Kulturbrauerei (Kesselhaus), Berlin, Germany9th October 2008
Fixmer/McCarthy, Mesh, Sono, Solar Fake, Santa Hates You, Akanoid
Electronic Body Music and Industrial, Synth Pop and Electro-Pop: details of the first Popkomm Festival showcase were promising a long night of energy-laden and synthesized sounds. A number of bands from an electro-scene that incorporates many different styles, some well-established and others still on the way up, have been announced for the “Advanced Electronics Festival” on Thursday, 9 October 2008, at Berlin’s Kulturbrauerei.
In summer 1997, Hilton Theissen and Uwe Lübbers met the first time. Both of them bring diversity stylistic ascendancies in that relationship. The different influences came from music genres likes trance, house, indietronic, synth and electro. Hilton works in different projects like dark millennium, cherub and rape. The first album of AKANOID that made them famous was ‘Cocktail Pop’ in 2007. At this time, Uwe Lübbers left the project and went another way. That was no problem for Hilton Theissen. Other people, new people, young people came into his life to complete AKANOID. The new people are Phil Weyer (guitar / vocals), Daggy Fischer (synth / vocals) and Dirk M. Berhorn (drums).
Music & Performance
In this particular time, the floors of the Kesselhaus were very empty. There are two floors at that location. In the first floor were the stage and the bar. The second Floor is above the first floor and almost only for VIP-guests. The VIP-guests could look directly down to the stage and of the other floor. AKANOID began very punctually. You’d think the music is interplay of forces, forces composed of the electronic part, the guitars and the vocals. I cannot say which part of them assisted which other part. Altogether it gave a complete picture. The electronic parts were assisted from the accentuated guitar play and were assisted by the vocals and reverse. You’ve the feeling that one of theses parts cannot exist without the other. The music was an interaction of electro, synth an indie-pop with a kind of DEPECHE MODE feeling, so we can see the 80’s. The stage was plain and simple.
The band consists of four members, but on stage were only three of them. The guests were standing there and locked at the front of the stage, where the three boys of AKANOID were standing and performed their songs in a very wonderful kind, and you had to look at the stage full of agitation. The light was very great, full of colours reaching from blue to purple and gave a mystic touch to the stage supported be the smoke being released.
Setlist
01. Intro
02. All the noise
03. Nexx
04. Usual Frak
05. 100 burning guitars
06. Pain
07. Headless
08. What we forgot to
09. Mention
10. No matter
Rating
Music 7
Performance 7
Light 9
Sound 7
Total 7.2 / 10
Santa Hates You
SANTA HATES YOU the “cuddly monster band” - that’s their own description on myspace.com. The band consists of two people: Peter Spiller, you know him as front man of PROJECT PITCHFORK and his singer Jinxy. Peter Spiller takes advantage of the moment since PROJECT PITCHFORK was resting and takes this chance for his industrial-gothic-project SANTA HATES YOU. The debut ‘You’re on the naughty List’ was released at 2nd of November 2007. It was produced of a special person, who worked together with TOCOTRONIC and DIE STERNE: Chris Rosenkranz.
Music & Performance
The room was filling up at the beginning from the next act SANTA HATES YOU. The stage setting was nearly similar to the first act. A little bit empty. Two keyboards, the laptops and the two artists were the whole appointment. Also the unloving hanging feather boa couldn’t make it better. The keyboards were appointed with little stroboscope-lights and the artists did their performance behind. The singer-girl Jinxy affects very sexy and like a Lolita. The counterpart was singer Peter Spiller, who affects at some songs like Joker from Batman.
To confirm the bad song lyrics, Peter took little implements like a loupe or especially for the song ‘Fucking get up’ a little megaphone. Altogether I could say that the lyrics are the reason for feeling bored, because they were not profound and same repeating text passages. There was no movement at the stage, too. At he beginning it was interesting for the audience to see a sexy Lolita and a “clown”, but after a while the people seemed to be bored, too.
