vegyn Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds PLZ Make It Ruins November 8th
25-year-old London producer, Vegyn may have reached recognition through his work with Frank Ocean, but his debut, Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds, feels distinctly personal. A bold sonic exploration into melancholia, the album darts between deft vocal samples, swift tempo shifts and sublime key changes for maximum impact, keeping listeners clinging on throughout the 16-song collection. Standout tracks include ‘Nauseous / Devilish’, which pairs the grit of JPEGMAFIA’s rambunctious rapping style with erratic percussions, showcasing the producers hip-hop tendencies at their finest. Another moment of brilliance comes from a collaboration with Jeshi, a soothing blend of buttery vocals and gliding, computerised sounds on ‘I Don’t Owe You NYthing’, as well as the erratic choppiness of ‘Cow Boy ALLSTAR’, proudly displaying Vegyn’s comfort in experimentation. Georgia Evans 33
Events by Thomas Evans
Eufonia 2019 1-2nd Nov. at Acud Macht Neu Sound, art and science collide in this meeting of artists, scientists, psychologists, designers and researchers from across the globe who share the common medium of sound. Featuring talks, workshops, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, installations, screenings and performances, it explores the subject of sound and its connection to many divergent fields. Topics covered include everything from sound healing and deafness to binaural beats and anthropology. Promising a full multi-sensory experience, Eufonia says you’ll discover “how sound stimulates the brain and influences our consciousness, how it is accessible through touch and smell, as well as how it can speak visually whilst physically moving the body.” The event takes place over three days at Acud Macht Neu, in addition to satellite events across Berlin throughout the week.
Gosia Gajdemska (Eufonia 2019)
Sub Liminal #2 7th Nov. at Trauma Bar und Kino Over the last two decades, the week-long, multi-venue CTM festival has become synonymous with daring music and futurefocused discussion. The good news is you don’t have to wait until the hard chill of lateJanuary to get a taste of CTM’s adventurous musical programming, thanks to the second of what it describes as “future prequels” in the run-up to the main event. Expect live performances from South African duo FAKA and Berlin-based Swede KABLAM, alongside DJ sets from DJ Haram and PININGA. 34
FAKA (Sub Liminal #2)
Miss Kotti 2019 15th Nov. at SO36
Empowe/AR Festival
Who will be crowned the next Queen of Kreuzberg? Witness the glamour as drag performers from across Berlin compete to become the next queen (king, or thing) at SO36, Kreuzberg. Hosted by Berlin drag institution, Pansy, categories include swimwear, talent, and evening wear eleganza. Miss Kotti marks its third year following last year’s outrageous, sellout show – don’t expect your usual beauty pageant.
Empowe/AR Festival
Jazzfest Berlin 2019
22nd Nov. at Flutgraben e.V
31st Oct. - 3rd Nov. at Berliner Festspieler
Empower is an afro-futurist and queer-feminist festival that aims to showcase some of the most important music, audiovisual and visual art being made by queers and people of colour today. Now in its second year, and in a larger capacity venue (Flutgraben, Kreuzberg), Empower takes the form of a two-day music and visual arts festival. It includes virtual and augmented reality experiences, with a programme of live artists and DJs, accompanied by a symposium featuring spoken word, performance art and an immersive light show.
