Music

Brooklyn-based artist Arthur Ashin a.k.a Autre Ne Veut graced us with his presence on Monday at Naherholung Sternchen. Some would say his music is an acquired taste; melancholic, therapeutic, proverbial emotional outpouring.. whatever you want to call it. It’s music that makes you feel as if he’s singing directly to you, yet each track seems to have an unclear, intense hidden-meaning, making it more intriguing with each listen…

Another addition to the long list of amazing bands coming out of Canada lately; Vancouver’s own Nü Sensae recently stopped by West Germany to play a packed show and didn’t disappoint. Entering the derelict-looking venue, I noticed the place had already pulled in a pretty full crowd. This wasn’t that surprising due to all the great press the band has gotten in the past year. SPIN magazine named them as one of their ‘Top Five New Artists of 2012’

Last weekend the Mindpirates celebrated the beginning of spring with a beautiful collaboration of a multitude of artists. Jamie Drouin aka Liquid Transmitter was one of the artists of the open formats In The Silo. And his performance fitted perfectly in this wonderful berlinesque venue that used to be a real silo. Liquid Transmitter’s electro music completely reflected the blank concrete of abstract shapes (crop funnels) as well as the soft and spare light of candles. The sound and image of the whole performance was underlined by visual art reflections of visual artist Juan Hurle. The audience was of diverse age and was transported into an atmosphere of space, emotion and wonder. Enjoy our video reportage of it.

Liquid Transmitter (21.04. 2013, Mindpirates @ In The Silo / Berlin) from Roland Brockmann on Vimeo.

Ben Caplan is a smoking, whisky-drinking, balladeering, honey-voiced raconteur with a very very big beard and a personality to match. It’s a pretty good test of a performer’s mettle if he can take a crowd with him with nothing but his voice and a guitar. He played quite simple guitar – nothing flashy – and sometimes jumped onto the piano. But his voice slipped from a quiet whisper to a huge angry sound and back again with ease. His songs are varied and intelligent. There are singalong choruses aplenty. And one thing that’s special: Ben Caplan is really fucking funny.

In the second of indieberlin’s video reportage series we feature up and coming Danish rock/folk/pop dude Jesper Madsen aka Echo Me – his debut album is out on Für Records and is seriously good; he’s also toured the world with an acoustic guitar and a backpack – playing on every local BalconyTV he could find – which meant Prague, New York, Texas…the man’s taken the trail, paid his dues, and now he’s in Berlin with a helluva band. Check out our little chat live with him with snippets of the concert inbetween.

Echo Me (20. 04. 2013, Nordlicht Klub Tour @ Intersoup / Berlin) from Roland Brockmann on Vimeo.

On Friday night indieberlin managed to catch crazy Calypso revivalists Lord Mouse and the Kalypso Katz live in Bassy. We also managed to chat with Lord Mouse himself – check it out…

Another promising edition to the Privatclub lineup; Matthew E. White stopped by this week to bring his mixture of crooning vocals and exceptional instrumental talent with addition of his bassist Cameron Ralston, and drummer Pinson Chanselle. The smooth and convincing sound of Matthew’s voice is like a comfy blanket wrapping around you, making you feel like all is well in the world.

Yay! It’s Pinky’s Peepshow time again, this time presented by the only electric-blue bunny-suit-wearing MC in town, Scotty the Blue Bunny. How he stands out from that crowd of bunny-suit-wearing MCs I don’t know, but he does. Then we got stunning international burlesque acts Tallulah Freeway from Canada, the burlesque dancer named after a road, and Erochica Bamboo from Tokyo, also the slightly worryingly named Frank Sanazi, follow the article to see the embedded vid, which, well, frankly doesn’t reassure me that much….

Brooklyn-based psychedellic rock mavens, Psychic Ills, played the 8MM Musik Night at Bassy and it was magical to say the least. For one thing, it was one of the most packed shows I’ve been to lately, plus it was on a Tuesday which is quite impressive. The atmosphere was similar to what you would imagine an opium den to be like; a familiar haze filled the air and sleepy looking attendees sauntered around while swaying to the music.

To celebrate the long awaited rays of sunshine Spring bestows upon us Mind Pirates have invited a mixture of musicians who will play an array of audio-visual experimental compositions, over two days in the Mindpirates Silo. The unique space in the Silo is exemplified by its geometric architecture ideal to create an introspective atmosphere for mind-bending fusion.

Bop to the bass in an amalgamation of krautrock, post punk, hip hop and loose your senses in a mingling of jazz beats, drone, ambient techno; consummated to perfection with psychedelic visuals; an ensemble erupting to elevated electronic euphoria, taking you on a trip deep into other worldly phenomena. Together we’re going to galvanize our minds, lavish our bodies and rejuvenate our wintered soul in Spring’s awakening. Sounds pretty crazy, huh?

