We can’t wait until Berlin looks like this again – all green and leafy with soft light warming the streets. Until then, here’s “The Street Aesthetic of Berlin”, filmed last summer by Danish artist Christian Andersen.
Strictly speaking, this is Norwegian electro-queen Sandra Kolstad‘s album launch, but we (and some bad blog bitches) are gatecrashing the party with a virtual record box full of hip hop and RN’B bangers from the 2000s! To get you in the mood, listen to my mashup (how noughties!) of Destiny’s Child and the Luniz…
…and read these words from event organisers/hypewomen Nordic by Nature:
After thousands of spilled drinks, embarrassing music talks, homemade mixtapes and too much love for Beyoncé we decided to make things real and gather all of us together to make you dance the fierce way. We will use our wisdom to make you feel nice and crazy. We will play our favourite tunes and will call them 00 hits. We will use technic, our typing hands will be thrilled. Who we are? The “High 5″ bloggers of Berlin which means we do high 5′s as well and will surround the beloved Sandra Kolstad for her album release at FluxFriday in Berlin.
Crew ♥ is Blog ♥
FluxFM, Nordic by Nature, No Fear Of Pop, Überlin, Lucy vs. the Globe & Ponydanceclyde present FluxFriday with:
◯ SANDRA KOLSTAD (live) ◯
* Official Release Party of her new album “(Nothing Lasts) Forever” which will be released on Friday, 15.3. in Germany.
THE 00 CENTURY IS WIGGEDEEWIGGEDEEWAG
Scroll past this long-forgotten “self love” classic to find out how to win a pair of guestlist spots:
HOW TO WIN 2 X GUESTLIST SPOTS FOR BLOG LOVE IS CREW LOVE AT FLUXBAU ON 19TH APRIL:
Get this party started! Leave a comment below and post us a link to your favourite hip hop/RN’B anthem from the 2000s.
If it gets our booties shaking, you win! And we might even play it on the night…
You have until 6pm on Thursday 18th April to enter. Good luck!
The Boring Bit (yawn, RULES):
1. You must be 18 years or older to enter.
2. ONE ENTRY PER PERSON!
3. Our favourite track wins. Simple as.
4. Remember to include your full (real) name or we won’t be able to put you on the guestlist!
5. We will announced the winners via our Facebook page on Friday 19th April.
Full event details over on Facebook.
Here’s an interview we did recently for both German TV channel ZDFinfo and the web series 140 Sekunden (140 Seconds). We’re pretty mortified by our shifty eyes, the sound of our voices and the weird solitary “….yeah” that James says right at the end of the segment, but we’re still glad we did it! Check it if you want to learn a little bit more about us, our thoughts on gentrification and the Give Something Back to Berlin project, and – more importantly – SEE RARE FOOTAGE OF OLIVE. And, for the Germans, here it is auf Deutsch - just scroll through the guy in the orange shirt and the Nazis.
With GIFs curated by When You Live in Berlin.
Finally – winter is over! Now that we’re well into April, we seem to have survived the darkest winter on record, as the last ice thaws on the pavements and the sun has started burning through the uniform grey of the Berlin sky. But it’s not all blue skies from here on in – we’re hearing rumours of everything from 20°C heatwaves to even more snow. So while we wait for the all-clear from Mr Sun, click on that SAD lamp and study these signs that summer is indeed coming to Berlin.
Berliners show off their “summer outfits”
Forget shorts and flip-flops, that’s not going to fly in Germany. You might find the natives donning their sensible sandals (with socks), summer edition breathable dayglo Jack Wolfskin anoraks and parasol-cum-umbrellas – because it could still rain at any minute. Neukölln hipsters’ beanies will rise with the temperature, to let the warm breeze caress their pretty heads, and they’ll pull on pastel socks and deck shoes or whatever yacht rock bullshit Williamsburg is exporting this season. But don’t despair – while annoying, this is a sign that summer is just around the corner.
You have to queue for ice cream
Our nth sublet was above an ice cream stand and I shit you not, as soon as the temperature inched above zero and the year’s first sun-rays hit the street, there was a line across it of eager Berliners waiting for their first taste of summer. While this may not be an indicator of what Australians or Brazilians would recognise as summer, this is a sure-fire sign that Germany’s pale imitation is on its way.
People appear at table tennis tables…
You’d be forgiven for thinking that football is Germany’s national sport, but it’s not; that would be table tennis. Did you know that there are more Tischtennis tables than football pitches in Berlin? FACT.* Because, while football requires a certain amount of agility and stamina, literally everyone can play table tennis. It’s the kind of sport that can be mastered on a series of quiet, constructive, not-too-cold Sundays.
*not a fact.