Four days, 200 performers, from 15 countries – Jazzfest Berlin returns with a program focusing on international encounters and interdisciplinary border crossings. Taking place at the cultural hotbed of Berliner Festspieler, the programme will include 28 musical acts and accompanying performances focussing on the work and impact of free-jazz pioneer, Anthony Braxton. Jazzfest Berlin was founded in 1964 as Berliner Jazztage, making it one of Europe’s longest-standing and most renowned jazz festivals. 35
Full Listings early
late
Griessmuehle: Rebekah + Prosumer + Alien Rain Griessmuehle / 22:00 Hollow Coves Frannz Club / 17,20€ Janus presents Never Sleep x Cadenza Berghain / Panorama Bar / / 22:00
Friday 1st November Bia Ferreira feat. Doralyce YAAM / 17,12€ / 19:00 Freddie Gibbs & Madlib Astra Kulturhaus / / 19:00 Herzschlag: Romanssi + Raderkraft + Ostkrähen + DJs arkaoda / 21:00 Octubre.tv X CODEX CLUB #2: Indiscreet Jewels + Concentration + BUNGALOVV Loophole / 21:30 Volbeat + Baroness + Danko Jones Mercedes-Benz Arena / From €55 Anna of the North Kantine am Berghain COPIA Badehaus Don Letts Cassiopeia / 34,05€ Elderbrook Säälchen / Sold Out
Exhale Berlin with Amelie Lens ://about blank / 15€ / 23:59 Gegen Pain at the Altar of NYX KitKatClub / 18€ / 23:00 All You Need Is Ears x Sonic Groove Tresor / 23:59 Saturday 2nd November Bobby Oroza Urban Spree / 15,88€ / 20:00 Mataya Waldenberg + Seretan Madame Claude / Donation / 21:30 Yung Hurn Columbiahalle / 35,00€ ://Objekt Blank: Tensal + Tasker ://about blank / from 10€ + fee / 23:59 AWK SCL: Adlas + Karima F OHM / 8€ / 23:59 Klubnacht: Karenn + AZF + Barker + Ben Klock Berghain / Panorama Bar / / 23:59
Shroud KitKatClub
Rave The Grave: Jp Enfant + Galcher Lustwerk + Tereza Salon Zur Wilden Renate / 12€ +fee / 23:59
pornscars Kirche von Unten
Slow Life Showcase Hoppetosse / 23:59
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Sunday 3rd November
Tuesday 5th November
Brandt Brauer Frick Volksbühne / 24€ / 20:00
Homunculus IV: E.W. Harris Rosa + Mercedes + Viktor’s Joy Loophole / 19:00
Lera Lynn silent green kulturquartier / 19€ +fee / 19:00 Poly-Motion: Vier ://about blank / 10€ / 12:00 Sunday Club KAKE / 12:00 Ezra Collective Lido / 17,90€ Thurston Moore Festsaal Kreuzberg / 32,85€ Monday 4th November Caroline Spence Maze / 12,90€ / 19:00 Dalila Kayros + Danilo Casti Madame Claude / Donation / 21:30 Manic.Monday mit Layla Cold Minimal Bar / Free / 19:00 Tonbruket Urban Spree / 16,40€ / 19:00 Kevin Morby + Bedouine Heimathafen Patti Smith & Tony Shanahan Pierre Boulez Saal Electric Monday 5th Year KitKatClub / 12€ / 23:00
Lolly Strapontin + Laster + Fabrikant Madame Claude / Donation / 21:30 Tobi Lou Burg Schnabel / 24,50€ / 19:00 Blood Red Shoes Metropol / 27,50€ Fontaines D.C. Bi Nuu Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes SO36 / 23,70€ Patti Smith & Tony Shanahan Gethsemane-kirche The Libertines Columbiahalle / 50,65€ WHY? Frannz Club Wednesday 6th November Boban Marković Orkestar (feat. Marko Marković) Kesselhaus & Maschinenhaus / 27,10€ / 20:00 Freddie Dickson + Vera Musik & Frieden / 17,95€ / 19:30 Lolo Zouaï Maze / 17,95€ / 20:00 MMMM + Traashboo + MNTHA Loophole / 21:00
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Periphery Columbia Theater / 22,55€ / 19:00
Shura + Rosie Lowe Lido / €20,50
Emeli Sandé Verti Music Hall / From 52,15€
Terror SO36 / 29,45€
Lewis Capaldi Astra Kulturhaus / 23,30€
Yungblud Astra Kulturhaus
Oshun IPSE / 21,20€
