Jaga won't talk about books and suchFeel free to contact:
laurent(at)jagaland.de
Concerts
Cry me a river @ Wöstenkrug, Versmold
Once a year, who-is-who of the screamo scene gathers in shit-creek Versmold, NRW. Expect a lot of self-made tattoos, a shitload of cryptic band shirts, some good friendly violent fun and loud hardcore punk music. Yes, that’s quite it. Raw and the craic.
Bonobo @ Maria, Berlin
For Bonobo, as a traditional musician, it was clear not to limit to MPCs and to bring the sounds live on stage for full effect. In a setting with drums, keyboard, guitar, sampler, himself on bass, a singer, a saxophonist and a three piece string section ‘Black Sands’ live unfolds a cinematic orchestra.
65daysofstatic @ Out of the Crowd, Esch-Alzette
It’s nice to see that 65daysofstatic are no longer glitchy postrocker, but are copying better than ever from the european electronic spearhead of Kuduro ass cheeks’ Buraka Som Sistema or feathered serpents Fuck Buttons and the likes. Worth checking out live as especially ‘Tiger Girl’ gains momentum by the minute.
Revok @ La Zone, Liège
Yeah, actually I just wanted to see french french louves of Celeste. However, pretty colorful and incredibly well composed and crafted, Revok lurked somewhere between the urgency of Neurosis, ‘Mudvayne’ minus the circus and a mathy maelstrom d’émotions à fleur de peau, un peu comme un Envy avec plus de poils sur le torso.
Circa Survive @ Magnet, Berlin
Sometimes you hear really cool stories about band names. Circa Survive’s story however is so uncool that it probably won’t go down in history as the greatest achievement of human endeavour. Fortunately their music is far from random. Not as earthshattering as Bryan Adams, but still.
Her Name is Calla @ Schokoladen, Berlin
Her Name is Callas. That’s what I call a major ballpark figure. But in comparison to maybe the most renowned opera singer of the 20th century the british postrock quintet are on the fringes. Too slack and lax, this amateur theater feels almost sluggish in its acts . Unlike the dramaturgical bel canto of La Divina.
Mouse on the Keys @ Blue Note, Poznań
Mouse on the Keys are a Tokyo-based fusion trio consisting just of drums and two pianos. Live they are joined by a bugler who is also responsible for the nervous visuals underlining the urgency and restlessness of this 90’s post hardcore-driven contemporary jazz. I caught them on their first European tour, in Poznań.
Throes of Dawn @ Lutakko, Jyväskylä
Yeah, actually I did not know what was going to await me and to be honest the evening in the northern finnish student pinhole was not that horrible than I expected. Throes of Dawn with their Trentemøller frontsinger hooked on quite deep and emotive parts where the more black metalish drops were nice. After all, it was not _that_ gay…
Jaga Jazzist @ Vega, Copenhagen
Jaga Jazzist is a nine-headed hydra, nine people, each one playing quite possibly nine instruments. And as a matter of fact that there was no opening act Jaga Jazzist played through 110 minutes of the whole “One-armed bandit” and a best-of of their whole discography. And it was worth it.
Grischa Lichtenberger @ WMF, Berlin
Based on reflections on the landscape of the river Rhein and starting at written and drawn reflections Grischa Lichtenberger’s works by now cover an extensive visual, acoustic and theoretical archive. On the Raster-Noton showcase he ‘just’ folded beats and screened ‘glitches’.
Four Tet @ WMF, Berlin
At last, there we have it, eventually a pretty decent record that might be able to replace the ubiquitous XX record in every Mitte gallery or social media-laden digital bohème nest. Alas, Four Tet’s “There is love in you” already by now is such a bugger.
Dan Friel @ WMF, Berlin
Even you possibly can’t beat analogue synthesizers in their domain: this was too much fun and not enough moments. Opening act Dan Friel knobtwisted for a long time until he eventually found a schranz approach which had some meat on its bones.
A MAZE. Jump’n Run Bonus Cheat @ WMF, Berlin
A MAZE. Interact is a festival about the convergence of computer games, art and music analyzing computer game culture from cultural, aesthetic and social angles with a focus on structural changes within the computer games area. All your base are belong to us, I guess.
Apparatjik @ WMF, Berlin
Merging music, art, fashion and even science, Apparatjik are heavily inspired by the Bauhaus movement and especially the Bauhaus Bühne which is translated in their opulent and optically appealing stage setup. But on a musical level it presents itself rather undaring.
Keiji Haino (灰野敬二) @ WMF, Berlin
In the program of the Enstatir Sunghife night of the Club Transmediale festival japanese freeform noise pioneer Keiji Haino (灰野敬二) indulged himself in a abrasively loud havoc and cathartic wall of sound, coming as a relief as Merzbow and the likes.
Drop the Lime @ WMF, Berlin
In case you haven’t noticed yet, Drop the Lime obviously can do anything. And yep, that’s true. From sliced and chopped indie grime tracks over discoid mash-up frenzy to booming basses and catchy piano tunes, New York-based Luca Venezia mixes everything in sight.
Planningtorock @ WMF, Berlin
Planningtorock is an alien from a stellar orb named “Planet 9″, a pseudonym, a mask, lots of trippy visuals and a lot more weirdness with seemingly unconnected beats and layer-draped and hall-swollen vocals… and the next ache is just inches away.
Mutiny on the Bounty @ nbi, Berlin
They are way dancier than any rave band trolling around up until now. With instantly infectious attitude and a seemingly unending supply of irresistible hooks, these quirkmuffins come close to bridging the gap between geek boners and hipster beards.
Merzbow @ HAU, Berlin
You needn’t call it music if the term offends you… and it does offend you. This is no music. This is random noise, on-the-edge torture. A deafening, challenging and raging cacophony at once. In itself just redundant, but necessary. I like.
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble @ Maria, Berlin
It’s just plain redundant, odd, lame and boring, and the fact that they sometimes use old Tool video clips as visuals makes it even so nineties, ridiculously stale and faint that I strongly suggest returning to the roots. Slowpokes.
Battles @ Berghain, Berlin
I’ve seen’em a couple of times now and I believed the hype, yes I did. I mean it’s Warp and stuff you know. But I saw some roadkill this morning which exceeded my daily dose of empathy and compassion for Battles. Next please. Pivot maybe!?
2562 @ Tape, Berlin
Instead of just moving fourniture with hyperdeep basses, 2562 rather heads into the direction of a dubstep take girls might want to dance to with jackknifing two-step cadences, kneebeating dubstep and the double-time beat, riding minimal techno.
G-Shock the World @ Admiralspalast, Berlin
Amanda Blank just played ridiculous 20 minutes, DatA sucked with his somewhat boring maximal (nice visuals though) and the tongue-in-cheek spitting biggest midget in the game Lady Sovereign was pretty cool. Eventually it was quite nice, yeah…. even for an event in Mitte.
Fuck Buttons @ Exit07, Luxembourg
Fuck Buttons continue to refine, craft, explore and develop the experimental aesthetic of last year’s critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Street Horrrsing’. They says, “We think it sounds a lot thicker than our previous work… our brains kind of went into meltdown”.
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