…and tables appear outside cafés and restaurants
Ice cream isn’t the only food Berliners like to consume in unseasonably chilly conditions. If there’s a sliver of sunshine burning through the heavy clouds above the city, you can bet that every square metre of direct daylight will feature a table full of food, and a huddle of locals each wearing a winter coat, pashmina and a wistful pair of shades. Because they know, as soon as summer proper hits in a few weeks, all the good tables will be taken up by verdammten Touristen…
Tourists start flooding in
How do they know? We Berliners have all spent the month or so fearing that the whole of 2013 will be one long winter – but at some point during our darkest days, some tourist somewhere was like, “Oh yeah, by the middle of April Berlin will be glorious” *books Ryanair ticket*. Now we have to spend the next few months being confused for tourists, with everyone in our Kiez speaking resentful English to us and forgetting that we hate the invading hordes as much as they do. (Joke.)
Open Airs
As soon as you start getting Facebook invites for open air parties in abandoned amusement parks/Cold War monuments/meat separation plants, you know the weather’s going to improve any day. Because, with the exception of the mentalists who organised Berlin’s first winter open air this January, promoters of sun-dependent parties have a better handle on local weather systems than the Met Office.
Dog shit.
The sight of months-old Hundescheisse thawing on the street outside your apartment might just have you wishing for more snow.
Balkon envy
Summer is the time of year when you stop mocking your friend with the 20m² apartment, whose balcony accounts for half of the total floor space… and start wondering whether you could get away with pushing them off said Balkon. Now that the ground isn’t covered with snow, someone’s bound to notice – it would take a hell of a lot of dog shit to cover the body. But it can’t be that often that Berliners plunge to their death from their own balconies, and in the time it takes the local police to work out what happened, you could be working on your tan.
So… can you spot any signs that summer is slowly sneaking up on Berlin?
Maybe I’ve seen too much Scandi crime drama, but I was expecting very bad things to happen at the end of this video from Copenhagen-born, Berlin-based band Betting on the Mouse. Even if the short for “Hanging On” only hints at a Forbrydelsen-type outcome, it perfectly recreates the creeping tension-build of the track, from the band’s recently released self-titled debut. Follow BOTM on Facebook for more.
Stunning. Inspired by a summer spent in Berlin, playing at Watergate and recording with Villalobos collaborator Jorge González, “Rain” is a deep electronic slow jam with traces of MDMA coursing through its veins. Australian trio Our Lonely Kicks draw from inspirations like Mount Kimbie, James Blake, Sepalcure, Active Child, How to Dress Well and Thom Yorke, and add their personal voice which makes “Rain” an intimate introduction to the project.
Our Lonely Kicks – Rain from Our Lonely Kicks on Vimeo.
You must know by now that we LOVE Peaches. Well, we were lucky enough to catch her, and a bunch of other inspirational speakers, at the inaugural Lost Lectures in Berlin. Pretty soon, the Lost Blog will post videos from the event in Stadtbad Wedding, including talks about 3D printing, community gardening platforms, open government, the theory that free will is an evolutionary construct and some pretty radical art, as well as the personal and affirming speech that led up to Ms. Nisker’s trip across the audience’s outstretched arms. Until then, enjoy watching the queen of electro-shock walking across hands and singing opera at the same time 
Like this? Then you might like our review of Peaches Does Herself or our amazing photos from Peaches’ Free Pussy Riot protest.
Our resident Sexpat, Lucy, wants you to help her, help you!
OK! So we have decided to spice up this whole Sexpat vibe. Instead of me just talking about “things” that I find interesting, I thought maybe it would be cool to get you all involved.
This is how it will work:
The thing is – I love a good bit of interaction, it makes me feel popular/ wanted – and God knows, everyone wants to feel popular and wanted. Yes – I’m also semi-lazy, and am finding it harder and harder to come up with “things” to talk about. But this way – you get involved, and I feel relevant. Win/win.
So… what’s on your mind?
Desertfest Berlin is the “ULTIMATE HEAVYROCKPSYCHODOOM FESTIVAL”, and naturally I’m on the verge of shitting my pants with excitement about it. The 30+ band lineup of this three-day sludgefest reads like a who’s who of the doom and stoner metal subgenres, headlined by the almighty Pentagram, Witchcraft and post-Kyuss stonersupergroup Unida. As well as beardy men with downtuned guitars, Astra Kulturhaus will be playing host to an art exhibition from Arrache Toi Un Oeil (interviewed here) and a delightful sounding Hippie Corner Market. Check out the full lineup below, and you’ll see why überlin is a proud partner of Desertfest Berlin 2013 (within spitting distance of Metal Hammer on the sponsors page!). Um, ROAR.
To read all about Desertfest Berlin 2013, click on the banner in the sidebar >>>
“Haunt folk”, really? We’re fans of this new-maybe-going-to-not-quite-happen sub-genre, but we are big fans of its finest (only?) proponent, Jenny Berkel. To us, the Canadian singer-songwriter’s music just sounds like good folk: stark, delicate and, by turns, frosty and warm. Berkel is playing Berlin this week as part of her European tour, so check out the charmingly lo-fi animated video for “Like a Rope” below, stream the debut album Here on a Wire on her website, and catch her arresting live show at Vögelchen this Saturday (April 6th).