Pharoahe Monch Gretchen
Jefferson Ave. presents: DJ Assault Paloma / 22:00
Thursdate: Kompakt Extra with Raxon + Marc Romboy Watergate / 23:59
Thursday 7th November Alexandra Stréliski silent green kulturquartier / 20€ / 20:00 Folk Road Show Prachtwerk / 11€ / 19:00 JARS + Vordemfall Musik & Frieden / 20:00 Kamai & Friends #16 Klunkerkranich / From 3€ / 16:00 Koala Kaladevi Auster Club / 10€ / 19:00 Mr. Ray 8MM Bar / 20:00 Nitzer Ebb Columbia Theater / Sold Out / 18:30 Planet Hemp YAAM / 34,38€ / 20:00 [aufnahme + wiedergabe] and Herzschlag present: Mr.Kitty + Bragolin Urban Spree / / 21:00
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Olympe: Gacha Bakradze (Live) + Minor Science + Vivian Koch Griessmuehle / 8€ +fee / 23:59 Friday 8th November Col3trane Burg Schnabel / 19,25€ / 19:00 Fabbri + Pieceszx + Mister DJ Madame Claude / Donation / 21:30 The Twilight Sad + Man of Moon Gretchen / 24,90€ / 20:00 Trixie Whitley + Echo Beatty Musik & Frieden / 21,40€ / 19:00 Dengue Dengue Dengue Gretchen / 13€ +fee / 23:59 Hard Trade: Objekt OHM / 23:59 SYNOID Weekender: R_1 + Paula Temple + Headless Horseman Griessmuehle / 23:59
Saturday 9th November Bad Hammer + Circular Ruins + Pleasure Majenta Loophole / / 20:00 Calexico and Iron & Wine Tempodrom / 39,55€ / 18:30 House in Space: Tobi Neumann + freedomB + Oliver Klostermann Polygon Club / 14:00 Marea Columbia Theater / 24,45€ / 19:00 Orville Peck + Manuela Iwansson Badehaus / Sold Out / 20:00 Charli XCX + Dorian Electra Astra Kulturhaus / €39,15 Iron & Wine Tempodrom / 39,55€ James Blake Verti Music Hall / From 57,90€ Gruff Rhys Privatclub / 20,50€ Scar Polish Süss War Gestern Klubnacht: Answer Code Request + Kobosil + Marcel Dettmann Berghain / Panorama Bar / / 23:59 European Club Night: Nigga Fox + Odete + Gabriel Ferrandini ACUD / 8€ / 22:00 Ki Records Labelnight: Kiasmos (dj set) + Stimming + Aparde Ritter Butzke / 15€ +fee / 23:59
Anna Curra + Kadeadkas Urban Spree / 20€ / 22:00 Midgar Label Night OHM / 23:30 Sunday 10th November bllanks + The Night Gardener Prachtwerk / 7-11€ / 19:00 Ryan McMullan + Connor Scott Musik & Frieden / 20,50€ / 20:00 Electric Sound Garden Suicide Club / From 5€ +fee / 23:59 Monday 11th November Altered States Ausland / 20:30 Mac DeMarco Columbiahalle / 29,90€ / 20:00 PUP + Sløtface Bi Nuu / 18€ +fee / 19:30 Tabea Booz & Band Auster Club / 10€ / 19:00 House of Waxx Tresor / 8€ / 23:59 Tuesday 12th November Girl Band Bi Nuu / 20:00 Apollo Brown & Bronze Nazareth + Blue & Exile YAAM / 22€ / 20:00
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Jay Som + Girl Ultra Kantine am Berghain / 15,40€ / 19:30
The Klezmatics Synagoge Rykestraße / 36,65€ / 19:00
Sam Fender Astra Kulturhaus / 29,45€ / 20:00
Wicca Phase Springs Eternal Burg Schnabel / 17,60€ / 19:00
Sudan Archives Säälchen / 22,70€ / 20:00
The Murder Capital Musik und Frieden
Refused + Thrice + Petrol Girls Huxleys Neue Welt / 44,90€
The Unknown presents The Catlab Edition Süss War Gestern / Free / 22:00
Wednesday 13th November Ada Lea ACUD / 10€ / 20:00 Charlotte Adigéry + Kaleo Sansaa Urban Spree / 15,40€ / 19:00 Empath Cassiopeia / 18,95€ / 20:00 Farafi + Urubu Marinka (VOODOHOP) Badehaus / 10€ / 20:00 Girl In Red + Isaac Dunbar Musik & Frieden / 22,50€ / 20:00 Hayden Thorpe (Wild Beasts) Privatclub / 21,20€ / 20:00 Lizzo Columbiahalle / 44,90€ / 20:00 Loving Monarch / 12,10€ / 19:30 Nissim Black Columbia Theater / 36,65€ / 20:00 Of Monsters and Men Huxleys Neue Welt / 41,45€ / 20:00 Omni Kantine am Berghain / 16,60€ / 20:30 40
