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herrlindemann · 1 year

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KERRANG! - 12 October 2002

For Rammstein, growing up behind the Berlin Wall was a matter of life or death. Their incredible story can finally be told…

From the outside, East Berlin looks like any other prosperous Western city. Take the road to it from Schonfeld airport and the neon glow of petrol stations, fast-food chains, shopping malls and multiplex cinemas all flit reassuringly by. Near the centre, the glitzy communications tower looks positively sci-fi.

Get in closer, and the picture is less pristine. For every sign of new investment, there are as many examples of the old. Crumbling buildings — prison grey and rotting from the former Communist regime — serve as a reminder that the Wall which divided East and West since the Second World War is barely a decade gone. Graffiti covers every surface.

In the Prenzlauer district, this gulf between old and new is particularly striking. Brightly-colored apartment blocks and cafés sit right next to these corroding structures — half of which look like they might disintegrate at any moment. We are warned that the balconies dangling precariously from them have been known to descend into the street without warning.

It’s beneath such a balcony that we find Rammstein — a band renowned for reducing things to rubble.

Seemingly unaware of the latent doom scenario above theirs heads, four out of the six members — that’s guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, drummer Christoph Schneider and keyboardist Christian ‘Flake’ Lorenz — are sitting outside a curry house. Second guitarist Richard Z Kruspe-Bernstein is absent, having just moved to New York with his wife, although he literally phones in an appearance late. Press-shy meat-stack Till Lindemann is simply absent and uncontactable.

This is the first time the band have been back in their hometown for any length of time, following their punishing pan-continental touring schedule in support of ‘Mutter’. The atmosphere is relaxed. As everyone points out, this rare bit of downtime has allowed the band to focus on some extra-Rammstein issues. These include therapy, fatherhood, holidays in the sun, and a spot of interior decorating.

Still, these men are gathered here today to discuss Rammstein. If the exploits of six German and their flamethrowers across stages the world over has been long recognized as being one of the most extraordinary successes in rock, then the story of his they got there is even more remarkable.

Given that a band’s genesis is usually a clichéd tale of the unremarkable within the comfort of a Western society, you can’t help but wonder just what nu-metal’s whiny minions would make of Rammstein’s story. As far as band inceptions go, it’s one of the most bizarrely uplifting and surreal celebrations of triumph over adversity.

While techno-punk terrorist Alec Empire grew up on the prosperous, west side of the Berlin Wall, Rammstein began life on the other side. A side they describe as the ‘grey’ society, where queues were long, fun was short-lived and everything from your haircut to your shopping list went on a secret record somewhere. To an outsider, life itself under such conditions seems wretched and impossible. But where there’s a will, there is also a way. If the will is a contrary one with a penchant for mischief, then so much the better.

Indeed, as Paul Landers begins his side of the story you wonder whether, if you were to cut him ope, you might find running through him like the wording on a stick of rock, the legend ‘Adapt, Improvise, Overcome’. Set against the quiet Riedel, the blunt Schneider and the anxious Flake, the voluble guitarist is the animated soul of the band, punctuating all conversation with a flurry of gesticulation and dramatic sound effects.

“We lived like maggots in a piece of meat,” he recalls. “We lived in this repressive society, but we used any space we had for expression and doing things differently.”

Wowed by the power of the electric guitar, Landers soon found an outlet for expression through punk music and formed a band, Feeling B, with East Berlin natives Flake Lorenz and Christoph Schneider.

Punk was generally frowned upon by the state. Yet there were always legal loopholes to exploit. Since churches were exempt from the state certification process, a band could get gigs by registering as a wedding. Any serious gigging required a licence, obtained by playing in front of a designed committee. The guidelines were narrow and according to the guitarist, most licensed bands “sounded like Bruce Springsteen”, but Landers and co remained undeterred.

“On the face of it you complied,” he says, “but below you resisted.”

Cunningly, the band translated any politically sensitive material into English so it wouldn’t be understood and toned down their sound for the committee. The audition was also to bear a characteristic central to later Rammstein outings: a sense of provocative theatre.

“We dimmed the lights,” he says with a conspiratorial chuckle. “And we filled the place with dry ice using a washing machine we’d adapted. But,” and here he raises his finger in emphasis, “we wanted the dry ice to descend over everything like fog. So we put the washing machine on top of a ladder.”

It paid off. The band was issued a licence even if the committee had no idea what they were awarding it to. “We were given category ’S’,” he grins. “The uncategorized category.”

When they weren’t playing gigs, Landers and Flake, who squatted together in an apartment, would sell jackets made from cut-up bedsheets and dusters on the black market. Two jackets a month meant as much money as an average salaried worker.

“It was quite easy to make a living; to not work and stay out of trouble,” says Landers. “You only got problems if you got caught.”

If half of Rammstein were busily subverting the state, guitarist Richard Z Kruspe-Bernstein was suffering under it. Unlike his future bandmates living in the city, Richard — along with Till Lindemann and Oliver Riedel — came from the East German village of Schwerin. As a child, Richard would tell anyone within hearing distance that he was going to be a rock star, and sit for hours recording himself singing along to records. As a teenager, he was a troubled runaway, struggling to pursue his musical dream against a claustrophobic background of parental pressure and small-town mentality, where one in the three people were informants for the Stasi (German secret police).

“It was different in Berlin because it was a city,” he explains. “It was more spread out; but in the small towns they knew everything.”

While music provided an outlet for life’s trials — Richard and Till shared a loose network of bands — the guitarist’s patience snapped in early ’89 after getting caught up in a demonstration, mere months before re-unification. He was arrested and questioned by the police for three days.

“I had to stand against a wall for six hours at time,” he recalls, “and if I moved they beat me.” Richard was so shattered by the experience he decided to escape to the West.

It’s worth pointing out that a shoot-to-kill policy was employed by the police against anyone who tried to cross the wall. Richard is the only member of Rammstein who risked his life for a new one.

“Sometimes you have to do things,” he says, with stunning matter-of-factness. “You take the risk.”

While Richard fled his hometown, his longtime friend Till Lindemann was enjoying a more prosperous existence. Even then, the imposing frontman was something of an enigma, with a curious history. Having already represented the East as an Olympic swimmer, he had retired into that most rock’n’roll of professions: basketweaving. This was in part to recover from a youth recked through illegal steroid abuse.

Lindemann has netter himself a car and a house — unattainable items for most — from his business. It was this house that would be the central catalyst for bringing the six future members together. One morning, Landers, Flake and Schneider found themselves in its garden, after a particularly heavy night of partying.

