live

  Brass, percussion and woodwind that somehow sounds like a beach. Possibly everything I  ever want from a band. They entered the “stage” area looking quite unassuming with a minimal drum kit, tenor saxophone (later bass clarinet) and trombone, and all three players looking quite different.

oxbow berlin © os/haireTonite Oxbow/Parts And Labor/Harvey Milk - three bands, three different stories, but they have one thing in common - crossovering rock music.
Some can do it good some can make you feel sorry you where born. The event took place in Festsaal Kreuzberg, the theater-like decoration set the right mood for this crossover-doom music.

boris 1/foto: osVolume. Massive Volume. it's interesting to see how in the last few years the Amps getting the status of and instrument, just like the guitar and the drums. since the all doom-stoner-drone-metal revolution, led by Stephen O'Malley and his gang, More and more people are neglecting the sound system and the PA in favour of walls and walls of heavy old amps, chaining them with mics, creating a massive, pushy, warm sound. No wonder that the first thing you notice when you walk towards the Magnet-Club small stage is three piles of amps, one by Orange, one by Sunn and one by Ampeg. The minimized drum set between them looks so innocent and harmless next to them. I was appear to be wrong.

current93/photo:peVolksbühne: Monday, April 14:
The haunted night of the 14th of April at the Volksbühne theatre in Berlin was a tribute to the dark side of life and the bright side of death. Current 93, positioned on stage as if on the initiation of the performance of a ritual, indicated the trip from silence to chaotic audio expressions of sentiment.

silver apples/photo:feMaria am Ostbahnhof: Wednesday, March 5:
Formed in New York, 1967, Silver Apples was the music project that consisted of percussionist Danny Taylor and vocalist Simeon Coxe. Taylor would perform on an extensive drum kit their clear and decisive beat and Simeon, apart from doing vocals, would manage the duo’s peculiar home made synthesizer, constructed by the latter. The intelligence of two diverse units of sound telling the same story with such unusual for the cause instruments as narration vehicles is what makes Silver Apples a unique and avant-garde sound project to the present day.

Ignatz/Olivier Schrauwen//CTM08Club Maria: Thursday, Jan 31: Efterklang, Islaja, Machinefabriek, Conrad Schnitzler, Ignatz // Despite having lived here for six months, I still find it remarkably easy to get lost in Berlin. And so it was trying to find Maria, walking along some wind tunnel of a street looking for a bridge. Eventually, pointed in the right direction, we arrived at Maria a la CTM, a cavernous place buzzing with people, small holes in the wall with Japanese girls selling okonomiyake, others records, others enormous wooden cars.

30/01/08 : The huddled masses have entered through the double wooden doors of the church at Passionskirche, filling in hurriedly out of the rain. Some stop to gaze at the altar with wide-eyed reverence, which is tonight adorned with all kinds of musical instruments. Tonight Iron and Wine will be preaching to the devoted. In the great, red brick Passionskirche, every seat is filled. There are so many devotees that many had to stand or sit on the ground and the wooden, straight-backed pews have no place left. From the balcony, one can see that the entire floor level is nearly full. A hush is on the crowd, lights fade from the massive, starry, stained glass chandelier as Iron and Wine take the stage.

stoolsClub Maria : Tuesday, Jan 29:
The first time I’ve been to Maria, I’ve heard a lot of things about it, from it being a “bratzen” club to it being a very cool place. My view is cool, and very “Berlin”. Down some dirty path and right next to the Spree it’s an old waterworks or something and still retains that industrial vibe but has had a lot of money spent on it, for example there were about 15 projectors on the rig in just one half of the main room. Then there was all these little cardboard tables or stools across the floor, looked at first like some kind of art but then I realised they were just stools as for this kind of experimental / drone music it’s not really good to stand around, it’s much more pleasurable to sit.

blk mntFestsaal in Kreuzberg is a cool venue, seems quite small but has ample space, the delusion in size i think comes from the theatre-esque balcony that stretches all around 3 walls facing on the relatively small stage. The stage looked quite hectic, as they often do at the start of a night with 2 or 3 bands equipment on, now tonight was only 2 bands, between them having 7 members (2+5).

michael rotherI'm not really a fan of reformations, but when i found out Harmonia were playing i was more than excited and knew I'd kick myself if I missed this, their first show in 30 years. I was a bit dubious when i arrived at the venue kind a mix between the Barbican and some JG Ballard styles, but fuck it, you're hardly gonna see em darnk old building now, eh?

clubmariaPerhaps I am naïve for just assuming this show would be flawless, but I tend to go for the reunion gag a bit too easy…plus I just really wanted it to be good. When I went to see the Vibrators last summer thinking I’d be satisfied by their new-wave radness it was really disappointing. The sound was shit, they were boring and old and who cares? We like slathering vehemence and moody atmosphere at our live shows, that’s the point, right?

KTL (by jk)The night started with a friend and I hatching a last minute plan to get in to this show free after we walked by and checked the scene out. We’re broke, it’s the Locust, they’d want us to….
We cased the entire block and decided our best bet was to try to get in from the back. To do this we had to climb over a Volkswagon dealership‘s security gate and through 3 1/2 hof’s to try to jump the short wall at the east side of Festsaal Kreuzberg to the outer yard and into the show.