Techno Mittwoch AVA Club / From 7€ +fee / 23:00 Thursday 14th November Ja Ja Ja’s 5th Birthday: Janice + Warmland + iris Fluxbau / From 8€ / 20:00 Jackson Dyer Burg Schnabel / 14,50€ / 20:00 KhalilH2OP + Sofie Birch + Xenia Xamanek + more ACUD / 8€ / 20:00 Kosack. Suzuki & Rohrmoser + Majkowski & La Foresta Ausland / 19:00 Night House + Last Day At School + The Chop Squad Madame Claude / Donation / 19:30 Paul Smith Maze / 21,60€ / 19:00 Raith Mrad + Vinnie Lonely Loophole / 10€ / 21:00 The Lumineers Verti Music Hall
Elbow Huxleys Neue Welt
Sparkling Maze / 13,90€ / 20:00
BANKS Heimathafen
BANKS Heimathafen
Suicide Disco: Years of Denial(Live) + Kontravoid + Ori + Brvtalist OHM / 8€ / 22:00
Whitney Lido / Sold Out
Säule: J.Manuel (Live) + LNS + Mor Elian + Smokey Säule / / 22:00 Friday 15th November
4 Years Ismus: Shlømo + Varg (Live) + Introversion Griessmuehle / 22:00 Buttons November 2019 ://about blank / 15€ / 23:59
360° #3 with 808 State (Live) IPSE / 16€ +fee / 20:00
Finest Friday: KAS:ST (Live) + Fideles + Tale Of Us + Vaal Panorama Bar / 23:59
A.S Fanning Privatclub / 13€ / 19:00
Satuday 16th November
An Evening with the Songs of Nick Drake silent green kulturquartier / 19€ / 20:00 Anton Barbeau + Lukas Creswell-Rost + U.F.O Shadow Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00 Blind Butcher + Soybomb Urban Spree / 12,10€ / 20:00 Hannes Wittmer Monarch / Donation / 20:00 Marathonmann + Frau Hansen + The Pariah HC Badehaus / 19,95€ / 20:00 Polyrhythmo: Stavroz + Ariwo + Sharad Soon + More YAAM / 17,66€ / 21:00 Sido Max-Schmeling-Halle / Sold Out / 20:00
Armi Millare (Up Dharma Down) Prachtwerk / Free / 19:00 Arnold Kasar + Guest silent green kulturquartier / 20,50€ / 20:00 Ceremony Cassiopeia / 19,45€ / 20:00 Floating Points Live AV Funkhaus Berlin / Sold Out / 18:30 Opeth + The Vintage Caravan Huxleys Neue Welt / 44,90€ / 20:00 Starcrawler Maze / 21,40€ / 20:00 Ólafur Arnalds „re:member“ Konzerthaus Berlin / Sold Out / 21:00 SynästhesieFestival 2019 Die Kulturbrauerei / 75€
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://Elements ://about blank / From 10€ +fee / 23:59
Ghostface Killah Columbia Theater / 35€ / 19:00
Fluff: Huerco S. + ELLLL Ziegrastr.11 / / 23:00
Goblin Prince Bar Bobu / 19:00
Maribou State (DJ) IPSE / 14,60€ / 23:00
Half Moon Run + Leif Vollebekk Festsaal Kreuzberg / 28,17€ / 20:00
Mother’s Finest: DJ Bone + Laurel Halo b2b Hodge Griessmuehle / From 11€ +fee / 22:00
Jagannatha + Guest Loophole / 20:30
Sunday 17th November Ash Code + Alice Gift Urban Spree / / 20:00 Being As An Ocean + Dream State Lido / 29,45€ / 20:30 Ezra Furman Festsaal Kreuzberg / 25,50€ / 20:30 Mark Lanegan Band + The Membranes Columbia Theater / 39,75€ / 20:00 Monday 18th November Giggs Bi Nuu / 28,80€ / 20:00 Marko Ohm + Indiscreet Jewels + Burkina Phaser Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00 Tuesday 19th November Abdulah Ibrahim Berliner Philharmonie / 38,50€ / 20:00 AMISTAT Auster Club / 16€ / 19:00
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Lamb Metropol / 35€ / 20:00 Sassy 009 (XJAZZ) Kantine am Berghain / 18€ / 20:00 Aldous Harding + Yves Jarvis Astra Kulturhaus Wednesday 20th November Hania Rani Roter Salon / 20:00 Meg Bog Monarch / 11€ / 19:30 Tresor New Faces Tresor / 8€ / 23:59 Thursday 21st November Das Moped Prachtwerk / 16,50€ / 20:00 Ella John + Know Itselt + Nekrobot Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00 Murkage Dave Burg Schnabel / 13,20€ / 19:00 People Club ACUD / 11€ / 20:00