“He was one of the ‘Silent Village People’,” says Flake of his first impression of the stern German who wrote poetry and could lift up his car by hand. “He was tall and big and did everything alone.”

Though they shared little common ground, notes Flake, a bond was forged. Lindemann was impressed with the music Flake and co bought from Berlin, while Lindemann in turn gave them access to something equally important: transport.

“Till was a party centre!” says Landers. “The stereo was always turned up full, and when we went to see bands, we’d all pile into Till’s car. There’s be up to 10 people in his car at any time…”

If the US-influenced punk played by band members was a product of repression in the East, then Rammstein itself was completely a product of reunification. Initially a casual noise project that took place in the basement between the six aspiring musicians, it came to represent the wealth of possibilities the fall of the Wall had released into their lives. Energy, excitement, experimentation.

“It was like anarchy,” says Schneider. “For a few years you could really do what you wanted to.”

So they travelled for the first time, toured the US for the first time and had access to technology (stage-lights, sequencers, decent amps) for the first time.

They also realized something for the first time. In the free market, to produce music that had any weight behind it, they had to stay true to their German roots.

Inspired by the drive and discipline of US acts, they returned home and began to concentrate more on Rammstein. Out went screaming guitar solos and in came the sequenced rhythms, guttural vocals and monotonous riffs that were to become Rammstein staples.

“It was completely free,” says Kruspe-Bernstein of their new lease of musical life.

“We were playing from the gut.”

Up until this point, Lindemann had still been trying to sing in English — a practice he found restrictive of his more complex lyrical ideas. The band reasoned that if they were going to play authentic, German metal, then they should extend the sentiment to the fullest. Switching to his mother tongue, Tills tales of violence and repressed emotions found a new voice.

“We played hard, we stood still and we had short hair,” says Kruspe-Bernstein. “We knew we were different.”

Rammstein have spent a career capitalizing on this very difference. It’s one of life’s little ironies that their innate German-ness is the very thing that has seen them embraced in every country except their own.

Although this is their hometown, our day with the band is not interrupted once by any fans, autograph hunters or even any stares from the curious, that you’d expect for a multiplatinum international act. Schneider puts much of it down to the fact that the German media still regard the band as a political debate rather than a musical act.

“Fans buy our records and come to the shows,” he says. “But we’ve never had any support from the media here — no airplay, nothing.”

Despite this, it’s interesting to note that all the members of Rammstein, save Kruspe-Bernstein, still live in the old East Berlin. Spend any time with them, particularly Landers, and you’ll feel a marked distaste for the new society. The guitarist’s assertion that capitalism has not been the savior to his hometown is rarely heard thought in a world where history and media have long decreed that no good can come of Communist regimes.

“I’ve seen both systems,” he says. “And if you compare it to now, life was much easier then. All your basic needs were taken care of. Obviously we’re happy the Wall fell, but look at all this, it’s so ugly.”

He gestures to a row of cafés and bars, which, were if not for the graffiti, could happily pass for a trendy corner of Islington. After Berlin was united, these kind of places forced out all the underground clubs and meeting points, stripping Berlin of its new-found energy and excitement. Landers singles out one culprit in particular — a pretentious looking bar called SODA.

“It’s like a yuppie club,” he says with disgust.

“They’re trying to be ‘cool’ and it’s ugly. Whenever I come back here from touring, Berlin seems so flat to me. It’s like I have to look for my own city.”

“The worst thing is, no-one realizes,” he sighs. “They think they have everything. But they have nothing.”

Not wishing to end on a sour note, the guitarist is keen to show us something East Berlin does have.

The Kesselhaus der Kulturbrauerei is a converted brewery complex that now functions as a gig venue and a museum of memorabilia. Here, Rammstein performed their first ever gig in 1993 — an uneventful performance apparently, that resulted only in six stiff necks the day after. But that’s not why we’re here.

In the museum next door is a Trabant — a car famous not just for being ugly and made almost entirely of fibre glass, but for being the only make of car available in the former Communist regime. To say that its awkward, graceless contours place it several rungs below a Skoda on the vehicular evolutionary scale is something of an understatement. It’s hideous and you wouldn’t be seen dead in it.

A grinning Landers notes that one of these beasts once belonged to Till Lindemann, and as such was responsible for forging the bonds that have kept them together for over 15 years.

It’s a surreal notion, particularly since the model in front of us looks like even two people might place an uncomfortable strain on its fragile exterior. However Landers assures us that this one is not to scale.

“Till’s car was much smaller,” he says with a wink. “You could get at least 20 people in this one.”

He raps the shell of the car affectionately, and it seems that everything that’s heroic, shocking, impressive and just blatantly ridiculous about this band suddenly falls into place.

“Easily.”

#Rammstein #Till Lindemann #Paul Landers #Flake #Flake Lorenz #Oliver Riedel #Christoph Schneider #Richard Kruspe #interview #2002 #my scans #*

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burlveneer-music · 11 months

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Current Affairs - Off the Tongue - excellent post-punk from Glasgow

To call Current Affairs a Glasgow band may initially seem misdirection. Though Joan Sweeney (ex-Rose McDowall’s Band, Aggi Doom, The Royal We) is a lifer, Sebastian Ymai (Comidillo Tapes, Pissy, Anxiety) came from Chile via York, recently relocating to Berlin in 2021, and new member Gemma Fleet (The Wharves, Order of the Toad, Dancer) alongside Andrew Milk (Shopping, Pink Pound) were persuaded to leave London for the ‘second city’ after touring through with previous bands. However, Glasgow is the heart and hub of the band’s music, musical life and the place where Off the Tongue was solidified and produced. Current Affairs’ music straddles new-wave pop and gothic post-punk in the way that you should expect a Glasgow-Berlin band to do so: with grit and panache. Written from within the world of crumbling services, broken bonds and wounded spirits, Off the Tongue rolls off an ecstatic rage, filled with hope for you, them and everyone else. It’s a rallying cry away from hopelessness, forgiving your fears and laying them to waste. Their album holds a place for you to be angry and to be focussed. In lieu of having anything else, we’ve always got each other, and an uncertain future is open game for us too.

#Current Affairs #postpunk #glasgow #uk #scotland #female vocal #2023 #Bandcamp

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that-weird-marvel-addict · 2 years

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MEET YOUR ARTIST

Hi my name is lala!! And here’s some stuff to get to know me better! I’ve been thinking of doing this for a while so I hope we have some things in common

I am 22 and I live in the United States in the Pacific Northwest

I work full time as a barber and I’m hoping to own my own shop where we specialize in alt/goth cuts and colors!

