Efdemin - There will be singing

This vid cuts the song annoyingly early but you get the idea.

irish man makes gay german music

I'm allowed say that cos I's gay...and its good.

Culoe De Song - The Bright Forest

Vice Guide to Liberia

Part 1 of 8 part documentary about civil war in Liberia. This shit is bananas. More here.

Lock the door

2 German fucks came into my bedroom this morning weilding power tools and started speaking to me auf Deutch. I blearily managed to blurt out "Wass?!" then they came in, walked over to the window, had a little conversation with each other and walked out again. Was it all a dream?

New Aphex Twin

New track Metz from Aphex. The song is great and the sound quality of this, what seems to be live recording, is fantastic.

Dirk Leyers - Wellen

Dirk Leyers - Wellen. Love this song. Music to dance and cry to.

New Ellen Allien

Ellen Allien's new LP Dust has been released...and I gotta be honest, it ain't great. If this had been released by an unknown then perhaps I'd be easier on it but the glaring fact that this album has been created by the same woman who made 2006's Berlinette keeps lurking in the back of my mind. That album was so good and enduring that Allien's career for me will always be linked with it. I thought Sool was pretty good, an interesting stripped back album, minimal in the true sense of the word, and really not made for the dancefloor. Dust however seems to be almost purposefully produced for radio play. Sadface.

MIA - Bittersuss

MIA - Bittersuss



2 awesome tracks.

Richie Hawtin @ Watergate

So I tentatively went out on Wednesday night to see Richie Hawtin in Watergate, a club miss leadingly listed as "Der Drum-n-Bass Club in Kreuzberg" on their website. I've been to Watergate around 4 times now and not once have I heard drum and bass there. Update the site guys. The club is situated on the River Spree about 2 minutes walk from the U-Bahn station Schlesisches Tor. The club is notorious for being difficult to get into, large groups, cameras and visible displays of drunkenness are forbidden there. I had planned to meet up with a guy off this a website I joined recently called couchsurfing.org, a social network for travellers where people can meet up with like-minded people or stay on their couch if they're visiting their city. Its been a godsend for me. Since my arrival I've been out on 3 different couch surfing related events and I've already met people that I'll certainly stay in contact with...but I digress. I went out to meet a dude from this site who thankfully turned out to be great, Bogdan from Romania.

We started in Cake bar on Schlesische Str, around the corner from Watergate. Nice little spot with inoffensive music and friendly barstaff...and permission to smoke indoors. We were soon joined by Alex, a techno fiend from France, and thankfully a real nice guy. From there we went to a Spaetkauf where we bought some vodka and Club Mate and sat outside drinking. This sort of activity is common in Berlin where there's no laws against public drinking. Its telling of the German attitude that the only people I see visibly drunk on the streets are tourists. Time somehow ran away from us and we didn't actually arrive at Watergate until around 2.30. Early enough by Berlin standards but it was a holiday the next day (I think celebrating the assension of Christ in his rocket ship to heaven) and everyone and their mother was out on the town. After about 30 minutes of standing in the que we eventually made it in. Bogdan had never been there before and was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

The first thing you notice about Watergate is the sound system. Its bangs and pops perfectly without totally drowning out conversation. One of the clubs signature features is the ceiling lights that stretch from one end of the dancefloor to the next, undulating and shining in time with the music. When we got in some fairly generic techno was playing, it was ok but nothing exciting. Richie Hawtin came on at about 4 and immediately started a stonking set. The techno playing before him was good, but the jump in quality was immediately apparent when Richie started. Wave after wave of huffing, puffing, pumping, grunting techno washed over us. It had an organic quality that was more akin to tribal chanting then synthesised beats. This guy is clearly experienced and you can hear it.

Richie is 40, although his looks, attire and flock of seagulls haircut give him the air of someone in their mid-twenties. He's been djing for 2 decades and it shows. I got to go right up and see what was going on in his box. He had one monitor which was displaying Traktor and a huge interface with countless knobs and dials. The man was so natural and had such a deft touch that several times when I saw see him leaning over talking to people seemingly distracted his hands didn't stop working furiously for a second and not a beat missed.

After about 2 hours we went downstairs where Magda was playing. The difference in style at first was jarring, she was playing spaced out electro techno, stuff like Erland Oye, even almost Italo disco stuff. It was pretty eclectic but really on the spot. It drizzled funk all over us and sizzled us lightly until smiles were all around again.

We returned to Richie for what had to be the highlight of the night. I don't even know how to describe it. He basically went into a spiral of filthy acid sounds that really pushed the crowd. This was around 7am and you could see the crowd getting visibly tired. Techno isn't really even the word for what he was doing, a mash up of scagged out acid sounds that pushed the people there, the survivors, whose reward for their endurance was new heights of sonic entertainment. It was amazing. The three of us nearly died.

We went up and downstairs a bunch more times throughout the morning, each time being rejuvenated by the new sounds but eventually we had to retire. At 9 Bogdan and I left, while Alex stayed, aiming to continue dancing with the still substantial crowd that remained. He was still able to compete in the marathon but I wasn't. I left satisfied squinting in the sunlight and got my train home.

Titter

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com

Animal Collective - My Girls

At this point everyone in the world knows this song. In spite of all of its individual elements, elements that independently make my toes curl and my stomach turn (e.g. anthemic nature, hand claps, almost college rock sensibilities), I love this song. Its causing an internal struggle. Hopefully in about 6 months I'll never want to listen to it again.

Flying Lotus feat. Thom Yorke - ...And The World Laughs With You

Flying Lotus feat. Thom Yorke - ...and the world laughs with you. Cosmogramma is great.

Kinda cheesy chicago house bounce

Its good though.

Huge Hephner

Its hard to find any streaming media of this dude but he's definitely worth checking out. He released an album in 2008 called "Nymphotech". Its pure chicago house bounce. Check it out.

Suit

More here.

Glass Candy - Beatific

Normally not into Italo disco especially when being aped by Americans in the noughties but this song convinces.

Finally

So I finally arrived in Berlin. Eyuckyuckoololly tried to stop me but only put a temporary hold on my new life in Germany. My new place is a bit of a shit hole but the room is pretty sweet and, according to google maps, my apartment is 2 minutes walk from Berghain and only 20 minutes walk to Watergate. It worries me slightly...

That is all

For old times sake...

Seeing Bjork live in Belfast a few years ago was probably the best live music experience I've ever had. At the end Hyperballad went into LFO's Freak. I had to go home and change my pants immediately.

New Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma out now. Looking forward to checking the whole album out. Enjoying this tune very much so.

And this...

This video below contains some explicit cartoon scenes, flashing lights and is FOR OVER 18's ONLY.


Directed by Eric Wareheim (Tim & Eric) in association with Warp Records and Warp Films. Music by Flying Lotus. Co Directed/ Animation by Devin Flynn. Co Directed/ Edited by Eric Fensler. More info at dancefloordale.com

Dancefloor Dale can teach all of us a thing or two.

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo

Forgot about this one.