Pizzagirl Auster Club / 17,60€ / 19:00 The Sherlocks Cassiopeia / €17,20 / 20:00 Wives Urban Spree / 13€ / 20:00 R - Label Group Säule / / 22:00 Friday 22nd November Fatoumata Diawara Huxleys Neue Welt / 29,85€ / 19:00 Hypnotyst + Unicat + Fabrikant Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00 James Gillespie Auster Club / 17,95€ / 19:00 The Regrettes Urban Spree / €20,25 / 19:30 The Regrettes + Lauran Hibberd Musik & Frieden / 20,25€ / 19:00 Four Play KitKatClub / From 12€ +fee / 23:00 made of CONCRETE: Alex Bau + Marco Bruno + Reba Suicide Club / From 7€ +fee / 23:59 S L E E P E R S: Lagowski (Live) + Binh + Saverio Celestri OHM / 9€ / 23:59 Voxnox Invite Kaiser & Lars Huismann Diskothek Melancholie 2 / 10€ / 23:59
Saturday 23rd November Anomalie Clubnight xxx 3 Years Dcmb Showcase Anomalie Art Club / / 20:00 Cigarettes After Sex Tempodrom / 40,05€ / 18:30 Denovali Label Night Funkhaus Berlin / 23€ / 18:30 Hante. + Body of Light + Sólveig Matthildur Urban Spree / 21:00 Look Mum No Computer Musik & Frieden / 18,10€ / 19:00 5 Years Oscillate ://about blank / from 10€ +fee / 23:59 Carole.M Prachtwerk / / 23:00 DJ Flush’s Bday Rave: The Empire Line + Miley Serious Griessmuehle / From 13€ +fee / 22:00 Nordpath: Pulver #1: Ciccone + Lakeman + Ani Klang + Alys KAKE / 23:00 Sasomo with Fool & The Gang Kater Blau / From 10€ / 23:59 Sunday 24th November Juju Astra Kulturhaus / Sold Out / 20:00 Music for Airports - an ambient listening session Villa Neukölln / Donation / 18:00
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Surf Curse + Violet Fields Urban Spree / 13,20€ / 19:30
Devin Townsend + Haken Astra Kulturhaus / €38,50 / 20:00
Monday 25th November
Obliq + Toshi Nakamura Ausland / 20:00
Elefante Branco + Loft Party + Ondula Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00
Portico Quartet Heimathafen Neukölln / 29,45€ / 20:00
Radiator King + Ailsa and The Sea Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00
Simon Joyner Monarch / 13,20€ / 19:30
Seratones + Moa McKay & The Flying Cabaret Maze / 36,60€ / 19:00
The National Columbiahalle / Sold Out / 20:00
The Mauskovic Dance Band Urban Spree / 16,50€ / 19:00
Gobsmacked: Patrick DSP + Sarah Strandberg Griessmuehle / From 6€ +fee / 23:59
Tuesday 26th November
Thursday 28th November
Telefon Tel Aviv Gretchen / 15€ +fee / 20:00
Easterndaze × Berlin 2019: Conditional x Serious Serious ACUD / / 20:00
Temples Festsaal Kreuzberg / 24,90€ / 20:00 The National Columbiahalle / Sold Out / 20:00 White Hills Urban Spree / 18,80€ / 20:00 Wednesday 27th November Amplify Berlin 13: Pan Daijing + Jessika Khazrik + Johanna Hedva ACUD / 8€ / 20:00 Atilla + Veil of Maya Columbia Theater / 27,50€ / 18:00 Black To Comm + Julia Reidy Ausland / 9€ / 21:00
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Elspeth Anne + The Family Crest + Marie Germinal Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00 Jay-Jay Johanson + Tara Nome Doyle silent green kulturquartier / 25€ / 19:00 Kadebostany Gretchen / €21,20 / 21:00 Roman Clarke Maze / 19,10€ / 20:00 Sampa The Great Bi Nuu / 22,06€ / 19:00 Sarah Klang Auster Club / 19,00€ / 19:00 Sundays & Cybele 8MM Bar / 7-10€ / 19:00
Coma (DE) Urban Spree / 17,63€
Hypercolour: Kode9 + Peder Mannerfelt + K-Lone ://about blank / From 10€ +fee / 23:59
Friday 29th November
Klubnacht: Teste (Live) + Ancient Methods + Claire Morgan Berghain / Panorama Bar / / 23:59