I LOVE drawing more than anything in the world! It brings me peace and joy and helps my process emotions

I am a witch and I practice daily and only in the good karmic stuff! To go with it I collect crystals and tarot cards. I also have a BIG OBSESSION with yummy smells so I always have a wax warmer, incenses or an essential oil diffuser goin on all times. I find clarity in my practice and it teaches me patience and to rid all negativity.

If I were to chose a favorite dish it would be sushi hands down every time

My favorite colors are red and black and I hardly have anything else in my wardrobe

I collect stuffed animals and right now I’m trying to find meilin lee or baby yoda stuffies anywhere I can

My style ranges between witch goth, punk, pastel goth and right now cyber goth.

As you noticed I’ve been into cyberpunk recently and the music is amazing in that category! I have a playlist made that I’ll share shortly

I love all music but I grew up on 80’s and 90’s Rock grunge metal etc. I later found a love for screamo and emo in middle school and now am branching out into industrial goth music!

I’m OBSESSED with Germany! If I could have a one way ticket anywhere it would be Germany. I plan on learning the language and one day I’ll save up a enough to see that gorgeous country! I even have a instrument that was built in east Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall!!

I came to tumblr to escape from the miseries of life and to find a collection of people like me! And I’m so happy I found it in the marvel fandom. Marvel has been a big part of my life since I was a kid and I hope to pass it on to my future family! Marvel had been a sanctuary for me when I didn’t have much of one so I thank everyone for accepting me into this weird little corner of the world!

I love meeting new people and making friends! I always look to see the good in people and understand them and what makes them happy!

I ADORE EVERYONE I HAVE MET ON HERE! The talent you all share in your art and your story telling just blows my mind! You have shown me that you can still shine as an artist even if that’s not the career you chose. For a long time I was lost in my art and didn’t know if I could ever reach greatness! But thanks to every single one of you on here I’ve learned I was wrong. If you wish to be An amazing artist you can! Even when you feel like no one sees your art it is still valuable and perfect because you made it with PASSION!

#thanks to my followers #meet your mun #meet your artist #this is me #not marvel related but still relatable #thank you for a warm welcome

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omegaplus · 1 year

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# 4,280

Tools You Can Trust: Working And Shopping (1983-1986, 2015)

Earlier this year, one of my mutuals gifted all of us a chance to grab a singles compilation from one of Manchester’s under-documented and swept-under bands. I’m surprised that almost no one mentions Tools You Can Trust in any way, shape, or form when they were the binding link of industrial, punk, and no-wave. It could be that all of their releases had one-and-done pressings possessed through their own Red Energy Dynamo label, but surely there’s other factors. Imagine vocalist Rob Ward channeling The Screamers while Tools- travel down the road of Einsturzende Neubauten’s “Steh Auf Berlin” and earlier Test Dept.’s dynamics and just as bare, focusing more on metallic percussion over whatever basslines and other drums they had. Unless there’s something else I don’t know about, there was no reason why Tools You Can Trust couldn’t be in the record books. At least the Burka For Everybody label compiled part of their legacy Working And Shopping out of four e.p.’s in “Say It Low”, “Cut A New Seam”, “Show Your Teeth”, and the title track with their Peel Sessions all rolled into one. For all those who weren’t there...

#Tools You Can Trust #punk #no wave #industrial #Red Energy Dynamo #Burka For Everybody #Screamers #Test Dept.#Einsturzende Neubauten #wow #omega #music #mixtapes #reviews #playlists

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zevranunderstander · 2 years

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I hate German hipsters but I'm not annoyed with them because they talk funny and listen to podcasts or whatever but mostly because every time I'm in Berlin's hipster neighborhoods I'm reminded of how *rich* they are as a social class. like. Oh, great that you are vegan and live ecologically sustainably. I bet that's really hard when you live in a neighborhood where there's a boba shop at every corner that wants 8€ for the cheapest drink and where rent is like 800€ for a single-bedroom apartment a month. Like, hipsters think they're leftists, but they are so fucking painstakingly liberal it's annoying. Like, they are gentrification incarnate. They have this whole culture of liking the aesthetic of cheap stuff, e.g. they like going to flea markets, but everything in Berlin flea markets is incredibly overpriced because a social group of rich 25-40-year-olds likes to go there and is now the audience these markets pander to. Berlin has an aesthetic that comes from its lower classes, with a big punk and gay scene, but higher classes are more and more intruding these communities for the aesthetic alone. like, for them it looks cool to be punk and to put stickers with punk slogans somewhere and say something really "daring" and "edgy" (like "fuck Donald Trump", or if they are really politically daring even "fuck the AfD"). Like, hipsters in Germany are an upper-middle-class social group that convinced themselves that they are punk and radical but they are slowly destroying actual punk and radical spaces because they go there because they are still "authentic", slowly turning them into a cult classic place where more and more hipsters flock to. And that is how you get like, abandoned yards that look incredibly unsafe to be at, where a random underground experimental art exhibition is held and next to the yard are like, 20 vegan food stands with long queues of people in them all wearing thrifted outfits from the thrift stores they frequent so often that you can also just go to a regular store to buy your clothes because hipsters also happened to have gentrified thrifting.

#myposts #this is like. not really about anything #and like. i really can't be mad at them for a lot of parts of their hipster culture because like.#if i complain about the tiny movie theaters that only play movies in original dub and are frequently sold out #any lowkey observant person can be like *okay and what were YOU doing at the pretentious underground movie theatre?*#and im not like part of some punk subculture or whatever but im just increasingly mad at them #because when i was in college and like now still. buying stuff in a thrift store or getting a second hand toaster at a flea market is #a great way to save some money. these things were MADE for poor people and upperclass people were like #*but... what if we want cheap stuff too? :)* and then market sellers were like. *oh. then we could make it more expensive!*

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black-mosquito · 2 months

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THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE. 👀

Leftvision ist ein ehrenamtliches Videokollektiv aus Berlin, das Widerstand und Protest sichtbar macht - mit Berichten, Dokus, Debattenformaten und Mobi-Trailern. Egal ob Heiligendamm, G20 oder Lützerath: Leftvision ist mit der Kamera dabei, mit und für die sozialen Bewegungen! 🎥

Um weiter Filme zu machen und eine kritische Gegenöffentlichkeit aufzubauen, braucht es Geld für z.B. Video-Technik, Schnittplätze, Strom…

Hier könnt ihr Unterstützen:

#leftvision

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djmossback · 4 months

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Tasting Notes

Saturday night in the Underground. On the surface world the week’s snow was melting, but none of that concerned us cellar dwellers. I had prepared for the day by taking several naps, but I wasn’t feeling all that great. I wasn’t really tired, but was hazy and light-headed. I spent a little time rotating some new records into the crates, pulling some of the new acquisitions in, taking some of the overplayed/unsuccessful titles out. The load feels heavier all the time. Imagine how much “easier” this would be as a 7” single DJ – well, not exactly easier, but lighter.