To show you once again a more personal side of indieberlin, we have decided to introduce to you the indieberlin team little by little.

… and this time it’s Noel Maurice under the spotlight!

Noel Maurice first arrived young and fresh-faced in early 90s Berlin after taking a wrong turn somewhere and deciding to stay. He landed directly in Tacheles and lived there in the early days of the now famous art house, helping to shape the brand new underground scene. In between helping to start clubs and helping to end them he managed simultaneously to enjoy the wilder aspects of the scene while also forming, joining and leaving numerous indie bands and collectives.

Lasse Matthiessen hat ein neues Album aufgenommen. Diesmal nicht mit Band, sondern mit Ian Fisher (US) und Halla Nördfjörd (Island). Es ist intim, leise, dreistimmig und sehr ehrlich. Die Platte heißt “Carry Me Down” und kommt am 24. Mai in die Läden und durch die digitalen Kanäle und landet hoffentlich direkt bei euch.

Davor gibt es natürlich ein tolles Release-Event: am 16.05. findet ein Konzert in den Nordischen Botschaften statt – und zwar mit freiem Eintritt!

Aber wer nun erst mal ein signiertes Album “Carry Me Down” gewinnen – möchte, der schreit laut oder mailt uns unter dem Betreff “Lasse Matthiessen” an win@indieberlin.de

The master graces us with his presence and his beard in Privatclub tonight. Highly recommended!

I’d first heard of Joachim Deutschland, bizzarely enough, in London whilst spending a disproportionate amount of time amongst Germans, which in retrospect was probably the time when the seeds of Germanophilia that eventually brought me here were sown. When I found out on the day that Joachim Deutschland was playing at Junction Bar, I flushed with excitement, involuntarily released a small amount of urine before changing my underwear and making my way swiftly down to Kreuzberg.

Danish rock luvvies The Rumour Said Fire are in Magnet tonight and we highly recommend you join us there and see what all the fuss is about!

Bunny suit is not a new band, it’s a new name. Bunny Suit is rather a reformed and re-thought band.

Originally called Quixote, the band was born on a slowly sinking houseboat in central London, hardened through countless tours through the dive bars of a Britain in the meltdown of the financial disaster of ’08. When fighting for its survival in trend-obsessed, big-business London caused the band to implode, the individual members went their separate ways, with Cameron Laing, head rabbit, washing up in Berlin after a period of searching unsuccessfully for absinth, literature and his soul in the back alleys of Paris.

Berlin was immediately kind to Cameron – meeting a member of the German band Klee while busking, and being invited to sing back-up on their album – and so he was quick in getting in touch with his old bandmates and getting them to join him.

Considering the amount of energy that was put into Friday’s show, the name of the band seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If this was your way of kicking off the weekend ‘turbo’ is definitely a fitting description.
The Danish (now) quartet took to the stage at Postbahnhof to a constantly increasing audience. And as the night progressed so did the on-stage dancing, bouncing, and howling. The band’s characteristic synth-rock sound echoed in the big venue, which has a stripped-down, nightclub aesthetic complimentary to the vibe of the boys in the band.

A few dozen of us were lucky enough to catch an entertaining 30 minute solo set
featuring Eamonn Dowd, the hard working Irish troubadour currently
touring around promoting his latest release ” Things aren’t the way they used to be”.

We talked to Cameron Laing from Bunny Suit (ex-Quixote) in his rehearsal room last week. The man has plenty to say, from living in a sinking houseboat owned by an errant MI6 agent to trying to not get killed in Paris. Part I is here, Part II we’ll post next week.

Bunny Suit play in Grüner Salon this SAturday, 13th April, with support from Rooftop Runners and guests. A great live band, they’re definitely worth checking out.

Usually writing a review of a gig is pretty easy. Most bands are reasonably straightforward to describe and concerts too. I’ve just got back from an evening with Ken Stringfellow and I’m completely confused as to what to write.

Ken Stringfellow is hugely, stunningly talented. He’s very weird. He’s extremely funny. He’s one of the most naked performers I’ve met. He’s a very warm and loving human being. He seems nervous but he stands two feet from a member of the audience and sings the most open and aching song you can imagine looking straight into their face, without blinking. While turned away from the audience and tuning his guitar he mutters as if to himself about being an emotionally fragile person who’s going through a nervous breakdown – and has been, he says, for some time now. And then says, It’s great – you should try it. And giggles.
But what songs. What an amazing voice.