AGA + OCD + Djs Cool In The Pool Madame Claude / Donation / 19:00 Tamino + Winnie Raeder silent green kulturquartier / 26€ / 19:30 The Female Troubles + Guest Loophole / / 21:00 Earth + Helen Money SO36
Room 4 Resistance 5th Year Anniversary Trauma Bar und Kino / 13€ / 23:00 SattaTree + IRIELAND Soundsystem + More YAAM / 11,77€ / 22:00
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark + Tiny Magnetic Pets Tempodrom 1 year shitlabel: Alton Miller + Bakläxa + Black Anthem Restore ://about blank / From 8€ +fee / 23:59 A Night With: Romare Gretchen / From 8€ / 23:59 Ten Cities: Gebrüder Teichmann & Wura Samba + Perera Elsewhere + More YAAM / 22:00 Saturday 30th November Last Dinosaurs Maze / 13,90€ / 20:00 Waxing Phases x Art Bei Ton - EclIPSE 1 ACUD / 10€ / 20:30 Bonaparte Festsaal Kreuzberg For listings and more: berlininstereo.com 45
in Berlin with Christian Müller Pon’t Danic Music
When did you move to Berlin? When I saw light for the first time in late 1990! I was born in Berlin, growing up in the East part of the city and still living in Weißensee. Who is your top Berlin artist at the moment? With our unique history of national and international artists, it is hard to pick one musician. Right now, I have a crush on Andi Fins and his amazingly charming indiepop gems, combining local flair with more international sounds. Tell us your go-to places to eat and drink. I love going to the cosy Gin Chilla near Warschauer Straße. It’s a journey through the worldwide tastes of Gin that your heart will never forget. Also near Warschauer Straße is the famous 1990 vegan restaurant, serving various great Asian bowls and dishes. What’s the best way to spend one really good day here? I love walking around lakes like the Weißensee, or maybe meeting friends with a Radler at the Spree-site. I advise you to try out some of the local Currywurst (also in vegan!) and visit the collection of prestigious museums we have here. Or - just meet me with a Gin somewhere. What’s your favourite thing about the city? Its unique history and collection of myriad cultures and subcultures, giving Berlin that modern international symbiosis of one global hotspot. There’s always something to discover or to learn about this town and you can never get bored. And there’s always a new friend waiting for you around the corner. And your least favourite? Sometimes it’s hard to understand why it still takes so much time and patience to get to 46
know each other better. There’s always some kind of clash in the mindsets of people living here: West-East, young-old, new-old residents. It’s so easy to just take a step towards someone or something new, but some people seem ignorant. Top venues? I loved the old White Trash and Rosi’s, unfortunately now gone. Their memories will live forever. Nowadays I like the Kulturbrauerei with all its various locations like Frannz Club or Alte Kantine, you should visit the Kesselhaus Acoustics in Summer and just walk through that historic place. It is magnificent! From your time at Pon’t Danic, what’s your advice for new artists and industry newcomers? Think outside the box. If you do the same as everyone else, no one will pay attention to you, try to give your sound or your work a unique turn that speaks for itself. Don’t try to be like everyone else, just be you and show it through your art. Christian Müller, PR manager at Berlin’s Pon’t Danic Music, working in promotion, management and press since 2014. More at: pontdanicmusic.de
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