I envy the people who plan their sets in advance as much as the laptop DJs, but neither approach is a fit with my skill set, which works for me: having more records than I will use, and choosing from those based on the situation in place, and what I feel is working.

I got going, found a good parking space, rolled down wet but clear sidewalks, down the elevator, and rolled to the booth. Bar is not crowded. Will is there. Tavis and CP behind the bar, Brando at the door. No CyberJewel. No chair to put my LP crate on. Will gets me one. I put the booth back in order. I’m 50 seconds late starting. I use one of my usual openers, Wire’s “Ahead,” which starts things off with a simulation of bell sounds, which I like to use to announce that the program has changed. I have several records like this, but am always looking for more. The opening song is the key to the whole set, in my opinion.

I feel off, I’m fighting with the sound, trying to get things to sound even and seamless, and I have varying degrees of success with this. I’m trying to expand my technique, which is resolutely old school radio/club presenter style. Cutting out intros, beat matching, seamless segues. I want things to flow together in a way that may only make sense to me, but sound good. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t. I’ve been trying to learn to use headphones for more than just cueing records. It’s hard. I learned to use house sounds in my formative DJ years, and it’s proving to be useful tonight, because I am fighting with system volume. CyberJewel shows up to work and gets the sound situated, my backdrops set, and brings me an Athletic to go with the one Tavis supplied earlier.

Nicky Mustard, Grace Horror and Alex Speedway are there right after 9. They are there to give a nod, play some Centipede and take in the scene. I threw in a bon bon for Nick, the Buzz Martin classic “Sick Of Settin’ Chokers,” in a particularly jarring place. I followed that with another PNW staple, “Lump” by The Presidents of the United States of America. Nick was about to leave, and he came up to the booth to tell me that he and Alex had a conversation about how I would follow that up, how they couldn’t think of a way out of that puzzle, and that they never in a million years would have expected the record I played next: “The Metro” by Berlin.

It brings up a point about my methodology. I’m not just playing disparate things to be clever. I have no idea why putting those three records together would work. It just made sense to me.

A rush of people come through the door, and suddenly the place is filled. They are super loud, and just like that we are busy. A couple of guys approach the booth, and I steel myself for the “Do you take requests” query, but they instead comment on my Mariners gear and talk baseball.

My step-third-nephew Isaiah shows up with his person Toshi. So nice. They stay a little bit, play a few games, and head off to dinner.

I had a couple punk rock sets mixed in, but I also played Foghat. For nearly the first time since I got in the booth I didn’t play ZZ Top. I left a lot of usuals out. The Sleaford Mods’ new record, a cover of Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls,” I left at home, because I couldn't find where I put it. I left the PSB out in solidarity (j/k). I wanted to do things differently, and I didn’t feel like it fit. I played a second predominantly guitar-oriented set after CyberJewel asked me to play some stuff that will liven her up. That’s how I got The Vibrators into the tracklist.

It’s glaringly obvious to me that I have no control of my library. I’m just not sure it’s a bad thing. It keeps things interesting, I’ll say that. I kept finding things I wanted to play in the search for the Mods record – the Teardrop Explodes single “Treason,” for instance. My library is so unkempt I discover things hidden in it that I had forgotten I had. Of course, I’m partial to whatever I find, because I accumulated it in the first place, so I’m already predisposed. But it reminds me of my more social youth, where I would wander over to the host’s music collection and occupy myself playing their records for the party. I serve a similar function in the Underground.

Finally, I wanted to send a love letter to this place. It’s really special, and I feel privileged to be playing a part in it. I enjoy the noise, and the warmth, and even though I don’t drink alcohol, and I rarely play games, and I don’t need to find companions for the night, the parade of humanity pleases me. It’s great to see people having fun, and getting outside their usual environs. This place is always evolving, too – ideas are tried and kept, tried and discarded, moved around, moved up, moved out. It’s alive, and it remains fresh because of it.

CyberJewel asked me if I had fun, and I didn’t know exactly how to answer right then, but I must be, because I make the effort, I think about it often, and even though I don’t plan anything ahead of time I do acquire records specifically to play in this setting.

I will stay here, playing the third Saturday of every month, for as long as they want me. So, I will be back next month, 17 February 2024 at 9pm. Hope to see you then.

The Tracks

Wire, Ahead 12”

Black Box, Strike It Up 12”

Chic, Dance, Dance, Dance (YOWSAH YOWSAH YOWSAH) 12” long mix

C & C Music Factory, Gonna Make You Sweat 12” mix

Donna Allen, Joy & Pain 7”

Pointer Sisters, He’s So Shy 7”

Buzz Martin, Sick Of Settin’ Chokers 7” (Lavender Records single)

Presidents Of The United States, Lump Lp cut

Berlin, The Metro 7”

Heatwave, Groove Line 7”

Elvis Costello, Pump It Up 7”

Romantics, Talking In Your Sleep 7”

Tower Of Power, What Is Hip? Lp cut (pictured on top)

Dazz Band, Let It Whip 7”

David Bowie, Let’s Dance 12” long version (Video in the Middle)

Prince, Let’s Work 12” long version 45rpm

GQ, Boogie Oogie Oogie 7”

Foghat, Fool For The City Lp cut

Eddie Rabbitt, Drivin’ My Life Away 7”

Phillip Bailey w/Phil Collins, Easy Lover 12” remix

Johnny Clarke, Declaration Of Rights Lp cut

Washed Out, Feel It All Around EP

Smiths, How Soon Is Now? (Long 12” Version)

SOS Band, Take Your Time (Do It Right) 7”

Karol G, Provenza Lp cut

UB40, King Lp Cut

Climax Blues Band, Couldn’t Get It Right 7”

Wipers, Way Of Love Lp cut

Billy Squier, The Stroke 7”

Vince Staples, Big Fish Lp cut

Tilt, Arkade Funk 12”

Ready For The World, Oh Sheila 7”

Queen, Another One Bites The Dust 7”

Go-Go’s, Our Lips Are Sealed 7”

Nirvana, Sliver 7” Sub Pop Singles Club

Black Flag, Six Pack 7” Dez version

Sex Pistols, Anarchy In The UK 7”