Rating
Music 5
Performance 5
Light 6
Sound 7
Total 5.7 / 10
Solar Fake
SOLAR FAKE is a solo-project of singer Sven Friedrich also known from ZERAPHINE and DREADFUL SHADOWS. The project SOLAR FAKE gives Sven a chance to combine styles of electronic music he likes, without a finalisation. The directions are synth-pop, EBM, industrial and electro-pop. He dreamed a few years to make music which is pure electronic. Since he was a child the music was the best thing in life. At the age of six, went Sven to music school and as he was 13 years old he had his first band. The long lasting experience and the audacity to go new ways give him right. The first album ‘Broken Grid’ was released at 1st February 2008. Like I told you at the beginning, is it difficult to explain how SOLAR FAKE sounds. But sure is the electronic nature of his music. Main springing beats and pulsating sequences are accompanied by the doleful voice of singer Sven Friedrich.
Music & Performance
The upbeat was given by the keyboarder, who played the intro. The stage was empty, only a few wafts of mist were on the floor of the stage. And the big canvas in the background was illuminated with animations. We could see pictures of landscapes, animations of lyrics and really nice artworks with i.e. broken glasses or raindrops falling into a sea of water. The greeting for the audience was given by Sven with a cute Berlin-dialect. While the keyboarder played his solo, Sven moved to the background of the stage. A really graceful gesture, I think. And the solo parts are really great. They presented songs from their Broken Grid-album. The third song was a cover version from RADIOHEAD - ‘Creep’.
The name of the album has some affinity to Sven Friedrich’s voice: At one side very doleful and deep going, at the other side a little bit breakable. But in some passages the voice and the mimic was harder than with ZERAPHINE. I've had the feeling to see another side of Sven.
Setlist
01. Intro
02. Hiding Memories from the Sun
03. Here I stand
04. Creep
05. Sometimes
06. The Shield
07. Stigmata Rain
08. Lies
Rating
Music 8
Performance 7
Light 7
Sound 7
Total: 7.3 / 10
Sono
SONO is a band coming from Hamburg. With singles like ‘Keep Control’ and ‘Blame’ they acquired a big name in the dance-scene. The band consists of three people: Florian Sikorski, Martin Weiland and Lennart A. Salomon. The project exists for seven years now. Which talent and which professions are standing back of the projects, shows the awards from Florian Sikorski. He got two Grammys in the year 2006 for his work at the single ‘Since U Been Gone’ from Kelly Clarkson. Martin works for a dance-label and you can find him in the Hamburg club scene. The sound of SONO can't be classified in a category, also shown in the places where the band performed so far. They played among other gigs on the M’era Luna Festival, the Wave-Gothic-Convention, the mayday and the FEA Festival that took place in Spain. SONO says about their own, they don’t like to classify their music and don’t like classify another music, too.
Music & Performance
The music, which SONO plays, is a music which you can find also in the Berlin Techno scene. A lot of DJs play their music in the Berlin clubs every weekend. But there is a little kind of Wave and Rave feeling in it too. A quiet intro from the keyboarders let us hear the beginning of SONO. Than the singer Lennart A. Salomon came on stage and began with singing. The voice of Lennart has a higher recognition value. The second song was ‘Blame’ while the people came to life and danced. Lennart brought some more movement to stage and with them the people in front of the stage woke up as well. Where the other artists were sooner quietly, SONO brought action onto the stage. It was a very satisfied and cheerful expression in the face of front man Lennart. You could see that they have fun by their work and with their music. Lennart even jumped across the stage.
Rating
Music 8
Performance 8
Light 7
Sound 7
Total 7.7 / 10
Fixmer/ McCarthy
They are like their name: Terence Fixmer and Douglas McCarthy (NITZER EBB). The background of that project is to combine the sounds of both projects. Their own words for the stuff they’re creating are "Electronic war"... a musical slugfest if you want so!
Music & Performance
The opening of the show was a terrible, loud sound that repeats and repeats. Our first idea was that there must be a technical problem. But it seemed to be the intro. Douglas McCarthy came on stage with a slim jeans and big sunglasses. It looks really hot. Fixmer stood behind his keyboard with a simple white shirt. Both seemed to be a little bit bored by themselves. I also had the impression that McCarthy had a little bit too much alcohol at this evening. His moving was sometimes unchecked. But altogether the duo did a good job.
Doug moved from left to right and spoke to everyone at the audience. There were more people into the hall as it was at the gig of SONO. And finally the mood was very good. The sound was sometimes very loud and that was the reason why I left the concert before it ended.
Rating
Music 7
Performance 7
Light 7
Sound 7
Total 7 / 10
Unfortunately we do not have a review for the show of MESH, but at least we want to show you some pics of the gig.
Mesh
All pictures by Nadine Ginzel (http://www.dyingsun.de/)
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