I felt the epic standard of Lucifer Rising and I thanked the Egyptian gods to have summer back as I rode my bike down Skalitzerstrasse. The air was like being in a warm swimming pool and I could only think about cold beer when I arrived at the Festsaal Kreuzberg Keller Tuesday night, 17/7/07. I’d noticed a lot of English being spoken in the streets and cafes all that day and also amongst those who waited for the show.

***May 5, 2007: The Boredoms continued their sprawling kraut drum-corps meets psychedelia era last Donnerstag at a half-full Volksbühne. With no opening act, they launched into their drum-centered set, a fast-paced romp through the lands of Neu and calculated free-jazz. Three full-stocked drum sets faced each other with peripheral gadgets, keyboards and pedals while Eye stood Northeast with a stack of electronics in front of a new invention: a color-coded arrangement of rack-mounted lapsteel guitars each tuned to a different chord and set up to be struck and manipulated with various sized sticks.

newsomAt a Volksbühne filled to the brim, Joanna Newsom and her Y's Street Band brought some of their magic to Berlin this past Wednesday. A crowd of all age groups chattered over the reverb-laden celtic harp music as stage technicians carefully lined up water bottles aside empty chairs before the lights went down and Alasdair Roberts entered from a door at the back of the stage opened and closed by a hidden person. Roberts, a Drag City Artist from Callander, Scotland (home of the last UK resident to be imprisoned under the "British Witchcraft Act of 1735" during WW II) plays a mixture of original and traditional guitar tunes and received attention several years ago from his collaboration with Will Oldham and Jason Molina entitled "Amalgamated Sons of Rest."

vega32Alan Vega und Jon Spencer mit seiner neuen Formation Heavy Trash entern die Berliner Volksbühne. Es ist Montag, der 23. April, Boris Jelzin ist heute verstorben, Bayern München steckt mal wieder in seiner tiefsten Krise seit Menschengedenken, seit Wochen schallt und titelt es aus dem Blätter- und Anzeigendschungel, auch heute abend stimmen Vega und Spencer ein in den Kärgsten aller kargen Refrains: Rettet Die Welt! Und dies alles nur weil Georgie Bush sich vor dem nun wieder mal von Demokraten geführten Kongress einen harmlosen und völlig unerheblichen Nebensatz nicht verkneifen konnte. Ts, ts.

akron1

Akron/Family, Josephine Foster and Mi & L'au entered Festsaal Kreuzberg stage last Friday, April 13th. With the sharpest analysis possible our man for action Martin G Fuller went there, came, saw and conquered. Read his voice rapping about essence, power, fun and mistakes:

1Jahr für Jahr das gleiche Problem: Die Transmediale feiert sich selbst, die Kuratoren blasen zum großen Halali: Ob nun Marc Weisser oder Jason Forrest spielt eigentlich keine große Rolle für die konservative Nabelschau. Eine jährliche Veranstaltung, die in vielerlei Hinsicht gefördert und gesponsert wird, präsentiert Pomp, Glitter, Glanz und Gloria in den Betonwänden des Club Maria. Immerhin werden uns 8 Tage am Stück kleine Häppchen und Happen aus dem experimentellen Underground gereicht - über die Auswahl lässt sich natürlich streiten. Nun ist die einstmals subkulturell vitaminreiche Kost der Transmediale zum selbstlaufenden und stark entwässernd wirkenden Marathonprojekt mutiert, oder besser transmeditiert. Es ist eben nicht damit getan, den einen oder anderen großen Namen als Headliner zu installieren wie den Kanadischen Breakcore-Spezialisten Venetian Snares für den Samstag Abend unter der Leitung von Jason Forrest.

Wenn Bardo Pond und Espers ihr Deutschland-Debut geben, wie gestern Nacht im Festsaal Kreuzberg, wundert man sich schon im ersten Moment, wer - was - oder wieviele Leute wohl kommen mögen. Dass sich dann am Ende doch ausser den üblichen Verdächtigen eine recht durchmischte Schaar einfindet um teilweise übereuphorisiert vor der Bühne wie ein Gummiball auf und ab zu hüpfen, verwundert letztendlich doch nur am Rande. Der freifliegende Psychedelic-Folk der Espers samt Cello- und Korgorgel-Klangschlierenecho sowie der aufwühlend-ergreifende Precious Metal von Bardo Pond, kopfüber statisch hängend und vorzugsweise im Slow-Motion-Modus ausgeführt, bringt uns ein Stückchen näher an die Basis der gegenwärtigen Szene aus Philadelphia, PA.

WOW! Knallharte Show im Festsaal Kreuzberg. Diese beiden Kids aus Brooklyn verwandeln sich live in eine leicht entflammbare Mischung aus Boredoms, King Crimson, Red Krayola und Incredible String Band. Beinhart und irre schnell gezwirbelde Beats konterkarieren mit filigran-bratzig gejagten Gitarrefiguren, Drummer Tom Hohmann bedient gleichzeitig Vocals, Drums, Keyboards und ein Bass-Pedal. Snakefinger Colin Langenus spricht mit uns durch den Amplifier. Achtung! This splashed-in-the-face post-industrial hard- and organic-core might set skullcaps on fire.

Das 7-Mann Freeform-Kollektiv Sunburned Hand Of The Man entstammt der Boston Area, genauer gesagt residiert Kopf und Gründer der Band John Moloney in Somerville, MA, einem nordöstlich gelegenen Suburb. Als Gastmusiker und einziger Engländer ist Mick Flowers vom Vibracathedral Orchestra heute im Berliner fave-dive West Germany mit dabei.