Nazareth, Hair Of The Dog Lp cut

Shangri-La’s, Give Him A Great Big Kiss Lp cut

(Played this in tribute to the great Mary Weiss)

Missing Persons, Words Ep cut

Beastie Boys, She’s Nasty Lp Cut

The Cure, Love Cats 12”

Donna Summer, Sunset People Lp cut

Animotion, Obsession 7”

The Police, Don’t Stand So Close To Me 7”

Patrice Rushen, Forget-Me-Nots 7”

Naked Eyes, Promises Promises 7”

XTC, Ten Feet Tall 7”

Simple Minds, Promised You A Miracle 12” 45rpm

Khruangbin, Maria Tambien Lp cut

Kinks, All Day And All Of The Night Lp cut in MONO

Kirsty MacColl, Innocence, (The Guilt Mix) 12” 45rpm

Max Romeo, War Ina Babylon Lp cut

Daft Punk, Get Lucky Lp cut

The Cramps, Human Fly EP cut

Plague Vendor, Black Sap Scriptures Mini Lp

The Vibrators, Into The Future Lp cut

Notorious B.I.G., Gimme The Loot Lp cut

Wire, Go Ahead 7”

Beat Happening, Nancy Sin 7”

Bad Brains, Pay To Cum 7”

Teardrop Explodes, Treason 7”

Gary Numan, Cars Lp cut

#vinyl records.#djmossback #barcade #vinyl #djlife #spacebar arcade #music #djset #djs

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diary-of-a-recovering-party-girl · 8 months

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Maybe I need some distance from my friends [14- 15.10.2023]

I'm waking up later and later by the day. Yesterday, it was about 12am, I luckily was able to sleep well after the birthday party last night despite my sleep anxiety.

In the evening, I met with Y to go accessory shopping for a party on where they will film scenes for a Netflix series. Of course, I was already stressing about my outfit since I heard about the event. Meeting Y, I always know there will be something fun happening and that is part of why I like her so much. In the store, the store assistant started helping us when she was trying on some hats and basically shamed Y for wanting to buy the cheapest thing possible. "You can just buy china stuff then". She was a cosplayer she told us and my negative stereotypes keep getting confirmed.

Afterwards, we stayed freezing in the subway station while I told her about the story of my crazy ex roommate which I apparently hadn't told her about even though it's an integral part of my recent history and thus, of my personality.

I love that it is autumn now. I feel like the whe city is telling me to calm down, wear pullovers, drink tea and focus on sewing and studying. Berlin is saying to me "It's okay if you're tired, I'm tired too". As much as I love summer, I am happy he left for now, giving me a whole season to proces, relax and recover.

I did a walk in the evening just to appreciate the murky grey sky and the yellow street lights until the sun fully set and it was dark.

After some back and forth, I managed to meet up with M to go to a party in a squatted house and also was looking forward to see G there later.

I keep being surprised I really became friends with M, the first friend since over a year that I didn't meet at a party.

So, we went to the squat, kind of nervous about if we looked "cool" enough, but there was no bouncer, just a low entry fee and then a big room full of grafitti. M turned to me and said in a low voice: "This is punk, right?". Out of nervous it's over getting in I hadn't paid attention to the music until then, but she was right. Everybody around us was wearing black leather or jeans vests, dreadlocks and iros everywhere. This was clearly not a techno party. We creeped inside, suddenly hyperaware of our outfits and the fact that we clearly didn't fit it, squeezed into the last corner at the back of the dance floor (do you even call it dance floor if nobody is dancing) and tried to not attract anybody's attention while making jokes in a low voice to confirm to each other that this was funny and not disappointing. I couldn't really get into the music of the band that was playing but I enjoyed people watching. While observing the punks bumping their fists in the air and headbanging, I wondered what their opinion on a techno party would be.

Outside, M told me about the first weeks in her stay abroad in Belgium. We still talked low when other people were around, scared to say something that would be problematic to the punk crowd, when we suddenly heard a guy next to us say "... down to the techno cellar". M and I stared at each other, we hadn't been wrong about the event then!

As it turned out, the same venue simply hosted two events with two separate entries and we simply hadn't seen the entrance to the cellar. Inside, I instantly felt integrated and at the right place again. The music wasn't too good, especially in the beginning when the dance floor was still basically empty. The atmosphere was completely different; people dancing by themselves with their eyes closed, sporty outfits, awareness team. When the music got a bit better, I really started to feel dancy again, closed my eyes and did so, realizing I hadn't "really" danced like this in 1.5 months. In Portugal, the focus had always in the end been on interacting with the people there.

M and her boyfriend left at 1:30 and right when I went to bring them outside, I received Gs text that she was coming as well. She had been texting me before that she was too tired and in usual Holly-manner I had tried and failed to be understanding and empathetic and not pissed at her for canceling last minute. Now, she was coming after all. She didn't like the music either because it wasn't hardstyle enough for her and she was still tired, despite doing coke. I was happy to see CL again, though, who also came with her boyfriend and other friends of G.

The last hour of the party I spent laying/sitting on a couch with G and removing the bubbles from a water. Random guys sat next to me and started talking to me and I started calculating at what time I have to get home to get enough sleep until the next day.

When we left, G was still a bit disappointed because of the music. We took a bus together and talked about meeting up to do arts and crafts together. Making plans with friends always makes my whole body warm up with excitement.

Then I was home. It was 6am and I was tired. Insomnia. My brain was too tired to form coherent thought, my body was so exhausted I could barely turn around and I couldn't sleep. Sleep anxiety. Telling myself I still have more or less enough time and I can also go to the event tomorrow tired only helped a bit. How can my body have insomnia when it's 6am and I was up all night, how can that even be physically possible?? I deliberately didn't look at the clock but I think I didn't sleep before 8am.

The next day, I woke up correspondingly whacked, still wondering how I can suddenly have such strong insomnia. I continued cleaning my disorganized flat.

Then the messages arrived in the group chat. The protest and people thought about going. C, with whom I wanted to go to the Netflix event later thought to just pass by the protest. My astonishment at her unrealistic time planning mixed with some type of impotent anxiety at the realization that everyone disagrees with me on this topic and everyone disagrees strongly.

Also, the time planning, as always. C was helping Y with her move and I knew they wouldn't be able to meet on time at C's place to get ready, especially when none of them answered when I started asking about it. I ended up calling C, and told them that we needed to meet soon or we wouldn't make it.

