Attack, Attack, Attack

It has been a pretty f-ing cool week behind the scenes here.

Tuesday, I went to Save the Cake and set up a dj spot for a future date there at West Germany. GogoRomance & Almost Tropical, May 9th, West Germany, Skalitzer Str. 133.

Thursday I found out I got an internship with the management of Chicks on Speed, working with their new artist, Planningtorock.

Friday i had a rendez-vous with Simple Kid.

Yesterday was my birthday.

Tonight, if I've recovered from it all I might make it to see the Organ.

Fucking hoorah.

Oceans Won't Freeze So Loosen Your Heart

I had STARS in my eyes on Friday night. They came from Montreal and brought their friends Most Serene Republic with them. I am very glad I bought the tickets beforehand because it totally SOLD OUT. Outside Magnet people were plaintively calling out to those going inside, asking to buy their tickets. Gigs don't often sell out in Berlin..

MSR were in the middle of their set when we arrived, it was quite obvious they were not German and were in fact marvellous Canadians. There were seven of them onstage, with a girl on lead guitar who was sharing vocals with the crazy red headed frontman. He was very nice and full of energy. While in Berlin he ate some Pizza. He was very impressed by the box his pizza arrived in, he brought it onstage to show us. Sometimes they reminded me of the Postal Service, in a musical way. Oh and he was beatboxing.

When STARS came onstage everyone was incredibly happy to see them and those up the front were lucky bastards, im tall enough but i was on the tips of my toes most of the time trying to see. There was a line from a song that was something about smoking too many spliffs. I never noticed this lyric before. Maybe it was a new song. It reminded me of a story one of my flatmates, Geeta Dayal had told me, back in September when I had just arrived in Berlin. Aw. In a previous existence, Geeta used to book bands, one of them being STARS. She told me a story about Torquille. It was one of his first gigs mabye and he was so nervous she had to take him by the hand and give him a joint to smoke so he could calm down before going onstage. He was rather gregarious on Friday night so I guess he's been working on his stagefright. "This is a song about fucking and death...You like that, right? C'mon it's Berlin." It was sad that they didn't play, "What the Snowman Learned About Love". Maybe they just dont play it live, they didn't at their gig here the last time either. Towards the end of the show when they played "Calendar Girl" it was as if Torquille was trying to look each person in the audience right in the eye. Every time he sang the words "I'm alive" he searched the crowd with his eyes, pointedly looking at each person. He practically scolded us for cheering for an encore. "An hour and half of music..I mean, c'mon!". My favourite song, "Elevator Loveletter" was introduced as written by Amy on a popsicle stick. It reminded me of how i discovered them, listening to the radio late one night, i heard that song and scribbled it down on a scrap piece of paper so I wouldn't forget.

Most of the time during the gig I was standing there with tears in my eyes and my hand on my heart. It was just one of those great nights. I even got to dance and play pool with Robbie! I was at this gig with some friends who had never heard the band ever before, and they really fell in love with them. Its a testament to the kind of music that they make. It was so great to see STARS having a show all to themselves, compared to the last time when they were playing one night of Popkomm with four other bands. Amy looked like she was having lots of fun, she makes funny guitar faces. I am sad that i got distracted and didnt get to the merchandise desk in time to buy a pretty bag.

..Kept Us Awake With Wolves Teeth, Sharing Different Heartbeats in One Night..

Last night the Knife played an amazing show.
They were wierd and strange and everything they played in their short set comprised of totally different versions of the original, apart from a new song which I think they left alone. I recognised "Heartbeats" and "Pass It On" but i dont know what else they played - it was hard to tell because nothing was familiar! Except when Karin sang, because she did keep the vocals the same. The music was just completely not the same. I had been wondering before the gig what her voice would sound like - it's really great, especially when its not being manipulated electronically.

One of their Myspace pages claims they "refuse to play live" , and i heard that they really don't like touring, so this was a special gig. One of four i believe. it sold out, and people were being taken off the guestlist there were so many trying to get in. i had this feeling that i'd never ever get to see them play live, and i still feel like i haven't. It just wasn't a typical gig experience i guess. Maybe they play these different versions of their songs because it disrupts the expectations of the crowd completely. It was kind of a strange feeling: to be so familiar with these songs and expect to hear them at the live show..but it didnt work that way last night. i didn't feel cheated or anything, i still liked what they did, really liked it. If anything i admire them even more, i guess the way they manipulated all the songs in such a way - or rather just played them in a completely alternate fashion, it wasn't like remixes, these were completely different sounds - shows how great their music is, if they can change it around so much and still have it sound great, on the first listen, live.
It was more like some kind of performance art i feel like. The stage was set up with slim rectangular lights and macabre dummies with huge heads upon which monstrous faces and skeletons were projected. One of the dummies robotically winded a handle, as if a music box, the other one set between Olaf and Karin loomed over the stage with two heads. The visual effects were gorgeous - quirky animations and unsettling imagery. Olaf seemed to be banging an electronic drum thing. I guess the rest was laptops hooked up to booming speakers. Kind of like a really fucking cool dj set. A gauzy see-through black curtain was hanging in front of the stage, so it caught some of the projections - like dripping blood, stars and cool linear formations. Karin and Olaf's faces were painted in ultraviolet stuff that made them appear to have no features. Sometimes they looked like aliens, or monkeys. Then the lights would change and you would see Karin smile or Olaf take a swig of beer. They kept the songs short and did not come back for an encore.
Of course, we got stuck beside some boys who insisted on attempting to do raver-dancing despite the fact that the Maria was packed so tightly. They caused a bit of a ruckus, but it was kind of funny. They were wearing sunglasses and waving their arms about like sweaty '90s ravers.