Waiting for the bus, I reached my emotional down of the weekend. I read a tiny piece of news, just to confirm my most basic knowledge about the Gaza conflict. I couldn't believe how people I loved and cherished so much could believe so strongly in the opposite of what I believed in. And the conflict itself made me feel a dull terror of what humans could do to each other. I ended up making a donation to a humanitarian organization, just to do something about the sharp pain in my chest, to do something against the suffocating sense of powerlessness. In the bus, I saw many police cars pass us. For sure they were there for the protest.

When I met Y and C, everything was fine again. The beginning of the Netflix party had been postponed by an hour and we just talked about the event, our outfits and the food that we were eating. Getting ready at her place was stressful but happy. We were doing what we always did together again, what we were good at together.

At the event, everything was a lot more relaxed than I had expected by the e-mails they had sent. Without any problems, we got our wristbands and went inside, where we met friends of C and also H. There were a lot less people there than I expected, though and the light was too bright to really feel like an authentic party. But anyways, Netflix filmed it and we danced away. They had an open bar and kept giving out shots. I tried and failed to get drunk. My urge to get drunk had to always fight with my responsible brain that told me it was Sunday, I knew I wasn't feeling my best and I was starting university the next day which ended up in me drinking enough to have a headache the next day but not really feel drunk there. What a waste of alcohol.

I really liked talking to H, he has got to be the most hyperactive and social person I've ever met and I love it. He kept talking to and knowing everyone. Once, he took off his shirt and layed it on a wall for me to sit on because there had been drinks spilled over it. His kindness reminds me of the first time I met M and A.

At the end of the night, Y puked because she took keta while she was already drunk and I held her hair. Then we all went home except for H even though he also has his first week of university tomorrow and he plans to party less but we all know what that means.

C waited with me for my last bus, probably also because her Mdma started kicking in then and we chatted more about my Portugal debouchery.

Despite having a relatively good time, I can't shake the feeling of this political difference being between us. Whenever I read any piece of news about it, my whole body cramps up and I feel a useless, powerless, dull anger. I thought about doing grafitti to voice my opinion because I don't feel safe voicing it any other way. At least not safe of my friendships.

I wondered if I should take some distance from my friends for a while. It feels like since this thing happened, I notice more and more things where I am different from the, things that I never even noticed before. Of course, our friendship is widely based on partying together, and I feel like I wanna do that less at least for the winter season. I feel like none them still really get why I stopped doing drugs. They would never judge me for it but it's another thing that we don't have in common anymore. And their unreliability annoys me just as much as in the beginning.

I wondered if I need a break, a party free beginning of autumn that can also give me time to focus on the things I want to focus on since ages: Parcour, fitness, my art, health. This conflict might be an opportunity to push myself that way.

#d3 #diary #gaza #israel #hamas #poltics #political differences #friends #friendship #friend group

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campmurderparty · 9 months

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etan & berlin.

As if being good at bagging groceries was something to be proud of! Etan couldn’t help the vaguely wounded look: a slight pout paired with puppy dog eyes. He watched silently as berlin, his boss, smoothed things over with the karen known as marjorie. It was hard not to be annoyed with the criticism, though she had been right that etan was slightly careless with his job. He had only been working at the grocery store for a few weeks, but it was quickly proving to be just like any other customer service he had ever worked. Like wayne campbell, he had an extensive collection of name tags and hairnets.

To put it simply, etan didn’t care about his bagging groceries job. He was only working at the shop-ez because he was fired from the local movie theater. Was it really so bad that he let a few friends watch the new evil dead movie without paying? He thought it was a dumb reason to get fired. It didn’t matter anyway. Some day, etan would be recognized for his musical talent and punk will come back into the zeitgeist. All he had to do was wait.

And bag groceries. Etan gave berlin a petulant shrug, though he did have to be a little grateful that berlin at least didn’t yell at him. He was sick of being yelled at. By his bosses, the general public, and occasionally by his older brother, aharon. “It’s whatever, man.” he said, though his tone suggested it wasn’t whatever. Maybe his feelings were a tiny bit hurt. He wished he didn’t have four more hours to go on his shift. “I’m just sick of get–” etan was suddenly cut off, noticing how the light outside seemed to instantly disappear. Looking over his shoulder at the large windows at the front of the store, he saw a fog rapidly enveloping fifth street. Weird… but a sudden storm wasn’t such an odd occurrence in their town. Turning back to berlin, his brow creased. “I didn’t know it was going to rain today.” not that etan ever actually checked the forecast, but working in a small town grocery store, he was surprised a nice old lady–definitely not marjoire–talked them to death about it.

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burpenterprisejournal · 2 years

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MAT POGO AND JD ZAZIE AT SENTIMENTAL PUNK

2022/11/11 Sentimental Punk MAT POGO / JD ZAZIE LAURA.aLL Kotti-Shop Berlin - DE

On November 11 JD Zazie and Mat Pogo will play duo at Sentimental Punk , series curated by Dafne Narvaez. They will play a soundtrack on rarely seen works from Marjorie Keller's Film Notebook Series and will share the night with Laura.aLL The event will start at 20:00 at Kotti-Shop Adalberstrasse 4 10999 - Berlin

#mat pogo #jd zazie #live #series #concert

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disorder-rebel-store · 9 months

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no war but class war. www.disorder-berlin.de

#class war #no war #anti war #antifa #fuck war #eat the rich #punk shop #berlin kreuzberg #disorder rebel store #klassenkampf #poster #print #posters #punk piosters #punk posters #plakat #plakate #silk screen #siebdruck

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reviewshoney · 2 years

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10 Top Holiday Destinations In Europe

The holidays are coming up, and it’s time to start planning your next vacation. If you’re looking for a destination that is cozy, relaxing, and full of exotic things to do then Europe is the perfect location! There are so many places in Europe that offer an unforgettable experience during the winter season. We’ve compiled a list of Top 10 Holiday Destinations In Europe to help you find one that will exceed all of your expectations this holiday season.

Berlin, Germany:

There are so many different events happening throughout the city during the holidays that you’ll never be bored. From art exhibits to light shows and plenty of live music – Berlin is such a festive place this time of year! Add in some delicious German food and drink for good measure (try something called Glühwein or hot spiced wine) and you have the perfect winter getaway.

Things to do: In Berlin there are many different neighborhoods each with its own distinct culture. Check out Kreuzberg for some great Turkish food or Friedrichshain for a punk scene. You can also take the S-Bahn to Tempelhof or Tegel and explore some of the more industrial parts of Berlin with wide-open spaces like abandoned military bases, warehouses, and factories that are now home to creative startups.

Barcelona, Spain:

Barcelona is one of those destinations that just feels like home in December – it’s a warm city with rich culture, amazing food, incredible shopping, and incomparable views! This destination has something for everyone during this time of year. If museums don’t interest you, Barcelona also has beautiful beaches to enjoy during the colder months.

Things to do: Some popular attractions include Park Güell and the Sagrada Família. If you’re looking for a more relaxing day at the beach, Sitges is just over an hour away from Barcelona by train. The city also has many museums such as Museu Picasso and Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.

Bergen, Norway:

Bergen is such a magical place that will bring out your inner child! A lot of its tourism can be attributed to its stunning Christmas market and its unbelievably gorgeous wooden architecture – it’s like being in an entirely different world for just a few days.

Things to do: It’s known for its medieval buildings, beaches, and views of the fjords. Some people visit Bergen to see textiles from around the world at museums such as the Norwegian Folk Museum or Bergen Textile Art Center. Other popular activities are exploring one of the many hiking trails in town, watching a Norwegian fjord from the Mount Ulriken funicular, or enjoying a boat tour on one of Bergen’s many lakes.

Dublin, Ireland:

Dublin isn’t your average vacation destination – it’s the perfect city for a holiday getaway with family and friends! There are always tons of activities happening in this compact city like festivals, live music performances, theater shows, and more. You’ll never be bored or lonely as you walk around the cobblestone streets admiring the scenery.

Things to do: -Ice skating in the middle of Dublin!

-Visit Guinness Storehouse to see how they make their famous drink. It’s a bit touristy, but it is worth seeing.

-The other thing you should do when visiting Ireland is visiting Blarney Castle and kiss the stone at least once for good luck.

Vienna, Austria:

Vienna is an elegant city that offers a lot of culture and tradition during this time of year – it’s even been called “The City Of Lights” because their Christmas markets are so spectacular! If you’re looking for some authentic Austrian food to try (we recommend Apfelstrudel) then this is the place to go.

Things to do: *Walk around the city and explore. You can see many historic buildings, monuments, parks, and gardens.

*Dine at a traditional Viennese restaurant to eat some delicious sausages or schnitzel! Popular dish options are Wiener Schnitzel (breaded veal with lemon butter), Tafelspitz (boiled beef with horseradish sauce and mashed potatoes), or Wiener schnitzel mit Spatzle.

Rome, Italy:

Rome has something for everyone during these months – plenty of beautiful historic buildings and churches that are lit up beautifully at night. If you’re looking for a more festive experience, make sure to head over to the Piazza Navona where they have one of the most bustling Christmas markets in the world. And of course, there’s gelato to enjoy while you’re there!

Things to do: -Visit the Trevi Fountain and toss a coin over your shoulder. The tradition is that if you return to Rome, the wish will come true!

-Explore St. Peter’s Basilica and Vatican City for amazing art and history exhibits.

-Cruise along the Tiber River past authentic buildings from ancient times including one of the seven wonders of the world, the Colosseum.

Dubrovnik, Croatia:

Dubrovnik is a coastal city full of beautiful scenery and beaches that will make for gorgeous photos this time of year. It’s well known as one of the best cities on Earth to see sunsets, so make sure to schedule a beach day and watch the sunset over the Adriatic Sea.

Things to do: Go to the beach! There are several options for beaches in Dubrovnik, all of them within walking distance. We recommend you visit Banje Beach or Trsteno Beach on one side and Lapad Bay Beach or Gruž Pier on the other side. You can also take a cable car up Mt Srd.

Reykjavik, Iceland:

Reykjavik is one of those destinations that will make you feel at peace – there’s something about this city that just feels serene during these winter months. You’ll get to experience the Northern Lights if you’re lucky and there’s plenty of delicious food to try as well (try some Icelandic hot dogs!).

Things to do: -Ice Skating on Laugardalslaug: Icelanders are crazy about hockey and ice skating. The rink is free, but you can buy skate rentals for a few dollars.

-Hiking around the town center: There’s plenty of good hikes to explore the city from above ground level with some really amazing views of Reykjavik’s skyline.

Prague, Czech Republic:

The Christmas markets in Prague are so famous that they’ve started their own holiday! You’ll be able to find all sorts of things like gingerbread cookies, hearty stews called goulash, or crispy fried potato pancakes called latkes. But one of the most impressive and beautiful things about Prague during this time is that all of their architecture will be lit up with Christmas lights!

Things to do: You know, Prague is really a lot of fun. There’s this one street called Karlova that has all these little shops and cafes on it…

How cool are those Christmas markets? They’re so festive! And the Czech cuisine – you can’t go wrong with some good old kilobase (a type of sausage) and a beer.

Venice, Italy:

Venice is such a magical place – it’s like stepping into a storybook land where everything sparkles under twinkling lights. The architecture of the buildings is so beautiful and there are plenty of people to enjoy it with you (especially during their Christmas market!).

Things to do: Bike around the Grand Canal. This is an amazing experience and I highly recommend it! Don’t forget your camera too, you’ll want to document this adventure for sure! There are some great spots to take pictures of that iconic view down the canal towards the Rialto Bridge.

IMPORTANT TIP- DON’T FORGET TO TAKE YOUR CAMERAS WITH YOU!

Take pictures because there are such iconic spots that will remind you of the beauty of nature for years to come, no matter where you are.

#10 Top Holiday Destinations In Europe

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faktoriaindustrial · 2 years

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faktoria Podcast#16 Mixed By Shouji Sakurai (Gutenberg)

Electric Body Music,EBM,Old School EBM,Synth Punk,Minimal Wave,Gabber...

https://www.mixcloud.com/faktoria_gutenberg_tpkaichou/faktoria-podcast16-mixed-by-shouji-sakurai-gutenberg/