My friend's friend was in town for a visit and came out with us to the gig. The last couple of times he's been to Berlin were to play with his band, eh, Maximo Park. This time though, he's not in Berlin to work, just on a little holiday while band mates do other stuff, visiting girlfriends etc. Maybe its kind of obvious, but he seems totally different when he's standing one foot away than when he's a hundred feet away onstage performing. He's just like, a person. Who likes to visit cool places and go to good gigs. Hanging about in Berlin for a few days, wandering around the city, meeting up with friends, worrying that the crowd would get crazy, taking pictures of himself in front of the Berlin wall, not staying out too late so as not to be too tired for more roaming the next day. Bless.

Some music related stuff that came up included mention of a recent side project he's involved with called, i think, Meet Eric Roberts. It doesn't seem to be too serious an endeavour, nevertheless Paul said an NME reporter turned up at one of their tiny gigs in his hometown, so maybe there'll be some more news about that soon. Upcoming MP dates include a very special acoustic set in a small turret which is part of the remains of the city walls in Newcastle. (hope i got that right). The space only holds about 50 people and is apparently quite internationlly known as a venue for poetry readings. If the shiny glint in Paul's eye is anything to go by it seems like the band is really looking forward to it. After the gig we went to Monster Ronson's for some rock n roll Karaoke. Guess who took over the microphone? Ah, rightly so. He does a very good Bowie impression.

Tomorrow night it's a toss up between the Paddingtons at Magnet supported by Five!Fast!Hits! or Dirty Pretty Things at Postbahnhof.

Noise Noise Rock and Roll and Something Else Too.

Last Friday I moved house. For some reason the hardest part was getting everything down the 5 flights of stairs at my old place. After all the packing and carrying, I was pretty damn happy to finally be in my new place..and those worries i had about going to see unknown bands were easily overcome by "WOOHOO I MOVED TODAY I WANT TO CELEBRATE!!!!112" excitement. So i totally went to see the The Noisettes and The Rifles at Kalkscheune. With my flyer it was only 6 euros in. I like that. It was my first time at a gig there, but it felt eerily similar. (Mirror balls, red velvet...Is it owned by the same people as Magnet?). A really big crowd turned out for this gig including a guy who was disco dancing in a wheelchair (not the same guy i mentioned sometime before. this dude was probably 50 and took over the floor before much people had turned up yet. he ran over my foot later on while waiting for the Rifles.)

The Rifles came onstage and incited absolute mayhem in the crowd, for some reason. Me, I was falling asleep. I escaped the mosh pit but had to keep going further and further back as it just kept growing. Once or nine times I was really tempted to just leave, I was dead on my feet probably after the mad day i'd had, but also probably cos the band was a bit boring. And there had been a long wait for the gig to actually get started. So, im not sure if it was my tired state or the fact that maybe the band just is a bit same old same old. The very last two songs they played in their encore were definitely the best of the night.

Oh, i came across this. it think it explains better than i can how i feel about the band's music:

Oooo this shimmers, glitters and gapes with the yawning hole of shiny mediocrity. What’s-a-happening, there’s a black hole in one of the biggest music cities on this planet and it’s sucking the point out of everything; or at least sucking everything to a point where the urgent need to do something all your own seems to have been lost. The Rifles must have been kicking back waiting their turn while Oasis ransacked the mod revival for ‘inspiration’; ‘cept they’ve skipped the initial crime-spree kicks and bad-drug adrenaline rush of 'Definitely Maybe and jumped straight to the jaded nonsense of that awful fourth album.

Found here.

They told the crowd we were better than Munich, and that this was only their second gig outside of London. They were really excited and happy that people were going mad. Im glad they couldn't see me...

The Noisettes were actually on first but i feel like they should have been the main band on this evening. I want to finish this post on a positive note so I decided to write about them last.

So, imagine if bambi was a young black woman wielding a bass guitar...that's Shingai, the frontwoman of The Noisettes. She's...??!! Hard to explain. She came onstage in a bolero jacket and black suspenders, knee length leather trousers, sparkly lederhosen, one silver eyebrow and one chandelier earring. One or two of her curls were dyed bright pink or teurquoise and her eyes sparkled with intense energy. Her performance is very theatrical and her face is so expressive and animated as she sings, its hard to take your eyes off her. Before they'd got through their second song she had kicked off her shoes, i wonder by the way she moves if she spent some years as a dancer. Even doing rock n roll stage antics she looked lithe and graceful. Dropping to her knees, kicking her leg in the air and leaving it there, or hanging it over the end of her guitar, jumping up on speakers...Her voice is amazing and beautiful and its a shame because her mic didn't seem to be loud enough. She looks at odds with the rest of the band, the two boys whom she introduced as Wednesday and Friday. I am sure they have a real names and i hope they know how lucky they are to have Shingai because she really makes the band. I have no idea how to describe their music. That's probably a good thing. I stole a poster. I really hope they come back!

Here is a good link to an article/interview on them.

The Knife are playing this Thursday. Deep Cuts broke my heart last year in uni and this year in Berlin and now I finally get to see them live, !!! It's going to be an amazing show. I just know it.