■ ■ ■ ■ 1. Laibach / Alle gegen Alle (Mute) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFEMhIMMPls 2. Mionokage / Bulldozing Dazzle (faktoria) https://faktoria.bandcamp.com/album/mionokage 3. Darkmen / Legs like gold (EK Product) https://ekproduct.bandcamp.com/album/living-on-borrowed-time 4. Mionokage / Sweet Vengeance -Go Ballistic- (faktoria) https://faktoria.bandcamp.com/album/mionokage 5. Soloist Anti Pop Totalization / In the body (DEBAUCH MOOD) https://debauchmood.bandcamp.com/album/s-a-p-t-lp 6. BODIL / Das Rote Kleid (Rote Lippen Kyoto) https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Sb6t2T9A8HRZLvyFexfNl 7. Orange Sector / Mutation (Infacted Recordings) https://infactedrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/alles-wird-gold 8. AND ONE / U-Boot Krieg in Ost Berlin (Deutschmaschine Schallplatten) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwDWKitdO0c 9. TENSION CONTROL / Digitaler Bürgerkrieg (Brandsatz Records) https://tensioncontrol.bandcamp.com/album/fortschritt-durch-technik-album-2019 10. Karbu38 / Prototype 3.8 (Tech Nomader remix) (EKProduct) https://ekproduct.bandcamp.com/album/tour-de-chauffe 11. SCA / deaddeaddead https://sca-pbr.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-body-ep3 12. ZIGUEZOY / mo-da-finil (faktoria) https://faktoria.bandcamp.com/album/cherish-your-teeth 13. Schwefelgelb / Spieglein, Spieglein (Tapete Records) https://schwefelgelb-berlin.bandcamp.com/album/alt-und-neu 14. Spetsnaz / Uniform (Out Of Line) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqmJuOD9uF4 15. Mionokage / Sweet Vengeance (Leæther Strip Remix) (faktoria) https://faktoria.bandcamp.com/album/mionokage 16. Gutenberg & Xu / Warm Leathertte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF2fo-b3t48 17. KENASON JAHSON / I'm In (死神ざくろ) https://sinigamizakuro.bandcamp.com/album/v-a-japanese-sickness-3 18. Mionokage / Sweet Vengeance (The Bad DJ's Sweet Shop Reform Remix) (faktoria) https://faktoria.bandcamp.com/album/mionokage ■ ■ ■ enjoy it!

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freizeitberlin-blog · 4 years

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Sentimental Punk presents a selection of structuralist and avant-garde filmmakers, inviting sound artists to interpret the films live at Kotti-Shop. One film, two soundtracks on the night.

Korhan Erel and VROUW! provide the music this time | Wednesday, 11 March

#Sentimental Punk #Kotti-Shop #Berlin #avant-garde film

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thehardgroove · 2 years

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Caspar Brötzmann

Among the most exciting and forward-thinking albums to come out early in the last few years are a pair of recordings made decades ago: Caspar Brötzmann Massaker’s The Tribe (1988) and Black Axis (1989). The albums are just the first of the band’s five-LP catalog set to be reissued throughout 2019 and 2020 by Southern Lord Records. A special-edition box set collecting the releases is to follow.

Formed in Germany during the mid-’80s, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker arguably was one of the most electrifying power trios in the world. While its music had roots in hard rock and metal, its raw, adventurous and complex sounds seemed to exist beyond genre or convention—alchemizing elements of avant-garde composition, far-reaching improvisation and tribal rhythms into a vivid, noisy squall.

At the helm was vocalist and guitarist Caspar Brötzmann, whose ferocious, dynamic playing—for example, throttling on the headstock and plucking the strings up near the tuning pegs of his guitar to build layers of atmosphere and texture—has made him a cult figure among fans of challenging, tension-heavy music, as well as a much sought-after musical collaborator. In addition to Massaker, he’s worked with Helmet’s Paige Hamilton, Einstürzende Neubauten’s F.M. Einheit and more recently with Zu’s Massimo Pupillo. And in 1990, the guitarist released an album with his father, free-jazz reedist Peter Brötzmann, titled Last Home.

Brötzmann’s distinctive guitar style stems more from a lifetime of working to forge an artistic identity than sheer technical mastery. “The simple truth is that I tried, in the ’70s, to find a way to play guitar like me and not to be a copy of Hendrix, my father or anyone else,” he said.

In several interviews, he’s discussed how his guitar and amplifiers merely are the tools of his self-expression, and listening to his music it’s easy to get the sense that no matter which instrument or creative medium he gravitated toward, he’d approach it with equal imagination and fervor.

Born in 1962, Brötzmann took to the guitar while growing up in West Germany, where he was particularly drawn to the myriad rhythms and sounds he heard in his everyday life—especially from within his grandfather’s blacksmithing shop and the rumbling steam locomotives that ran near his home.

“My grandpa was a blacksmith, sometimes like an artist blacksmith,” Brötzmann said. “His masterpiece was a handmade black iron rose made with ornate details. His workshop was very impressive. Heat and steel, and in his really rough and strong hands, he could pick up a glowing piece of coal.”

Gradually, these industrial influences began seeping into the younger Brötzmann’s music.

By the time he launched Massaker in West Berlin, the city was a hub for experimental, industrial, punk and electronic artists, as well as for social and political unrest. (“If hundreds of policemen hit their protection shields with their batons, you never will forget [the sound].”) With Massaker, Brötzmann found an outlet to explore these tensions and his observations about humanity, while fusing elements of improvisation and composition—though hearing any sort of pop-centric verse-chorus-verse, is a fraught proposition. He describes the approach as “freedom under a high-volume level. A lot of rock and blues bands did the same: Play jam sessions, have fun and start new, if the music goes boring. I did the same, just later and without the traditional blues structures.”

Where some bands rehash similar ideas throughout their lifespan, each Massaker album presents something new, and repeat listenings only seem to reveal more secrets, giving each recording a timeless feel. “I guess that has something to do with to being true to yourself, finding the power inside of you, and playing what you can see and feel,” Brötzmann said, discussing the quality of those decades’ old recordings. “If there’s nothing new, I guess it’s better for me to be quiet. I do not want to play one song my whole life.”

Following its fifth album, 1995’s Home, Massaker went dormant in the studio, and after a final show in 2000, the band didn’t play again for a decade before reuniting for a string of shows, including an appearance at the 2011 Roadburn Festival, which was curated by drone stalwarts Sunn O)))’s Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley. Anderson also runs Southern Lord, and following the Massaker reissues and box set, the label is planning to release in 2020 new material from the musician’s latest project, Bass Totem (a title of a song on Massaker’s third album, 1992’s Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore). “I am not using the name Massaker anymore. That is over. In these times of terror, it is impossible for me to play under this name Massaker again,” Brötzmann said.

Bass Totem is still a work in progress, so Brotzmann understandably is keeping close guard of some of the project details for now. But as its name suggests listeners can expect a lot of bass guitar. “There are solo songs, songs with guest musicians, and a band trio with drums and two basses, maybe more musicians,” he said.

No matter where the new music takes him (or vice versa), there are some elements of Brötzmann’s process that forever will remain the same. “My work is really simple and has a lot to do with praxis,” he said. “Plug the guitar in and play, track yourself and work out the good moments—you never know how they’ll find you. Build up an intro, a few song parts, and a refrain, and open the improvisation with a guitar solo. That is, and was, my freedom.”

#caspar brotzmann #peter burkhard #bass totem #caspar brotzmann bass totem

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